Spying on Democracy: Government Surveillance, Corporate Power and Public Resistance (City Lights Open Media)

"With ex-CIA staffer Edward Snowden’s leaks about National Security Agency surveillance in the headlines, Heidi Boghosian’s __Spying on Democracy: Government Surveillance, Corporate Power, and Public Resistance__ feels especially timely. Boghosian reveals how the government acquires information from telecommunications companies and other organizations to create databases about 'persons of interest.'” -- __Publishers Weekly__"Heidi Boghosian's __Spying on Democracy__ is the answer to the question, 'if you're not doing anything wrong, why should you care if someone's watching you?'"—Michael German, Senior Policy Counsel, ACLU and former FBI agentUntil the watershed leak of top-secret documents by Edward Snowden to the __Guardian UK__ and the __Washington Post__, most Americans did not realize the extent to which our government is actively acquiring personal information from telecommunications companies and other corporations. As made startlingly clear, the National Security Agency (NSA) has collected information on every phone call Americans have made over the past seven years. In that same time, the NSA and the FBI have gained the ability to access emails, photos, audio and video chats, and additional content from Google, Facebook, Yahoo, Microsoft, YouTube, Skype, Apple, and others, allegedly in order to track foreign targets.In __Spying on Democracy__, National Lawyers Guild Executive Director Heidi Boghosian documents the disturbing increase in surveillance of ordinary citizens and the danger it poses to our privacy, our civil liberties, and to the future of democracy itself. Boghosian reveals how technology is being used to categorize and monitor people based on their associations, their movements, their purchases, and their perceived political beliefs. She shows how corporations and government intelligence agencies mine data from sources as diverse as surveillance cameras and unmanned drones to iris scans and medical records, while combing websites, email, phone records and social media for resale to third parties, including U.S. intelligence agencies.The ACLU's Michael German says of the examples shown in Boghosian's book, "this unrestrained spying is inevitably used to suppress the most essential tools of democracy: the press, political activists, civil rights advocates and conscientious insiders who blow the whistle on corporate malfeasance and government abuse." Boghosian adds, “If the trend is permitted to continue, we will soon live in a society where nothing is confidential, no information is really secure, and our civil liberties are under constant surveillance and control.” __Spying on Democracy__ is a timely, invaluable, and accessible primer for anyone concerned with protecting privacy, freedom, and the U.S. Constitution.**Heidi Boghosian** is the Executive Director of the National Lawyers Guild. She co-hosts __Law and Disorder__, broadcast on WBAI-FM in New York and over forty stations nationwide. She is based in New York City. Until the watershed leak of top-secret documents by Edward Snowden to the Guardian UK and the Washington Post , most Americans did not realize the extent to which our government is actively acquiring personal information from telecommunications companies and other corporations. As made startlingly clear, the National Security Agency (NSA) has collected information on every phone call Americans have made over the past seven years. In that same time, the NSA and the FBI have gained the ability to access emails, photos, audio and video chats, and additional content from Google, Facebook, Yahoo, Microsoft, YouTube, Skype, Apple, and others, allegedly in order to track foreign targets. In Spying on Democracy , Heidi Boghosian documents the disturbing increase in surveillance of ordinary citizens and the danger it poses to our privacy, our civil liberties, and to the future of democracy itself. Boghosian reveals how technology is being used to categorize and monitor people based on their associations, their movements, their purchases, and their perceived political beliefs. She shows how corporations and government intelligence agencies mine data from sources as diverse as surveillance cameras and unmanned drones to iris scans and medical records, while combing websites, email, phone records and social media for resale to third parties, including U.S. intelligence agencies. The ACLU's Michael German says of the examples shown in Boghosian's book, "this unrestrained spying is inevitably used to suppress the most essential tools of democracy: the press, political activists, civil rights advocates and conscientious insiders who blow the whistle on corporate malfeasance and government abuse." Boghosian adds, “If the trend is permitted to continue, we will soon live in a society where nothing is confidential, no information is really secure, and our civil liberties are under constant surveillance and control." Spying on Democracy is a timely, invaluable, and accessible primer for anyone concerned with protecting privacy, freedom, and the U.S. Constitution. "Everyone of us is under the omniscient magnifying glass of the government and corporate spies. . . . How do we respond to this smog of surveillance? Start by reading Spying on Democracy: Government Surveillance, Corporate Power, and Public Resistance by Heidi Boghosian" —Bill Moyers "With ex-CIA staffer Edward Snowden's leaks about National Security Agency surveillance in the headlines, Heidi Boghosian's Spying on Democracy: Government Surveillance, Corporate Power, and Public Resistance feels especially timely. Boghosian reveals how the government acquires information from telecommunications companies and other organizations to create databases about 'persons of interest.'" — Publishers Weekly "Heidi Boghosian's Spying on Democracy is the answer to the question, 'if you're not doing anything wrong, why should you care if someone's watching you?'" —Michael German, Senior Policy Counsel, ACLU and former FBI agent Heidi Boghosian, a lawyer, is the executive director of the A.J. Muste Memorial Institute and co-hosts the weekly civil liberties radio program, "Law and Disorder," which airs on Pacifica's WBAI in New York and on over 50 national affiliate stations around the country. She has published numerous articles and reports on policing, protest, and the First Amendment, including The Policing of Political Speech (National Lawyers Guild 2010), Applying Restraints to Private Police (Missouri Law Review 2005), and The Assault on Free Speech, Public Assembly, and Dissent (North River Press 2004). Her book...

Until the watershed leak of top-secret documents by Edward Snowden to the Guardian UK and the Washington Post, most Americans did not realize the extent to which our government is actively acquiring personal information from telecommunications companies and other corporations. As made startlingly clear, the National Security Agency (NSA) has collected information on every phone call Americans have made over the past seven years. In that same time, the NSA and the FBI have gained the ability to access emails, photos, audio and video chats, and additional content from Google, Facebook, Yahoo, Microsoft, YouTube, Skype, Apple and others, allegedly in order to track foreign targets.

In Spying on Democracy, National Lawyers Guild Executive Director Heidi Boghosian documents the disturbing increase in surveillance of ordinary citizens and the danger it poses to our privacy, our civil liberties and the future of democracy itself. Boghosian reveals how technology is being used to categorize and monitor people based on their associations, their movements, their purchases and their perceived political beliefs. She shows how corporations and government intelligence agencies mine data from sources as diverse as surveillance cameras and unmanned drones to iris scans and medical records, while combing websites, email, phone records and social media for resale to third parties, including U.S. intelligence agencies.

The ACLU's Michael German says of the examples shown in Boghosian's book, "this unrestrained spying is inevitably used to suppress the most essential tools of democracy: the press, political activists, civil rights advocates and conscientious insiders who blow the whistle on corporate malfeasance and government abuse." Boghosian adds, "If the trend is permitted to continue, we will soon live in a society where nothing is confidential, no information is really secure, and our civil liberties are under constant surveillance and control." Spying on Democracy is a timely, invaluable and accessible primer for anyone concerned with protecting privacy, freedom and the U.S. Constitution.

Heidi Boghosian is the Executive Director of the National Lawyers Guild. She co-hosts Law and Disorder, broadcast on WBAI-FM in New York and over forty stations nationwide. She is based in New York City.

"Everyone of us is under the omniscient magnifying glass of the government and corporate spies. . . . How do we respond to this smog of surveillance? Start by reading Spying on Democracy: Government Surveillance, Corporate Power, and Public Resistance by Heidi Boghosian"—Bill Moyers

"With ex-CIA staffer Edward Snowden’s leaks about National Security Agency surveillance in the headlines, Heidi Boghosian’s Spying on Democracy: Government Surveillance, Corporate Power, and Public Resistance feels especially timely. Boghosian reveals how the government acquires information from telecommunications companies and other organizations to create databases about 'persons of interest.'"—Publishers Weekly

"Heidi Boghosian's Spying on Democracy is the answer to the question, 'if you're not doing anything wrong, why should you care if someone's watching you?'"—Michael German, Senior Policy Counsel, ACLU and former FBI agent

"With ex-CIA staffer Edward Snowden's leaks about National Security Agency surveillance in the headlines, Heidi Boghosians Spying on Democracy: Government Surveillance, Corporate Power, and Public Resistance feels especially timely. Boghosian reveals how the government acquires information from telecommunications companies and other organizations to create databases about 'persons of interest.'"--Publishers Weekly The government is spying on you, collecting phone records, and accessing your online activity. This is not only unacceptable, it's unconstitutional. National Lawyers Guild Executive Director Heidi Boghosian provides the back story. Until the watershed leak of top-secret documents by Edward Snowden to the Guardian UK and the Washington Post, most Americans did not realize the extent to which our government is actively acquiring personal information from telecommunications companies and other corporations. We now know that the National Security Agency (NSA) has collected information on every phone call Americans have made over the past seven years. And, in that same time, the NSA and the FBI have gained the ability to access emails, photos, audio and video chats, and additional content from Google, Facebook, and others, allegedly in order to track foreign targets. In Spying on Democracy, Heidi Boghosian documents the profoundly disturbing increase in surveillance of ordinary citizens and the danger it poses to our privacy, our civil liberties, and to the future of democracy itself. Personal Information Contained In Your Emails, Phone Calls, Gps Movements And Social Media Is A Hot Commodity, And Corporations Are Cashing In By Mining And Selling The Data They Collect About Our Private Lives. Spying On Democracy Reveals How The Government Acquires And Uses Such Information To Target Those Individuals And/or Groups It Deems Threatening-- Trafficking Imagination In The Streets -- A Whopper, A Coke, And An Order Of Spies -- Enemies At Home -- Always Deceptive, Often Illegal -- Spying On Children -- Green Squads -- Listening In On Lawyers -- Spying On The Press -- The Constitutional Cost Of Contracting -- Computers Can't Commit Crimes -- Celestial Eyes -- Location, Location, Location -- Troublemakers Bring Us To Our Senses -- Custodians Of Democracy. Heidi Boghosian ; [foreword By] Lewis Lapham. Content: Cover Page Title Page Copyright Contents Acknowledgments Foreword by Lewis Lapham Introduction Chapter One: Trafficking Imagination in the Streets Chapter Two: A Whopper, a Coke, and an Order of Spies Chapter Three: Enemies at Home Chapter Four: Always Deceptive, Often Illegal Chapter Five: Spying on Children Chapter Six: Green Squads Chapter Seven: Listening in on Lawyers Chapter Eight: Spying on the Press Chapter Nine: The Constitutional Cost of Contracting Chapter Ten: Computers Can't Commit Crimes Chapter Eleven: Celestial Eyes. Chapter Twelve: Location, Location, LocationChapter Thirteen: Troublemakers Bring Us to Our Senses Conclusion: Custodians of Democracy Endnotes Index About the Author. "Personal information contained in your emails, phone calls, GPS movements and social media is a hot commodity, and corporations are cashing in by mining and selling the data they collect about our private lives. "Spying on Democracy" reveals how the government acquires and uses such information to target those individuals and/or groups it deems threatening"-- Provided by publisher Spying on US citizens is rising as corporations make big bucks selling info about our private lives to the government. Abstract: Spying on US citizens is rising as corporations make big bucks selling info about our private lives to the government