eMails

DOJ Confirms: Eric Holder Vetted Search Warrant For James Rosen Emails

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– Eric Holder Vetted Search Warrant For James Rosen Emails, DOJ Confirms (Huffington Post, May 24, 2013):

Attorney General Eric Holder signed off on the decision to seek the personal emails of a Fox News reporter by suggesting he was a “co-conspirator” in a criminal leak case, the Department of Justice confirmed in a statement on Friday.

The department “took great care in deciding that a search warrant was necessary in the Kim matter, vetting the decision at the highest levels of the Department, including discussions with the Attorney General,” the DOJ said in a statement about the search warrant seeking James Rosen’s emails.

Read moreDOJ Confirms: Eric Holder Vetted Search Warrant For James Rosen Emails

IRS: We Do Not Need Warrants To Read People’s Emails

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– IRS: We can read emails without warrant (The Hill, April 10, 2013):

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has claimed that agents do not need warrants to read people’s emails, text messages and other private electronic communications, according to internal agency documents.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which obtained the documents through a Freedom of Information Act request, released the information on Wednesday.

In a 2009 handbook, the IRS said the Fourth Amendment does not protect emails because Internet users “do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in such communications.” A 2010 presentation by the IRS Office of General Counsel reiterated the policy.

Read moreIRS: We Do Not Need Warrants To Read People’s Emails

U.S. Government Plan Calls For More Scanning Of Private Web Traffic, Email

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– US plan calls for more scanning of private Web traffic, email (Reuters, March 22, 2103):

The U.S. government is expanding a cybersecurity program that scans Internet traffic headed into and out of defense contractors to include far more of the country’s private, civilian-run infrastructure.

As a result, more private sector employees than ever before, including those at big banks, utilities and key transportation companies, will have their emails and Web surfing scanned as a precaution against cyber attacks.

Under last month’s White House executive order on cybersecurity, the scans will be driven by classified information provided by U.S. intelligence agencies — including data from the National Security Agency (NSA) — on new or especially serious espionage threats and other hacking attempts. U.S. spy chiefs said on March 12 that cyber attacks have supplanted terrorism as the top threat to the country.

The Department of Homeland Security will gather the secret data and pass it to a small group of telecommunication companies and cyber security providers that have employees holding security clearances, government and industry officials said. Those companies will then offer to process email and other Internet transmissions for critical infrastructure customers that choose to participate in the program.

DHS as the middleman

By using DHS as the middleman, the Obama administration hopes to bring the formidable overseas intelligence-gathering of the NSA closer to ordinary U.S. residents without triggering an outcry from privacy advocates who have long been leery of the spy agency’s eavesdropping.

Read moreU.S. Government Plan Calls For More Scanning Of Private Web Traffic, Email

Hacker Reveals George W. Bush’s Naked Self-Portraits

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– Hacker reveals George W. Bush’s naked self-portraits (The Raw Story, Feb 8, 2013):

Personal information stolen from several email accounts belonging to people close to the Bush family reveals the nation’s 43rd president has developed an affinity for painting himself bathing, of all things.

Photos included in an information dump turned over to The Smoking Gun include President George H.W. Bush in the hospital, the elder Bush posing with President Bill Clinton, a family photo of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and even President George W. Bush posing with a cardboard cutout of himself wearing a mustache and beret.

Three of the images also show paintings Bush created, including one of himself in the shower, another of himself in a bath, and a third of him crouched over a canvas depicting a church.

A hacker going by the name “Guccifer” claimed the stolen messages include addresses, phone numbers and email addresses that go directly to both former presidents and their families, along with a security code for a gate outside the younger Bush’s home in Dallas.

Read moreHacker Reveals George W. Bush’s Naked Self-Portraits

Bush Family Emails Hacked, Posted Online

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Investigation launched into how Guccifer posted photos and personal emails of ex-US president George HW Bush online


George HW Bush: the emails were said to contain details of the state of the ex-president’s health and his family’s phone numbers. Photograph: Getty Images

– George Bush’s family emails hacked (Guardian, Feb 8, 2013):

An investigation has been launched into how a hacker managed to access the email accounts of the former US president George HW Bush and members of his family.

A number of Bush family photographs and personal emails were posted online by the hacker, who goes by the name of Guccifer.

Read moreBush Family Emails Hacked, Posted Online

U.S. Congress, At Last Minute, Drops Requirement To Obtain Warrant To Monitor Email

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– Congress, at Last Minute, Drops Requirement to Obtain Warrant to Monitor Email (AllGov, Dec 25, 2012):

The federal government will continue to access Americans’ emails without a warrant, after the U.S. Senate dropped a key amendment to legislation now headed to the White House for approval.

Last month, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved an amendment attached to the Video Privacy Protection Act Amendments Act (which deals with publishing users’ Netflix information on Facebook pages) that would have required federal law enforcement to obtain a warrant before monitoring email or other data stored remotely (i.e., the cloud).

Read moreU.S. Congress, At Last Minute, Drops Requirement To Obtain Warrant To Monitor Email

Judge Napolitano: ‘What Were FBI Agents Doing Monitoring David Petraeus’ Private Emails?’ (Video)

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– Judge Napolitano: ‘What Were FBI Agents Doing Monitoring Petraeus’ Private Emails?’ (FOX News, Nov 12, 2012):

Fox News Senior Judicial Analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano joined Studio B to discuss Gen. David Petraeus’ resignation as CIA Director and pointedly asked, “What were FBI agents doing monitoring the secret emails of the director of the CIA? And, how is it the CIA didn’t know about it?”

According to Napolitano, in order for the FBI to be reading Petraeus’ emails, they would either need a search warrant from a federal judge or they’d have to write their own search warrant under the Patriot Act providing sufficient reason to believe the general was involved in terrorist activities. The only other way that they could have been monitoring his emails is by hacking into his computer, which would be a crime.

Napolitano argued, “General Petraeus just because he’s an adulterer doesn’t lose his constitutional rights. And he has the right to be protected from an unwarranted, unjustified investigation by the FBI or anyone.”

FBI: We Need Wiretap-Ready Web Sites … NOW!

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CNET learns the FBI is quietly pushing its plan to force surveillance backdoors on social networks, VoIP, and Web e-mail providers, and that the bureau is asking Internet companies not to oppose a law making those backdoors mandatory.

– FBI: We need wiretap-ready Web sites – now (CNET News, May 4, 2012):

The FBI is asking Internet companies not to oppose a controversial proposal that would require firms, including Microsoft, Facebook, Yahoo, and Google, to build in backdoors for government surveillance.

See also: Big Bro ‘Genius’ Algorithms – Gerald Celente On Keiser Report (Yes, FASCISM now rules America!!!)

In meetings with industry representatives, the White House, and U.S. senators, senior FBI officials argue the dramatic shift in communication from the telephone system to the Internet has made it far more difficult for agents to wiretap Americans suspected of illegal activities, CNET has learned.

Read moreFBI: We Need Wiretap-Ready Web Sites … NOW!

New Email Viruses Take Over Computers (Without Opening Any Attachments Or Links)

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– Threat from new virus-infected emails which take over your PC even if you DON’T open their attachments (Daily Mail, Feb. 2, 2012):

A new class of cyber attack is threatening PCs – emails which infect PCs without the user having to open an attachment.

The user will not even be warned this is happening – the only message that appears is ‘loading’.

The email automatically downloads malicious software into your computer from elsewhere the moment a user clicks to open it.

The mails themselves are not infected – and thus will not ‘set off’ many web-security defence packages.

Security experts say that the development is ‘particularly dangerous’.

Read moreNew Email Viruses Take Over Computers (Without Opening Any Attachments Or Links)

FDA Hacked Into Private Gmail Accounts Of Its Own Whistleblower Scientists Using Covert Spy Technology

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Related article:

– FDA Scientists And Doctors Sue Agency Over Surveillance Of Personal E-mail, Were Fired After Warning Congress About Approval Of Medical Devices Posing Unacceptable Health Risks To Patients

– FDA hacked into private Gmail accounts of its own whistleblower scientist using covert spy technology (Natural News, Jan. 31, 2012):

The criminal tendencies of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration were on full display today when it was revealed the agency installed spy software and illegally hacked into the private Gmail accounts of at least half a dozen of its own top scientists. Those scientists, it turns out, were the very same whistleblowers who warned Congress about the FDA’s approval of dangerous medical devices that threatened the lives of patients. In response to them taking action to protect the lives of the innocent — something the FDA is supposed to do but has long since abandoned — they were instead subjected to illegal hacking and having their employment contracts with the FDA terminated.

Those six scientists and doctors have now filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court which claims that they were subjected to FDA internal harassment and unjustified job termination. The lawsuit also describes how the FDA hacked into the private email accounts of these scientists, then intercepted their “whistleblower complaints” intended to be seen only by members of Congress.

Read moreFDA Hacked Into Private Gmail Accounts Of Its Own Whistleblower Scientists Using Covert Spy Technology

Wikileaks Julian Assange On Mass Surveillance: ‘You Are All Screwed!’ (Video)

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Assange on mass surveillance: ‘You are all screwed!’

YouTube Added: 02.12.2011

Description:

The whistle-blowing website Wikileaks has begun releasing sensational information on the multi billion dollar global spying industry. The database contains hundreds of documents shining a light on the methods being used by secret services all over the world. Here’s the video of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange speaking to journalists and students at a press conference at City University London in central London on December 1, 2011. Along with a number of other guest speakers, Mr Assange spoke of the Wikileaks ongoing investigation of surveillance software companies and their alleged use by governments around the world.

– Wikileaks Julian Assange tells iPhone, Blackberry and Gmail users: “You’re all screwed.” (Mirror, Dec. 1, 2011):

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has warned smartphone and email users: “You’re all screwed”.

The whistle-blowing website has released details of companies it says are selling information obtained by monitoring people’s mobile phones and computers.

According to Mr Assange, more than 150 organisations around the world have the ability to use phones as tracking devices as well as intercept messages and listen to calls.

Those companies then sell the wholesale information, often the telecommunications data of “entire populations”.

He told a press conference at City University in London that the publication of the “Spy Files” is a “mass attack on this mass surveillance industry”.

The 40-year-old asked the audience of students and press: “Who here has an iPhone? Who here has a BlackBerry? Who here uses Gmail?

“Well, you’re all screwed.

“The reality is, intelligence contractors are selling right now to countries across the world mass surveillance systems for all those products.”

Read moreWikileaks Julian Assange On Mass Surveillance: ‘You Are All Screwed!’ (Video)

Censorship: Yahoo Admits Blocking Email Messages About Wall Street Protests (Updated)

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Update

We’re continuing to monitor Yahoo’s mail service and have now been able to send messages containing the phrase “Occupy Wall Street” and its website on some Yahoo accounts. On other accounts, however, Yahoo is still blocking the messages.

Update

Yahoo’s customer care Twitter account acknowledges blocking the emails, but says it was an unintentional error:

“We apologize 4 blocking ‘occupywallst.org’ It was not intentional & caught by our spam filters. It is resolved, but may be a residual delay.”

Yahoo’s main Twitter account adds:

“Thanks to @YahooMail users & @ThinkProgress for catching problem w/ #Occupywallst.org mail. Prob is fixed, but there may be residual delays.”


Yahoo blocks users from sending e-mails about the OccupyWallSt.org website with a message claiming “suspicious activity”

– Yahoo Appears To Be Censoring Email Messages About Wall Street Protests (Updated) (Think Progress, Sep 20, 2011):

Thinking about e-mailing your friends and neighbors about the protests against Wall Street happening right now? If you have a Yahoo e-mail account, think again. ThinkProgress has reviewed claims that Yahoo is censoring e-mails relating to the protest and found that after several attempts on multiple accounts, we too were prevented from sending messages about the “Occupy Wall Street” demonstrations.

Over the weekend, thousands gathered for a “Tahrir Square”-style protest of Wall Street’s domination of American politics. The protesters, organized online and by organizations like Adbusters, have called their effort “Occupy Wall Street” and have set up the website: www.OccupyWallSt.org. However, several YouTube users posted videos of themselves trying to email a message inviting their friends to visit the Occupy Wall St campaign website, only to be blocked repeatedly by Yahoo. View a video of ThinkProgress making the attempt with the same blocked message experienced by others (click full screen for a better view of the text):


YouTube

Read moreCensorship: Yahoo Admits Blocking Email Messages About Wall Street Protests (Updated)

American Charged With Hacking After Snooping on Wife’s Emails Account And Discovering She Was Having an Affair

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Leon Walker from Michigan faces trial after opening his wife’s Gmail account to discover she was having an affair


Leon Walker was charged after opening up the Gmail account of his wife, Clara. Photograph: Alex Segre/Rex Features

A Michigan man has been charged under anti-hacking legislation designed to protect trade secrets after logging on to his wife’s email account and discovering she was having an affair.

Leon Walker, 33, faces a trial lawyers say could have significant repercussions given that nearly half of US divorce cases involve some form of snooping, such as reading emails, text messages or social networking.

Walker was charged after opening the Gmail account of his wife, Clara, who was married twice previously. Walker found she was having an affair with her second husband, who had once been arrested for beating her in front of her young son from her first husband.

Read moreAmerican Charged With Hacking After Snooping on Wife’s Emails Account And Discovering She Was Having an Affair

Police Recruits Screened for Digital Dirt on Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Twitter etc.

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Law enforcement agencies are digging deep into the social media accounts of applicants, requesting that candidates sign waivers allowing investigators access to their Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Twitter and other personal spaces.

Some agencies are demanding that applicants provide private passwords, Internet pseudonyms, text messages and e-mail logs as part of an expanding vetting process for public safety jobs.

More than a third of police agencies review applicants’ social media activity during background checks, according to the first report on agencies’ social media use by the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), the largest group of police executives. The report out last month surveyed 728 agencies.

“As more and more people join these networks, their activities on these sites become an intrinsic part of any background check we do,” said Laurel, Md., Police Chief David Crawford.

Privacy advocates say some background investigations, including requests for text message and e-mail logs, may go too far.

“I’m very uneasy about this,” says Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. “Where does it all stop?”

Read morePolice Recruits Screened for Digital Dirt on Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Twitter etc.

EU Data Retention Directive: Sweden proposes bill to store telephone calls, text messages, email and other internet traffic for six months

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Emails and mobile phone text messages would be stored for six months by internet service providers (ISPs), according to a bill presented by the Swedish government on Thursday to bring the country in line with EU data retention rules.

Critics have come down hard on the proposal, which would compel telephone and broadband providers to retain electronic data for six months, the shortest possible time in accordance with EU directives.

Justice Minister Beatrice Ask explained that the bill is concerned about privacy when she presented the legislative proposal on Thursday.

“The proposal means that the information can only be disclosed for crime-fighting purposes,” Ask said a news conference.

The government has proposed that the law come into force on July 1st, 2011. It is part of the introduction of the disputed EU Data Retention Directive.

The directive would force member states to legislate the storage of telephone calls, text messages, email and other internet traffic. The aim is to prevent and solve crimes.

The Data Retention Directive has been severely criticised by those who believe that such rules restrict privacy protection and create a surveillance society.

Read moreEU Data Retention Directive: Sweden proposes bill to store telephone calls, text messages, email and other internet traffic for six months

Google’s Street View cars grabbed emails, passwords

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Google admits its cars grabbed emails, passwords


2010 CeBIT Technology Fair in Hanover

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Google Inc admitted for the first time its “Street View” cars around the world accidentally collected more personal data than previously disclosed — including complete emails and passwords — potentially breathing new life into probes in various countries.

The disclosure comes just days after Canada’s privacy watchdog said Google had collected complete emails and accused Google of violating the rights of thousands of Canadians.

“If in fact laws were broken…then there’s some serious question of culpability and Google may need to face significant fines,” said Marc Rotenberg, the executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a Washington DC-based privacy advocacy group.

Regulators in France, Germany and Spain, among others, have opened investigations into the matter.

A coalition of more than 30 state attorneys general in the United States also have launched a joint probe.

It remains unclear how many people may have been affected by the privacy breach.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who is leading the multi-state investigation, said in a statement on Friday that Google’s disclosure about the types of data it collected “validates and heightens our significant concerns,” and noted that the investigation is continuing.

Google’s Street View cars, which are well known for crisscrossing the globe and taking panoramic pictures of the city’s streets, accidentally collected data from unsecured wireless networks used by residents in more than 30 countries, Google disclosed in May.

Read moreGoogle’s Street View cars grabbed emails, passwords

UK: Every email, phone call and website visit to be recorded and stored

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Every email, phone call and website visit is to be recorded and stored after the Coalition Government revived controversial Big Brother snooping plans.


The plans are expected to involve service providers storing all users details for a set period of time Photo: GETTY IMAGES

It will allow security services and the police to spy on the activities of every Briton who uses a phone or the internet.

Moves to make every communications provider store details for at least a year will be unveiled later this year sparking fresh fears over a return of the surveillance state.

The plans were shelved by the Labour Government last December but the Home Office is now ready to revive them.

It comes despite the Coalition Agreement promised to “end the storage of internet and email records without good reason”.

Any suggestion of a central “super database” has been ruled out but the plans are expected to involve service providers storing all users details for a set period of time.

That will allow the security and police authorities to track every phone call, email, text message and website visit made by the public if they argue it is needed to tackle crime or terrorism.

The information will include who is contacting whom, when and where and which websites are visited, but not the content of the conversations or messages.

The move was buried in the Government’s Strategic Defence and Security Review, which revealed: “We will introduce a programme to preserve the ability of the security, intelligence and law enforcement agencies to obtain communication data and to intercept communications within the appropriate legal framework.

“This programme is required to keep up with changing technology and to maintain capabilities that are vital to the work these agencies do to protect the public.

Read moreUK: Every email, phone call and website visit to be recorded and stored

FBI agents seek the right to tap texts, emails and websites

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US intelligence services would be allowed to tap text messages, emails and networking websites under new powers being considered by Barack Obama’s administration.

fbi-agents-seek-the-right-to-tap-texts-emails-and-websites
The FBI says extremists and drug cartels are increasingly communicating online rather than using telephones Photo: CORBIS

The FBI says extremists and drug cartels are increasingly communicating online rather than using telephones, leaving US investigators struggling to keep track of them.

A new bill requesting the additional powers to investigate suspected criminals and terrorists will be presented next year. It is likely to face stiff opposition from civil liberties advocates who say the security services have historically abused extensions of power.

James Dempsey, of the pressure group Centre for Democracy and Technology, said: “They are really asking for the authority to redesign services that take advantage of the unique architecture of the internet.”

The proposals are likely to require that all encrypted messaging services, such as BlackBerry, include a facility or back door, that would allow investigators to examine communications with a warrant.

Any foreign communications providers operating in America would also have to have an office in the country able to provide intercepts.

Software developers of internet communication services such as Skype, which are heavily encrypted, would be required to redesign their products to enable interception.

Read moreFBI agents seek the right to tap texts, emails and websites

Google considers to shut down business operations in China

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“These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered–combined with the attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the web–have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China. We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all. We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China.”

A new approach to China

Google

Like many other well-known organizations, we face cyber attacks of varying degrees on a regular basis. In mid-December, we detected a highly sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate infrastructure originating from China that resulted in the theft of intellectual property from Google. However, it soon became clear that what at first appeared to be solely a security incident–albeit a significant one–was something quite different.

First, this attack was not just on Google. As part of our investigation we have discovered that at least twenty other large companies from a wide range of businesses–including the Internet, finance, technology, media and chemical sectors–have been similarly targeted. We are currently in the process of notifying those companies, and we are also working with the relevant U.S. authorities.

Second, we have evidence to suggest that a primary goal of the attackers was accessing the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. Based on our investigation to date we believe their attack did not achieve that objective. Only two Gmail accounts appear to have been accessed, and that activity was limited to account information (such as the date the account was created) and subject line, rather than the content of emails themselves.

Third, as part of this investigation but independent of the attack on Google, we have discovered that the accounts of dozens of U.S.-, China- and Europe-based Gmail users who are advocates of human rights in China appear to have been routinely accessed by third parties. These accounts have not been accessed through any security breach at Google, but most likely via phishing scams or malware placed on the users’ computers.

Read moreGoogle considers to shut down business operations in China

Yahoo: Our email spying policy would ’shock’ customers and would be used to ‘shame’ us

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yahoo

A little-noticed letter from Yahoo! to the US Marshals Service offers troubling insight into the surveillance policies of one of the Internet’s largest email providers.

In response to a Freedom of Information Act request seeking details of Yahoo’s! policies allowing the Justice Department to request wiretaps of its users and the amount they charge US taxpayers per wiretap — the search engine leviathan declared in a 12-page letter that they couldn’t provide information on their approach because their pricing scheme would “shock” customers. The news was first reported by Kim Zetter at Wired.

“It is reasonable to assume from these comments that the [pricing] information, if disclosed, would be used to “shame” Yahoo! and other companies — and to “shock” their customers,” a lawyer for the company writes. “Therefore, release of Yahoo!’s information is reasonably likely to lead to impairment of its reputation for protection of user privacy and security, which is a competitive disadvantage for technology companies.”

Yahoo! also argues that because their price sheet for wiretaps was “voluntarily submitted” to the US Marshals Service, it is exempt from the Freedom of Information Act law.

Verizon, meanwhile, says (letter PDF) they can’t provide details on how much they charge for wiretaps because it would be “confusing.”

“Customers may see a listing of records, information or assistance that is available only to law enforcement,” Verizon writes, “but call in to Verizon and seek those same services. Such calls would stretch limited resources, especially those that are reserved only for law enforcement emergencies.”

Consumers might “become unnecessarily afraid that their lines have been tapped or call Verizon to ask if their lines are tapped (a question we cannot answer),” the telecom giant adds.

Verizon also revealed it “receives tens of thousands of requests for customer records, or other customer information from law enforcement.”

Read moreYahoo: Our email spying policy would ’shock’ customers and would be used to ‘shame’ us

UK: Big Brother Government to ‘spy’ on every phone call, email and web search

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v
Time to wake up!

Every phone call, text message, email and website visit made by private citizens is to be stored for a year and will be available for monitoring by government bodies.

big-brother-government-to-spy-on-every-phone-call-email-and-web-search

All telecoms companies and internet service providers will be required by law to keep a record of every customer’s personal communications, showing who they have contacted, when and where, as well as the websites they have visited.

Despite widespread opposition to the increasing amount of surveillance in Britain, 653 public bodies will be given access to the information, including police, local councils, the Financial Services Authority, the ambulance service, fire authorities and even prison governors.

They will not require the permission of a judge or a magistrate to obtain the information, but simply the authorisation of a senior police officer or the equivalent of a deputy head of department at a local authority.

Ministers had originally wanted to store the information on a single government-run database, but chose not to because of privacy concerns.

However the Government announced yesterday it was pressing ahead with privately held “Big Brother” databases that opposition leaders said amounted to “state-spying” and a form of “covert surveillance” on the public.

It is doing so despite its own consultation showing that it has little public support.

The Home Office admitted that only one third of respondents to its six-month consultation on the issue supported its proposals, with 50 per cent fearing that the scheme lacked sufficient safeguards to protect the highly personal data from abuse.

Read moreUK: Big Brother Government to ‘spy’ on every phone call, email and web search

White House disables Stasi e-tip box

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– Stasi (Wikipedia)

Following a furor over how the data would be used, the White House has shut down an electronic tip box – [email protected] – that was set up to receive information on “fishy” claims about President Barack Obama’s health plan.

E-mails to that address now bounce back with the message: “The e-mail address you just sent a message to is no longer in service. We are now accepting your feedback about health insurance reform via http://www.whitehouse.gov/realitycheck.”

The “flag” service was introduced Aug. 4, with a White House blog post saying: “There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to [email protected].”

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said at a briefing shortly after the service launched: “We’re not collecting names from those e-mails. … All we’re asking people to do is if they’re confused about what health care reform is going to mean to them, we’re happy to help clear that up for you. Nobody is keeping anybody’s names.”

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, wrote a letter to Obama raising privacy concerns about what the senator called an “Obama monitoring program.”

“I can only imagine the level of justifiable outrage had your predecessor asked Americans to forward e-mails critical of his policies to the White House,” Cornyn wrote. “So I urge you to cease this program immediately.”

In a later statement, Cornyn said: “Of course the White House is collecting names. … It is inevitable. Anyone with access to the [email protected] account has access to the names and email addresses that are collected in that account. … How are they purging names and e-mail addresses from this account to protect privacy?”

Read moreWhite House disables Stasi e-tip box

UK: ‘Snoop’ power is used 1,400 times a day to intercept private data

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Britain has “sleepwalked into a surveillance society”, it was claimed last night after figures disclosed that public bodies had obtained access to private telephone and e-mail records about 1,400 times a day.

Council, police and other organisations made more than half a million requests for confidential communications data last year.

The statistics constitute a 44 per cent rise in requests over the past two years.

The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, which was created to help the authorities to fight the threat of terrorism, gives organisations such as local councils, the police and intelligence agencies the power to request access to confidential communications data, including lists of telephone numbers dialled and e-mail addresses to which messages have been sent.

The Act does not allow authorities to have access to the content of the messages or calls.

Councils have been accused of using the powers for matters, such as spying on people littering and dog fouling.

Read moreUK: ‘Snoop’ power is used 1,400 times a day to intercept private data

China accused over global computer spy ring

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• Dalai Lama and foreign ministries bugged
• Cambridge researchers point finger at Beijing

An enormous electronic espionage programme run from servers in China has been used to spy on computers in more than 100 countries, according to two reports published at the weekend.

The reports, published by the universities of Cambridge and Toronto, detail a “murky realm” where cyber spooks infiltrate email, take over humble desktop computers and use them to spy on organisations, individuals and governments.

The reports name the system GhostNet, and claim that it has been used to attack governments in south and south-east Asia as well as the offices of the Dalai Lama. In two years, the reports suggest, the operation infiltrated 1,295 computers in 103 countries.

Read moreChina accused over global computer spy ring