Science & Tech
Report: Google Ordered By Government To Track Americans’ Searches
Forbes obtained the information via ‘accidentally unsealed’ court documents
Published
1 year agoon
Steve Watson

A report by Forbes has detailed how the U.S. government are secretly issuing keyword warrants to Google, ordering the search engine company to track and provide user data on anyone who searches specific names, addresses or phone numbers.
Forbes obtained the information via ‘accidentally unsealed’ court documents, which show that the FBI and Department of Homeland Security may have used the method to track suspects.
Critics argue that the practice violates the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches, and have described such cases as “effectively fishing expeditions.”
A keyword warrant is effectively a fishing expedition in an attempt to ensnare a possible suspect whose identity the government does not know @iblametom 👉🏻 @Forbes | #privacy #KeywordWarrant #cybersecurity #Google https://t.co/SaFMruGPUq
— Clayton Rice, Q.C. (@WiretapLawyer) October 5, 2021
Jennifer Granick, surveillance and cybersecurity counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union warned that “Trawling through Google’s search history database enables police to identify people merely based on what they might have been thinking about, for whatever reason, at some point in the past.”
“This never-before-possible technique threatens First Amendment interests and will inevitably sweep up innocent people,” Granick added, further warning “especially if the keyword terms are not unique and the time frame not precise.”
“To make matters worse, police are currently doing this in secret, which insulates the practice from public debate and regulation,” Granick urged.
Google responded to the news with a statement defending its actions.
“As with all law enforcement requests, we have a rigorous process that is designed to protect the privacy of our users while supporting the important work of law enforcement,” the statement claimed.
Forbes notes that “Similar orders were served on Microsoft and Yahoo for their respective search engines.”
While the actual data the tech companies handed over remains sealed, the orders on Google can be read here, here and here, while the Microsoft and Yahoo orders can be found here and here.
The issue made headlines briefly last year, and has been ongoing for some time:
Court documents for a Florida arson case reveal @Google provided the police with a "keyword warrant" of several IP addresses, which is likely unconstitutional. https://t.co/qfLSUfNAKj #privacy pic.twitter.com/hFfFVACbYu
— CDP Institute (@CDPInstitute) October 14, 2020
'keyword warrant' is a new dark term to understand when thinking about @google and privacy https://t.co/rjjPQkc7yX
— Uli (@aplusplus) October 8, 2020
Is this reasonable searching for law enforcement to undertake? "investigators served Google a 'keyword warrant,' asking them to provide info on any user who had searched for the victim’s address around the time of the arson…" https://t.co/ozD9POe3q2
— Bryce Austin (@brycea) January 5, 2021
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Science & Tech
Highly-Cited ‘Hamilton 68’ Russiagate Tracker Is Total Hoax: Taibbi
Published
4 days agoon
28 January, 2023Zero Hedge

Out of the caterwaul of cries proclaiming that Russian collusion, and Russian influence operations, were the only reason Donald Trump won the 2016 US election (a hoax funded and promoted by his opponent, Hillary Clinton), a website which claimed to track said Kremlin efforts sprung forth, and was used to justify baseless allegations;
Hamilton 68: a widely-cited, (indirectly) state-sponsored propaganda tool.
The website claims to monitor a secret list of Twitter accounts which they accused of Kremlin control, however it’s impossible to verify their claims as the group has never disclosed their methodology.
As Matt Taibbi notes via Racket:
Hamilton 68 was and is a computerized “dashboard” designed to be used by reporters and academics to measure “Russian disinformation”. It was the brainchild of former FBI agent (and current MSNBC “disinformation expert”) Clint Watts, and backed by the German Marshall Fund and the Alliance for Securing Democracy, a bipartisan think-tank. The latter’s advisory panel includes former acting CIA chief Michael Morell, former Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul, former Hillary for America chair John Podesta, and onetime Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol. –Racket
And now, Taibbi has torn Hamilton 68’s ‘black box’ asunder after reviewing the latest batch of “Twitter Files.”
1.THREAD: Twitter Files #15
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 27, 2023
MOVE OVER, JAYSON BLAIR: TWITTER FILES EXPOSE NEXT GREAT MEDIA FRAUD pic.twitter.com/bLRpDpuWql
s Taibbi notes via Racket:
Ambitious media frauds Stephen Glass and Jayson Blair crippled the reputations of the New Republic and New York Times, respectively, by slipping years of invented news stories into their pages. Thanks to the Twitter Files, we can welcome a new member to their infamous club: Hamilton 68.
If one goes by volume alone, this oft-cited neoliberal think-tank that spawned hundreds of fraudulent headlines and TV news segments may go down as the single greatest case of media fabulism in American history. Virtually every major news organization in America is implicated, including NBC, CBS, ABC, PBS, CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times and the Washington Post. Mother Jones alone did at least 14 stories pegged to the group’s “research.” Even fact-checking sites like Politifact and Snopes cited Hamilton 68 as sources.
An American group made false claims about Russian election interference to interfere with American elections https://t.co/Bpej1UOlOw
— Mr. Tweet (@elonmusk) January 27, 2023
Twitter thought they were full of shit
Taibbi reveals that Twitter was concerned enough about Hamilton 68’s claims that they ordered a forensic analysis which found that of 644 accounts, just 36 were registered in Russia – many of which were associated with news outlet RT.

As Taibbi further notes (emphasis ours):
Examining further, Twitter execs were shocked. The accounts Hamilton 68 claimed were linked to “Russian influence activities online” were not only overwhelmingly English-language (86%), but mostly “legitimate people,” largely in the U.S., Canada, and Britain. Grasping right away that Twitter might be implicated in a moral outrage, they wrote that these account-holders “need to know they’ve been unilaterally labeled Russian stooges without evidence or recourse.”
10. The secret ingredient to Hamilton 68’s analytical method? A list: “Our analysis has linked 600 Twitter accounts to Russian influence activities online,” was how the site put it at launch. pic.twitter.com/8ipRLSfzOm
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 27, 2023
Other comments in internal company emails:
“These accounts are neither strongly Russian nor strongly bots.”
“No evidence to support the statement that the dashboard is a finger on the pulse of Russian information ops.”
“Hardly evidence of a massive influence campaign.”
13.“These accounts,” they concluded, “are neither strongly Russian nor strongly bots.”
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 27, 2023
“No evidence to support the statement that the dashboard is a finger on the pulse of Russian information ops.”
“Hardly illuminating a massive influence operation.” pic.twitter.com/LMrgWVKe7k
Declared Trust and Safety chief Yoel Roth: “I think we need to just call this out on the bullshit it is.”
The two founders of Hamilton 68, the blue-and-red team of former counselor to Marco Rubio Jamie Fly and Hillary for America Foreign Policy Advisor Laura Rosenberger, told Politico they couldn’t reveal the names of the accounts because “the Russians will simply shut them down.” Tchya, right. One look at the list reveals the real reason they couldn’t make it public.
This was not faulty science. It was a scam. Instead of tracking how “Russia” influenced American attitudes, Hamilton 68 simply collected a handful of mostly real, mostly American accounts, and described their organic conversations as Russian scheming. As Roth put it, “Virtually any conclusion drawn from [the dashboard] will take conversations in conservative circles on Twitter and accuse them of being Russian.”
Twitter execs wanted to out Hamilton 68!?
“Why can’t we say we’ve investigated… and citing Hamilton 68 is being wrong, irresponsible, and biased?” one exec asked, after Russians were blamed for hyping the #ParklandShooting hashtag.
Trust and Safety head Yoel Roth even wanted to confront Hamilton 68 – writing in one email “My recommendation at this stage is an ultimatum: you release the list or we do.”
“I also have been very frustrated in not calling out Hamilton 68 more publicly, but understand we have to play a longer game here,” said Carlos Monje, the future senior advisor to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
But Future White House and NSC spokesperson Emily Horne advised against it.
19.“We have to be careful in how much we push back on ASD publicly,” said future White House and NSC spokesperson Emily Horne. pic.twitter.com/BRZEESQZlT
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 27, 2023
As Taibbi further notes:
“So the “legitimate people,” as one Twitter exec called them, never found out they’d been used as fodder for mountains of news stories about “Russian influence.” Because the #TwitterFiles contain the list, they’ve begun finding out.”
Hamilton’s victims speak out
“I’m shocked,” said Sonia Monsour, who as a child lived through civil war in Lebanon. “Supposedly in a free world, we are being watched at many levels, by what we say online.”
Another person alleged by Hamilton to be a Russian is Chicago-based lawyer David Shestokas.
“I’ve written a book about the U.S. Constitution,” he said, adding “How I made a list like this is incredible to me.”
24. “When I was growing up, my father told me about the McCarthyite blacklist,” says Oregon native Jacob Levich. “As a child it would never have occurred to me that this would come back, in force and broadly, in a way… designed to undermine rights we hold dear.”
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 27, 2023
Continued:
26. I’m listed as a foreign bot?” said conservative media figure Dennis Michael Lynch. “As a proud taxpaying citizen, charitable family man, and honest son of a U.S. Marine, I deserve better. We all do!” pic.twitter.com/HhKE9FPfpO
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 27, 2023
28.What makes this an important story is the sheer scale of the news footprint left by Hamilton 68’s digital McCarthyism. The quantity of headlines and TV segments dwarfs the impact of individual fabulists like Jayson Blair or Stephen Glass. pic.twitter.com/zfyjLb5Tkq
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 27, 2023
30.These stories raised fears in the population, and most insidious of all, were used to smear people like Tulsi Gabbard as foreign “assets,” and drum up sympathy for political causes like Joe Biden’s campaign by describing critics as Russian-aligned. pic.twitter.com/3lsuG1ZTrd
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 27, 2023
The Hamilton 68 story shows how the illusion of ongoing “Russian interference” worked. The magic trick was generated via a confluence of interests, between think-tanks, media, and government. Before, we could only speculate. Now we know: the “Russian threat” was, in this case at least, just a bunch of ordinary Americans, dressed up to look like a Red Menace. Jayson Blair had a hell of an imagination, but even he couldn’t have come up with a scheme this obscene. Shame on every news outlet that hasn’t renounced these tales. -Matt Taibbi
And Elon with the last word:
Shame on @MSNBC for misleading the public! https://t.co/16VEGTjXnH
— Mr. Tweet (@elonmusk) January 27, 2023
Science & Tech
“Flaming Dumpster”: Musk May Need To ‘Tear Down’ Twitter Code And ‘Start From Scratch’
Published
4 days agoon
28 January, 2023Zero Hedge

Journalist Dave Rubin was allowed into Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters recently, where owner Elon Musk opened the kimono and allowed him vast access to the company’s operations.
When asked what he could share, Musk replied “anything that’s true.”
Below is Rubin’s Twitter thread detailing his findings:
I met with several engineers who were doing a deep dive on why my account and so many others seem to be absolutely crushed after that two or three week return to normalcy when Elon first took over. They still have more questions than answers, but they did learn a bunch of stuff.
— Dave Rubin (@RubinReport) January 26, 2023
Continued…Accounts aren’t just hit with labels that are obvious to insiders. They now found more “secret” labels which are causing shadowbans. My account was hit with all three; “Recent abuse strike,” “Recent misinformation strike”, “Recent suspension strike.” It’s unclear so far what these strikes actually do, but for sure they suppress views and recommendations, they are trying to figure out to what extent. I also had many innocuous tweets labeled NSFW or NSFA (not safe for ads) which affect visibility in the timeline. Also, there’s an entire KeyWord database so that machine learning makes sure not to promote violence, porn etc., but it’s a mess of overreaching words. Literally the word “gay” was on the KeyWord list which would make you not advertiser friendly and harm the tweet in the algo. Backing up for a sec, they found the “recent suspension strike” on my account most interesting because it was fro July 2022, when I was suspended for calling out @jordanbpeterson’s unjust suspension. So though suspension was reversed the action on the account remained.
Elon was bringing people in and out constantly and seems to be aware of pretty much every issue. He thinks maybe the entire code has to be torn down and start from scratch. At the end last night he said that the whole situation is “a flaming dumpster rolling down the street.” pic.twitter.com/bTdNmbX5Ks
— Dave Rubin (@RubinReport) January 26, 2023
So I assure you they are aware of the problems and Elon and engineers are there all night trying to untie this crazy knot. Some changes they’ve made, like the “For You” tab, have confused people and hurt engagement for accounts who have gotten the NSFA label without knowing.
They also don’t know for sure why things got so much better once Elon made the acquisition and why it seems far worse now. Some is probably related to excitement around Elon himself, which also coincided with World Cup, but that doesn’t explain why it feels so off right now.
Will share more in bit but have to catch a flight.
Closing remarks
On a personal note Elon is funny as hell, laughs a ton and it’s just really obvious he cares about Twitter because he cares about free speech and the bigger problems facing the world. He doesn’t need this headache, he chose it.
Also huge shout out to @DavidSacks who is helping Elon clean up this mess because he believes in the fight for free speech as much as Elon does. And massive thanks to the engineers who opened up their computers, showed me literally everything I asked for, and were total pros.
Oh, one either thing for now…
Elon really lit up when we talked about the shifting political landscape and how anyone non-woke is now “far right.”
That notion is deeply connected to how screwy thing got at Twitter and he’s working to fix it despite the huge challenges ahead.
And frankly they gotta get that company out of SF…
And frankly they gotta get that company out of SF… https://t.co/5FbcSibQRe
— Dave Rubin (@RubinReport) January 26, 2023
What’s also really crazy now having seen under the hood is that Jack Dorsey repeatedly said they don’t shadowban.The entire machine behind Twitter is designed to shadowban. It’s almost as if that was the primary goal rather than the product itself.
Perfect illustration of how crazy things are. A friend just sent the to me, watch the RT’s go up and then suddenly go down. @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/3Q0T7AcEMs
— Dave Rubin (@RubinReport) January 26, 2023
Perfect illustration of how crazy things are. A friend just sent the to me, watch the RT’s go up and then suddenly go down. And as Musk himself says, this is an:
Accurate thread
— Mr. Tweet (@elonmusk) January 26, 2023
Science & Tech
Defense Department official says troops need training about online misinformation
“The war on disinformation.”
Published
1 week agoon
25 January, 2023Didi Rankovic | Reclaim The Net

The US authorities and many other governments around the world – including “trans-national” groups like the WEF – have been beating the drum regarding the serious danger of misinformation and disinformation for some time now, and that noise is getting louder and louder.
On the one hand, there is no doubt that disinformation can be harmful – but there is also no doubt that it has not only just appeared in the last couple of years, so the fierce insistence on finding new ways to “combat” it seems curious.
Unfortunately, there is also no doubt that this “war on disinformation” is often used as a convenient excuse to curtail free speech or engage in open acts of censorship.
And the rather sudden and outsized reaction to possible harm is often justified by the “rise of social media” (despite the fact this is another thing that hardly only just started happening.)
With all this in mind, it’s no surprise the “misinformation panic” has reached the Defense Department.
According to assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict, Christopher Maier, the threat from misinformation and disinformation is “serious” and relates to “all levels of armed forces.”
Maier’s explanation for this kind of reaction to possible harm is “the growth of social media,” according to National Defense Magazine.
This defense official does acknowledge that disinformation campaigns have existed in the past, but, apparently, social media now give them some “super powers.”
Addressing a panel organized at the National Defense Industrial Association Special Operations/Low Intensity Conflict Symposium, Maier spoke about “adversaries” who are, according to him, realizing that their disinformation works well when targeting lower levels of the military and security apparatus rather than their leaderships.
And so the Defense Department has started “educating” troops about these threats, including by releasing a document dubbed, “Official Use of Social Media For Public Affairs Purposes,” that, among other things, provides instructions on how to report what is seen as a fake or imposter account.
There’s another guide – one about “spotting disinformation actors” that comes from Army Training and Readiness Command.
“An important piece of building awareness and resilience is training newly enlisted personnel, as the Defense Department can’t presume recruits have the required ‘level of awareness’,” Maier said.
And this effort to educate should not stop with members of the military, he revealed, but should also include their families, “and other people in their lives.”
This post was originally published at Reclaim The NetTrending
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