Chicago -
By Steve Rhodes and J.J. Tindall
Plus: Festival City. Privatizing Montrose Beach. The State of Illinois Building Sucks. So Does The Pritzker Pavilion. Red Light Rahmpage Redux. CPS Passes Fictional Budget. Our Putrid Police Chiefs. Mayor Jet Noise.
Posted on July 26, 2014
By Human Rights Watch
“The U.S. Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have targeted American Muslims in abusive counterterrorism “sting operations” based on religious and ethnic identity. Many of the more than 500 terrorism-related cases prosecuted in U.S. federal courts since September 11, 2001, have alienated the very communities that can help prevent terrorist crimes.”
Posted on July 23, 2014
By Steve Rhodes and J.J. Tindall
Plus: Red Light Rahmpage and CPS’s Sordid Sorting.
Posted on July 18, 2014
By The Electronic Frontier Foundation
The Electronic Freedom Foundation, the American Civil Liberties Union and the American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho have announced they will join Anna Smith’s legal team in her challenge of the government’s bulk collection of the telephone records of millions of innocent Americans.
Smith, an emergency neonatal nurse and pregnant mother of two, filed her suit against President Obama and several U.S. intelligence agencies shortly after the government confirmed revelations that the National Security Agency was conducting bulk collection of telephone records under Section 215 of the Patriot Act.
Smith, a customer of Verizon wireless, one of the companies that was ordered to disclose records to the NSA, argued the program violated her First and Fourth Amendment rights by collecting a wealth of detail about her familial, political, professional, religious and intimate associations.
Posted on July 17, 2014
By Steve Rhodes
In this episode: Downtown Sounds. Chiraq Is Neither Chicago Nor Iraq. Peas In A Pod: Madigan & Burke. Scott Waguespack For Mayor. Chicago’s [Topic] Deserts. This Week’s Worst Employer In Chicago. This Week’s Worst Judge In Chicago. Smells Like Chicago’s Sports Media.
Posted on July 12, 2014
By The Electronic Frontier Foundation
The Electronic Frontier Foundation on Tuesday filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the NSA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to gain access to documents showing how intelligence agencies choose whether to disclose software security flaws known as “zero days.”
A zero day is a previously unknown security vulnerability in software or online services that a researcher has discovered, but the developers have not yet had a chance to patch. A thriving market has emerged for these zero days; in some cases governments – including the United States – will purchase these vulnerabilities, which they can use to gain access to targets’ computers.
Posted on July 2, 2014
By Jon Markel
After reading the Sun-Times piece on Navy Pier that was the subject of last Monday’s Papers column, I was curious to see who in our esteemed General Assembly voted for this massive change in how the largest tourist attraction in Illinois and our massive convention center is managed. It took a while to find it because I was looking for something with a title referencing Navy Pier, Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, McCormick Place or similar. Turns out the title I should have been looking for is “SB0028 QUICK-TAKE-COUNTRY CLUB HILLS.”
What the what?!
Posted on July 1, 2014
