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Elon Musk recently denied that Tesla vehicles were used to spy on foreign governments after the vehicles were banned from Chinese military bases and other sensitive sites. Other reporting indicates that even the off-duty use of Tesla vehicles is being restricted for key personnel, because the Chinese government suspects that the companys vehicles were already involved in the leaking of secret information.

First, lets talk some common sense. Its extremely unlikely that Tesla volunteered to cooperate with U.S. spy agencies. Theres nothing for the company to gain from doing that, while there are billions and even worse to lose. Tesla knows that if they were caught spying for the U.S. government, theyd be shut down and probably have all of their property seized in China. Key company officials (at least as many as Beijing could capture) would likely be arrested and tried for espionage. It wouldnt be pretty at all for the company or any involved employees.

The obvious counterargument is that Elon Musk, as a U.S. citizen, would consider the spying his patriotic duty, but that argument falls even flatter. The U.S. government hasnt been very hospitable to Elon Musk or his companies in many cases. There were the bogus SEC investigations over his tweets, which I call bogus because they were dismissed (and also, seriously, how childish is it to sue over tweets?), SpaceX accuses the U.S. Air Force of favoring other companies over them for political reasons, and recently the NTSB told NHTSA that it needs to crack down on Autopilot and the FSD Beta.

If you were Elon Musk, would you be doing the U.S. government illegal favors at great personal risk? Just think that over for a bit.

Im not even persecuted by them the way Elon Musk has been, and I know that our government is highly corrupt. On the spying front, we know from things Edward Snowden and other whistleblowers revealed that our own government is heavily involved in illegal and unethical spying. Theres a whole Wikipedia article detailing the dozens of programs that never should have been. Theres the deep, deep oil company corruption of the government, which we can see quite clearly in the ongoing persecution of Steven Donziger (Im writing a whole article about this once Im done with this one).

On top of that, none of this is new. Anyone taking an honest look at J. Edgar Hoover knows that his character was accurately portrayed in The Man in the High Castle,and he was the head of the FBI for decades. Nobody dared fire him because he had dirt on everyone. There was the fabricated Gulf of Tonkin incident, and the ammunition packed below civilians in the Lusitania, both lies we were told for decades after they were used to swing the U.S. into wars.

After the long train of abuses and usurpations weve seen, nobody in their right mind would want to risk their business and personal reputation to assist the U.S. government to do illegal things in other countries unless they were getting something for it (and thus were part of the corruption). Youd think that if Elon Musk did this, hed at least get some breathing room from the government, which he clearly isnt getting.

If anything, theyre going after him because he told them where to stick it.

The Chinese government wouldnt have invited Tesla into their country if they thought spying would occur, and they certainly want the company to help them achieve a better footing with regard to renewable energy. However, they do assert that sensitive details of some sort were leaked and they have reason to believe a nearby Tesla could have been involved in the leaking, and given the favored treatment the company has gotten in the past, they clearly dont have it in for Tesla.

As weve learned from Snowden, the supervillains in the CIA dont need anyones help to help themselves to things like laptop cameras. Laptop manufacturers arent giving away backdoors the NSA hacks their way into whatever hardware and servers it takes to get the information they want, and if they cant get in, they find someone to blackmail or otherwise coerce into giving them access.

I know some argue that accusing Tesla of spying is a retaliation for accusations and actions against Chinese companies like Huawei and DJI, who very well may be involved in spying. After all, the Chinese government are no angels, either. We would be fools to assume that they arent corrupt, too. Theyre spying on anything they can get away with spying on, and all while not even pretending to afford their citizens much in the way of civil liberties.

The more likely answer is that the U.S. government is actually using Teslas to spy on Chinese military and company officials without the companys knowledge. It fits their modus operandi, and they have great motivation to spy on Chinese officials. If officials are taking cameras into sensitive facilities and to their homes, its an extremely tempting target for hacking, and we know that they have the technical capability to do it.

Would they risk Musks rear to do this? Absolutely. In fact, that might be a plus for corrupt officials with dirty oil money lining their pockets.

I do have to be honest and say theres no direct evidence for any of this, but given the U.S. governments lack of scruples when it comes to things like spying, would you really put this past them? You cant sit there and seriously tell me that the NSA wouldnt do this in a heartbeat if they found a way to do it.

Either way, well know if I was right decades from now when anyone responsible for this is already dead or the statute of limitations has passed and old documents get declassified.

If I was running Tesla, Id have the best experts take a hard look at the cars and servers to look for the U.S. governments footprints. Theyre very likely all over the scene of the crime, and nobody covers their tracks perfectly.

Id also be looking at offering an optional airgap package for people dealing with sensitive information. Having a switch that disconnects all antennas and cuts power to all radios would be great. Having optional lens caps for all cameras would also be a great way to help protect trust in the companys vehicles. People guarding sensitive installations could verify that both features are enabled/in use before allowing a Tesla vehicle onto the facilitys grounds.

Either way, the company could probably use some more paranoid thinking like mine, because nobody is paranoid when there is actually someone out to get them (or their data). We have to always be on the lookout for bad actors and put ourselves in their shoes to think about what theyll do.

Featured image: People enthusiastically greet a Teslas Sentry Mode when they see its recording them, as described in this CleanTechnica article.

The rest is here:
Is The NSA Screwing Tesla? - CleanTechnica

Iran has made threats against Fort McNair, an Army base in the nation's capital, and against the Army's vice chief of staff, two senior US intelligence officials said.

They said communications intercepted by the National Security Agency in January showed that Iran's Revolutionary Guard discussed mounting USS Cole-style attacks against the base, referring to the October 2000 suicide attack in which a small boat pulled up alongside the Navy destroyer in the Yemeni port of Aden and exploded, killing 17 sailors.

The intelligence also revealed threats to kill Gen. Joseph M. Martin and plans to infiltrate and surveil the base, according to the officials, who were not authorized to publicly discuss national security matters and spoke on condition of anonymity. The base, one of the oldest in the country, is Martin's official residence.

The threats are one reason the Army has been pushing for more security around Fort McNair, which sits alongside Washington's bustling newly developed Waterfront District.

City leaders have been fighting the Army's plan to add a buffer zone of about 250 feet to 500 feet (75 meters to 150 meters) from the shore of the Washington Channel, which would limit access to as much as half the width of the busy waterway running parallel to the Potomac River.

The Pentagon, National Security Council and NSA either did not reply or declined to comment when contacted by The Associated Press.

At a virtual meeting in January to discuss the proposed restrictions, Army Maj. Gen. Omar Jones, commander of the Military District of Washington, cited credible and specific" threats against military leaders who live on the base. The only specific security threat he offered was about a swimmer who ended up on the base and was arrested.

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, the district's sole representative in Congress, was skeptical. When it comes to swimmers, I'm sure that must be rare. Did he know where he was? Maybe he was just swimming and found his way to your shore? she said.

Jones conceded that the swimmer was not a great example there, but our most recent example of a security breach.

He said the Army has increased patrols along the shoreline, erected more restricted area signs and placed cameras to monitor the Washington Channel.

Puzzled city officials and frustrated residents said the Army's request for the buffer zone was a government overreach of public waterways.

Discussions about the Fort McNair proposal began two years ago, but the recent intelligence gathered by the NSA has prompted Army officials to renew their request for the restrictions.

The intercepted chatter was among members of the elite Quds Force of Iran's Revolutionary Guard and centered on potential military options to avenge the U.S. killing of the former Quds leader, Gen. Qassem Soleimani, in Baghdad in January 2020, the two intelligence officials said.

They said Tehran's military commanders are unsatisfied with their counterattacks so far, specifically the results of the ballistic missile attack on Ain al-Asad airbase in Iraq in the days after Soleimani's killing. No U.S. service members were killed in that strike but dozens suffered concussions.

Norton told the AP that in the two months since the January meeting, the Pentagon has not provided her any additional information that would justify the restrictions around Fort McNair.

I have asked the Department of Defense to withdraw the rule because I've seen no evidence of a credible threat that would support the proposed restriction, Norton said. They have been trying to get their way, but their proposal is more restrictive than necessary.

She added: I have a security clearance. And they have yet to show me any classified evidence that would justify the proposal. Norton pointed out that the Washington Navy Yard and Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, which also have access to district waters, do not have restricted zones along their shorelines and have not requested them.

The proposed changes, outlined in a Federal Register notice, would prohibit both people and watercraft from anchoring, mooring or loitering" within the restricted area without permission.

The notice specifies the need for security around the Marine Helicopter Squadron, which transports American presidents, and the general and staff officers' quarters located at the water's edge. The southern tip of Fort McNair is home to the National War College, where midlevel and senior officers gunning for admiral or general study national security strategy.

The Washington Channel is the site of one of the city's major urban renewal efforts, with new restaurants, luxury housing and concert venues. The waterway flows from the point where the city's two major rivers, the Potomac and Anacostia, meet.

It's home to three marinas and hundreds of boat slips. About 300 people live aboard their boats in the channel, according to Patrick Revord, who is the director of technology, marketing and community engagement for the Wharf Community Association.

The channel also bustles with water taxis, which serve 300,000 people each year, river cruises that host 400,000 people a year and about 7,000 kayakers and paddleboarders annually, Revord said during the meeting.

Read this article:
Iran threatens US Army base and top general - Economic Times

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

| Published: Saturday, March 20, 2021, 11:56 [IST]

New Delhi, Mar 20: India would get better capabilities and technologies from the US to enforce the rule of international law in the Indo-Pacific.

US Secretary of Defence Llyod J Austin who landed in India on Friday called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and also met with National Security Advisor, Ajit Doval. The discussions revolved largely around the challenges facing the Indo-Pacific region.

Officials described the meetings as positive. Austin and Doval's meeting that lasted two hours had a positive outcome, officials tell OneIndia.

Committed to our strategic partnership, says PM Modi after meeting with US defence secretary Lloyd Austin

"Great meeting with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval last night. The breadth of collaboration between our two nations reflects the significance of our major defence partnership as we work together to address the most pressing challenges facing the Indo-Pacific region," Austin said in a tweet.

This is Austin's first visit abroad after the Quad summit and was the fist in-person engagement between the Modi government and Joe Biden administration.

Austin, it may be recalled had told the Senate confirmation in January that China presents the most significant threat going forward since China is ascending. Our goal is to make sure that we have the capabilities and the operational plans and concepts to be able to offer credible deterrence to China or anybody else who wants to take on the US.

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Original post:
Challenges in the Indo-Pacific topped agenda of NSA Doval, Secretary Austins meet - Oneindia

By Express News Service

LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh government has invoked the National Security Act (NSA) against cook Naushad, who was arrested for spitting on the dough while making rotis at a wedding function in the Meerut district last month.

The process of NSA was completed by the police on Thursday and the file was sent to DM for approval on Thursday.

Naushad was arrested after a video clip showing his disgusting and unhygienic act went viral on social media. The video, shot by one of the guests at the wedding at Aroma Garden of Lishari Gate in Meerut, caught Naushad spitting on the rotis before putting them in the tandoor for the dinner at aparty on February 16.

The guest, who had filmed Naushad, shared the video with other guests at the party and they left the function without having food.

Later, social activist Sachin Sirohi, associated with Hindu Jagran Manch, and his accomplices staged a protest at Lala Lajpat Rai Medical College Police Station. This was followed by the registration of a case against Naushad under the Epidemic Act and relevant sections of IPC on February 19, and Naushad was arrested and sent to jail.

During the investigation, the police found the charges of spitting in the dough to be true.

Recently, when Naushad was produced in the local court for a hearing on his bail application, a group of irate lawyers and the common public thrashed him. He was also beaten up when he came out of the court.

The NSA was slapped against him as his release from the jail might create law and order problems in the city, said Meerut SSP Ajay Sahni.

Meanwhile, a similar case was reported from Ghaziabad where a cook was caught on camera spitting on the dough while making rotis. The Ghaziabad Police are also in the process of invoking the NSA against the arrested cook.

See original here:
NSA slapped on man held for spitting on dough while making rotis in UP - The New Indian Express

When Attorney General Merrick Garland was asked at his confirmation hearings earlier this month what his priorities would be if confirmed, he responded immediately that it would be a vigorous pursuit of domestic terrorism. He did not say he would lead vigorous prosecutions, just vigorous pursuits.

This is dangerous business for the Department of Justice because it transforms its role from prosecuting crimes after they happen to predicting who would commit crimes that never happen.

How could the feds predict crimes? They would attempt to do so by a serious uptick in domestic surveillance of broad categories of people based on political and ideological views. The government loves to cast out fishing nets so to speak and then intimidate or prosecute whomever they bring in.

The National Security Agency Americas 60,000-person strong domestic spying apparatus already captures all data transmitted on fiber optic cable into, out of, and within the U.S.; thats every email, text and phone call. But they dont admit to this. When the FBI desperately sought to gain entry to the cellphones of two deceased mass murderers in San Bernardino, California, a few years ago, the NSA would not help them because doing so would acknowledge the NSAs mass warrantless spying.

Stymied by their own colleagues refusal to admit their unconstitutional behavior, but emboldened that the NSA could get away with this, federal agents either would break the law themselves by engaging in warrantless surveillance or obtain warrants from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court by claiming foreign terrorism as a pretext for domestic law enforcement surveillance.

Under the unconstitutional standards employed by the FISA court, if the feds present probable cause of an Americans communication with a foreign person, the FISA court would issue a search warrant for surveillance of all communications of the American.

This is unconstitutional because the standard for obtaining search warrants from a judge is articulated in the Fourth Amendment, which neither the Congress nor the courts can change. That standard is probable cause of crime is it more likely than not that the place to be searched contains evidence of crimes not probable cause of communication with a foreigner.

The former is a high standard intended to compel the courts, before issuing search warrants, to take account of the natural right to privacy, prevent government fishing expeditions and force the government to focus its law enforcement efforts on real, not imagined, crimes.

The FISA standard which morphed by a series of secret judicial opinions from probable cause of being a foreign agent to probable cause of communicating with a foreign agent to probable cause of communicating with a foreign person is far easier for federal agents to demonstrate than is probable cause of crime. It means that a call to my cousins in Florence is a sufficient basis for the feds to get a search warrant to legally surveil all of my communications telephone, texting and emails.

FBI and other federal agents know this. They know how easy it is to get a warrant from the FISA court. The most recent statistics revealed that it granted 99.96% of all surveillance applications.

When FBI agents go to the FISA court with probable cause of communication with a foreign person, but they are really looking for their targets domestic criminal communications, they have engaged in an act of corruption, deceived the court and cut holes in the Constitution they have sworn to uphold.

Once they have all of a persons communications, their plan is to find something that would constitute probable cause of crime or enable them to use fear of exposure to induce the person to work for them undercover.

If your neighbor tells you on the phone how happy he is in his anti-government group, and then someone in the group trespasses on government property and is arrested, expect a knock on your door from the feds who will demand to know what you knew and when you knew it. If the trespass is a felony, they will claim that they can prosecute you for your silence. This, too, is unconstitutional. Silence is protected by the First Amendment.

This is the danger of the Garland devotion to predicting who would commit crime; and it will get worse. Expect the next legislative step to be proposals that impose the legal obligation to report suspicious activities and the failure to do would be a crime. This would turn the U.S. into East Germany where thousands were prosecuted for failure to report their neighbors, friends and family; and thousands more suffered from prosecutions based on false reports.

The Fourth Amendment was written to prevent this. Under the Constitution, the government may not seek punishment for silence, surveil for beliefs or charge for crimes not committed. But if a wired undercover agent can get someone the government fears to inculpate himself with his words and then persuade that person to take a small step in furtherance of those words even if no actual crime is committed this is enough to charge conspiracy; the prosecutors favorite crime because it is the easiest to prove.

In the years following 9/11, hundreds of folks in America were set up by the feds and prosecuted and convicted for crimes that they never committed, but which they merely agreed to commit when persuaded by an undercover agent.

The government loves to give the impression that it has caught bad guys before they struck, thereby keeping us safe. Dont believe it. The governments first task is to keep us free. But when it violates the Constitution, it keeps us neither safe nor free. Who will keep us safe from the government?

See the article here:
Napolitano: The coming war on privacy - Daily Herald