The Washington Post has a graphic timeline of electronic surveillance under Presidents Bush and Obama from 2001 through 2013.

But there are many more examples. In 2010, the FBI got the phone records of WAPO journalists. See, FBI Illegally Collected Thousands of Phone Records Through Fake Terror Emergencies. [More...]

Glenn Greenwald strikes again. In the Guardian today, he writes about another classified NSA surveillance tool, The Boundless Informant.

By extracting information from every DNI and DNR metadata record, the tool is able to create a near realtime snapshot of GAO's collection capability at any given moment. The tool allows users to select a country on a map and view the metadata volume and select details about the collection against that country. The tool also allows users to view high level metrics by organization and then drill down to a more actionable level- down to the program and cover term.

The program slides are here and the three page document is here.

There are many predictable calls for Attorney General Eric Holder's resignation. Until the recent disclosure of mass and indiscriminate electronic surveillance of telecom records, most have been partisan attacks. There are signs that is changing.

Will Eric Holder resign? Matthew Cooper, writing in The Atlantic, has an interesting article today, What Happened to Eric Holder? It chronicles his career, past and current, and makes this observation:

Holder was never going to stay through both terms. (Reno is the only attorney general in the country's history to stay that long.) And they say he'll be gone when Susan Rice and Samantha Power get settled in with John Kerry and Chuck Hagel and after James Comey is confirmed as the new FBI Director.

[More...]

Having a good weekend so far?

Zimmmermanpalooza starts Monday! Are you stoked? I'll be deliberately AWOL during the trial (as opposed to the forced absence of work load.) Good luck to you all. (Added by Jeralyn: Note that this is written by Big Tent Democat. TalkLeft and I will definitely be following all developments.)

Open Thread.

It's a jail day for me. Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

The Frye hearing continues in the George Zimmerman case. Voice analyst Tom Owen testified today.

ABC News has obtained a clip of video from Trayvon Martin's cell phone with his voice. To my ear, Trayvon's voice sounds much deeper than the screams on the 911 call, which again tells me it's Zimmerman screaming.

I don't think aural spectrographic analysis or biometric voice comparisons like Tom Owen's should come into evidence under Frye or Daubert. The methodology is skewed because he is comparing a scream to spoken words, there's too much background noise, the environmental and recording conditions were too different, the scream samples aren't long enough, the quantity of words for comparison is insufficient, there are pitch issues because the screamer was under emotional stress, etc. He can't even give an opinion beyond "probable" in his words that it was not Zimmerman screaming. [More...]

CBS reports that the PRISM program is an arm of the Stellar Wind program.

A top-secret arm of the controversial Stellar Wind program set up in the wake of 9/11 is allowing the National Security Agency and the FBI to tap directly into the central servers of nine major Internet companies to extract audio, video, photos, emails and documents that let analysts track an individual's communication, CBS News has learned.

The program, called PRISM, was established in 2007, according to The Washington Post, which broke the story Thursday evening. CBS News senior correspondent John Miller said it doesn't deal with names but was designed as a way for the government to track suspected terrorists. It culls metadata from Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube and Apple and will soon include Dropbox.

The Stellar Wind program was revealed a few years ago by NSA Whistleblower William Binney and James Banford. (video here.) He says it is a domestic spying program: [More...]

There's an all day hearing going on in the George Zimmerman case. This morning was mostly taken up by the defense motion for sanctions for discovery violations pertaining to material on Trayvon Martin's cell phone. Recap here.

The Frye hearing on voice identification and speaker recognition is underway. You can watch live here. Due to scheduling issues, the defense is going first with one of its witnesses, FBI expert Dr. Hirotaka Nakasone. He was one of the examiners who examined the 911 call with screaming and the gunshot in the background. (Report here.)

He believes there are three challenges to biometric voice comparison.[More...]

Today the White House, without confirming the Guardian article about the FISA order requiring Verizon to turn over call detail records for all of Verizon's customers for at least three months, defended such an action in the name of terrorism and keeping us safe. The order is here. The Guardian reports:

The document shows for the first time that under the Obama administration the communication records of millions of US citizens are being collected indiscriminately and in bulk – regardless of whether they are suspected of any wrongdoing.

According to an unnamed White House Official: [More...]

So many news organizations today are writing about Hitler's soldiers being given meth-like pills. The articles seem to emanate from a Der Spiegel article this Sunday.

But this isn't news. Even Der Speigel wrote about it in 2005 -- recounted here.

Back in 2003, it was reported that the U.S. Air Force gave speed pills (dexedrine) to its pilots in Afghanistan to combat fatigue.

An Air Force physician sang the praises on Thursday of amphetamines used by two U.S. fighter pilots who bombed a Canadian infantry unit in Afghanistan, saying fatigue, not ``speed,'' kills. Col. Pete Demitry of the Air Force Surgeon General's office told reporters that Dexedrine, which the Air Force provides for pilots making long flights, was a life saver, not a dangerous drug that distorts judgment as attorneys for pilots William Umbach and Harry Schmidt have argued.

[More...]

At the Bradley Manning trial: Former computer hacker Adrian Lamo testified today.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

George Zimmerman has won his appeal of Judge Debra Nelson's denial of his request to depose Martin family lawyer Benjamin Crump about the interview of Witness 8, the woman on the phone with Trayvon Martin shortly before the shooting. (Background here.)

The opinion is here. Crump had intervened as a third party asserting various privileges. The appeals court noted he is not an attorney in the case (and not a prosecutor), and waived any privilege he might have had by having third parties from the media (ABC) present at the interview.

Crump said last night he will sit for the deposition. [More...]