Investigation

FCC Lied To Congress About Made-Up DDoS Attack, Investigation Found

August 11, 2018 Jon Brodkin, Arstechnica.com Educate! Congress, FCC, Investigation, Net Neutrality

The Federal Communications Commission lied to members of Congress multiple times in a letter that answered questions about a "DDoS attack" that never happened, an internal investigation found. The FCC made false statements in response to a May 2017 letter sent to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai by Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii). Pai sent a response to Wyden and Schatz the next month but apparently didn't make the false statements himself. Pai's letter to Wyden and Schatz included an attachment in which then-FCC CIO David Bray responded directly to the senators' questions. This part of the letter contained multiple false and misleading statements, according to the FCC Inspector General's report released yesterday. The second half of this article will detail each of these false and misleading statements.

FBI Questions Activists On Palestine, Based On Rightwing Dossier

June 28, 2018 By Alex Kane, Theintercept.com Resist! FBI, Investigation, Palestine, Repression

AHMAD ABURAS WAS sitting in class one evening in September 2016 when a security officer at Seton Hall Law School, the New Jersey school that Aburas attends, came to get him. Gerald Lenihan, the school’s security manager, said he needed to speak to Aburas right away. Aburas was surprised by the request, but he left his civil procedure class and followed Lenihan to his office, figuring it was about something inconsequential, like his car or school ID. But when Aburas arrived at Lenihan’s office, it quickly became apparent that this was about something different. In the office were two law enforcement agents: Craig Mott, a New Jersey state police detective, and Ted Kolshorn, an FBI agent, both part of the New Jersey Joint Terrorism Task Force.

Gaza: United Nations Votes To Launch War Crimes Investigation Into Israeli Army’s ‘Use Of Force’

May 19, 2018 Staff, Telesurtv.net Educate! Gaza, Investigation, Israel, United Nations, War crimes

The resolution, which was debated Friday during the Council's 28th special session to discuss international law violations during protests in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem. The resolution, which sort to “urgently dispatch an independent, international commission of inquiry,” was supported by 29 members. Only the United States and Australia voted against the resolution, 14 nations abstained. The Great March of Return began on March 30, Palestinian Land Day. Since then, Palestinian have protested every Friday to demand their right to return to the towns and villages they were expelled from during and after the creation of the state of Israel on May 14, 1948.

WikiLeaks Lawyer’s Office Stormed By Hooded Raiders In ‘Attempted Robbery’

December 23, 2017 Staff, rt.com Educate! Investigation, Police, Wikileaks

Three hooded raiders broke into the office of WikiLeaks lawyer Baltasar Garzon in Madrid, covering security cameras with tape in what police described as a “very professional” operation. The break-in took place at dawn on Monday, and police are treating it as an “attempted robbery,” El Pais reports. The thieves didn’t take any money and police are waiting for technicians to confirm whether any files were taken or copied from Garzon’s computer. Police are analyzing the security cameras at the entrance to the office. "They have not taken what they have been looking for," Garzon told El Periodico. He confirmed to Ser his clients’ security “has not been affected,” and that the people “acted very quickly.”

J20 Prosecution: The Future Of Free Speech

December 12, 2017 Ryan J. Reilly, huffingtonpost.com Resist! Freedom of Speech, Investigation, Resist J20

WASHINGTON ― Justice Department prosecutor Jennifer Kerkhoff carried the cardboard evidence box past the jury and placed it next to Officer Andre Reid, the 14-year veteran of the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department seated in the witness stand. Snapping on blue medical gloves inside this downtown courtroom, she took out a JanSport backpack ― the government’s exhibit number 43 ― and began removing its contents: two sharpies, a pencil, a pen, a Florida driver’s license, green goggles, a black bandana, black gloves, sunglasses, an energy drink, a phone charger with a cord, and a black hat. As jurors looked on, Kerkhoff and Reid examined a mask. “Have you ever heard of the term ‘balaclava’?” Kerkhoff asked? Reid hadn’t. He called it a ski mask. They took a look at a plastic bag containing two bandanas soaked in some mysterious “solution” that had a smell to it. “Can you smell that now?” Kerkhoff asked. Reid could. The JanSport in question belongs to Michelle Macchio, a 26-year-old from Naples who hasn’t had possession of the bag or its contents in nearly 11 months, ever since she was caught up in a mass arrest during a protest just before President Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th president of the United States.

J20 Officer Bizarrely Slanders Black Neighborhood In Testimony

December 11, 2017 Alan Pyke, thinkprogress.org Educate! Investigation, Police, Racism, Resist J20

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Officer Michael Howden was supposed to help federal prosecutors establish that the group of protesters they want jailed for decades were assaulting cops wantonly the day President Donald Trump took his oath. But on cross-examination, Howden quickly grew heated as defense attorneys showed him clips of himself saying things he claimed not to remember saying on Inauguration Day. In one of them, Howden said that herding anti-Trump marchers was nothing new for him. “I’m fairly accustomed to that sort of rioting,” Howden is heard saying to another officer in a clip from Howden’s own body-worn camera footage from January 20. “Herding people through Barry Farm when they’re rioting, when they’re out of control,” he continued in the clip. Barry Farm, anonymous to most anyone outside the Washington, D.C., area and even to many who live here, is a public housing development in the Anacostia area of the District. It lies in the Metropolitan Police Department’s 7th District, where Howden is typically assigned — and where MPD’s use of “jump-out” tactics and aggressive stop-and-frisk searches of civilians has drawn public scorn and official sanction in recent years.

House Intel Committee To Subpoena Leftist Comedian & Activist

November 29, 2017 Max Blumenthal, alternet.org Resist! Activists, Investigation, Left Politics, Repression, Russia

By Max Blumenthal for AlterNet - The House Intelligence Committee’s Russia investigation has taken an unexpected turn, with investigators homing in on a New York City-based comedian, radio host and renowned civil rights activist named Randy Credico. Credico received a letter this month from the Committee ranking Democrat, Rep. Adam Schiff, and Rep. Michael Conaway, the Republican leading the investigation. The lawmakers requested that Credico “participate in a voluntary, transcribed interview at the Committee’s offices” during the first half of December. Credico informed the House committee through his legal counsel that he would not submit to the voluntary interview. Soon after, his lawyer told him that the committee planned to issue a subpoena. Credico is among the unlikeliest characters to have surfaced as a player in the ongoing Russiagate drama. For over two decades, he split time as a comedy professional while waging a tireless crusade against the war on drugs. The former host of a radio show on the Pacifica affiliate WBAI, Credico came into the company of high profile dissidents. Today his friends include the transparency activist targeted for arrest and prosecution by the US government: Julian Assange. The Wikileaks founder was recently accused by CIA Director Mike Pompeo of overseeing a “a non-state hostile intelligence service often abetted by state actors like Russia.” Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton has suggested without evidence that Wikileaks collaborated with the Russian government to subvert the 2016 presidential election in Donald Trump’s favor. This year, the Trump administration expanded the federal grand jury seeking the arrest of Assange to cover the Wikileaks release of thousands of documents on CIA hacking tools.

Group Investigating Police On Inauguration Day Has History Supporting Police

November 15, 2017 Sarah Lazare, theintercept.com Educate! Inauguration, Investigation, Police

By Sarah Lazare for The Intercept - A CONSULTANT PAID by the Washington, D.C., City Council to investigate the Metropolitan Police Department’s crackdown on Inauguration Day protesters is coming under scrutiny for what activists and experts say is a bias in favor of police. The Police Foundation, the purportedly independent group conducting the investigation for the city, is poring over charges of police abuses from January 20. The city’s police department faced scrutiny for violence and arrests that targeted anyone in close proximity to an anti-fascist demonstration, part of a thousands-strong “Disrupt J20” protest against Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration. Demonstrators were allegedly confronted with arbitrary mass arrests and sexual assault, according a lawsuit filed against D.C. and the police. The lawsuit said those in and around the protest came under attack from chemical agents, such as pepper spray, as well as rubber bullets and stinger grenades. Following the mass arrests, hundreds of people were charged with conspiracy, property destruction, and assault, and now many face decades in prison. Defense attorneys say the mass prosecution is unprecedented in Washington, D.C. The police’s actions on January 20 quickly provoked concern.

‘Paradise Papers’ Show How Wealthy Stash Riches, Dodge Taxes

November 8, 2017 Emily Wells, truthdig.com Educate! Investigation, Ruling Class, Tax Evasion, Tax Haven

By Emily Wells for Truth Dig - A trove of recently leaked files pertaining to offshore finance, dubbed “the Paradise Papers,” offers insight into how the wealthiest corporations and individuals protect their riches. The documents also show financial ties to Russia of a member of President Trump’s Cabinet. The 13.4 million files were obtained by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and subsequently shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which has been investigating offshore finance for several years. According to a New York Times report, Appleby, an offshore firm at the center of the documents, said it has “thoroughly and vigorously investigated the allegations and we are satisfied that there is no evidence of any wrongdoing, either on the part of ourselves or our clients.” The ICIJ said Sunday in a post announcing the release of the papers that they “reveal offshore interests and activities of more than 120 politicians and world leaders.” The papers include data on U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, chief economic adviser Gary Cohn, major donors to the Trump campaign and a business associate of the president’s son-in law, Jared Kushner. The papers also reveal financial activity and investments by Queen Elizabeth II, Bono, Apple, Nike and Facebook.

FCC’s DDoS Claims Will Be Investigated By Government

October 26, 2017 Jon Brodkin, www.arstechnica.com Educate! FCC, Internet, Investigation, Net Neutrality

By Jon Brodkin for ARS Technica - The FCC's public comment website suffered an outage on May 8, just as the commission was receiving an influx of pro-net neutrality comments spurred by comedian John Oliver's HBO segment on the topic. The FCC attributed the downtime solely to "multiple" DDoS attacks and said the attacks were "deliberate attempts by external actors to bombard the FCC's comment system with a high amount of traffic to our commercial cloud host." However, the FCC has repeatedly thwarted efforts to obtain more details on the attacks and the commission's response to them. Net neutrality activist group Fight for the Future released a petition asking if the FCC "invent[ed] a fake DDoS attack to cover up the fact that they lost comments from net neutrality supporters." Schatz and Pallone asked the GAO to find out what evidence the FCC used to determine that a cyberattack took place and what documentation the FCC developed during its investigation. The Democratic lawmakers also want the GAO to examine whether the FCC is prepared to prevent future attacks. The GAO decision to investigate was reported by Politico last week. When contacted by Ars, a GAO spokesperson did not say exactly what topics the investigation will cover. The investigation also won't start for another few months, so the answer probably won't come until after the FCC makes a final decision on rescinding net neutrality rules.

Exxon Loses Bid To Keep Auditor Files Secret In Investigation

September 15, 2017 David Hasemyer, www.insideclimatenews.org Resist! Climate Change, Exxon, Fraud, Investigation

By David Hasemyer for Inside Climate News - Brushing aside objections by ExxonMobil, New York's highest court has opened the door for state officials to demand that the oil giant's outside auditor immediately turn over records as part of a fraud investigation into the company's positions on climate change. In a one-sentence rebuff, the court refused to hear arguments by Exxon that the advice of the firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), was protected by an auditor-client privilege. The documents in question could provide a candid, and potentially damaging, glimpse into Exxon's private calculations of the business risks posed by climate change and whether its auditors had any concerns about how it disclosed those risks to investors. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who has been investigating the company for more than two years, said the ruling affirms his position that Exxon and PwC have an obligation to produce the documents subpoenaed last year. "As we've said from the start, Exxon had no legal basis to interfere with PwC's production" of those documents, Schneiderman said in a prepared statement. A lower court had ruled against Exxon, which then appealed. "Our fraud investigation continues to move full speed ahead, despite Exxon's continued strategy of delay," Schneiderman said.

EFF Urges Stronger Oversight Of DOJ’s Digital Search Of J20 Protestor Website

August 28, 2017 Stephanie Lacambra, www.eff.org Resist! DOJ, Free Speech, Inauguration, Investigation

By Stephanie Lacambra for EFF - District of Columbia Superior Court Judge Robert Morin ruled today that DreamHost must comply with federal prosecutors’ narrowed warrant seeking communications and records about an Inauguration Day protest website: disruptj20.org; but they will have to present the court with a “minimization plan” that includes the names of all government investigators who will have access to the data and a list of all the methods that they will be using to search the evidence. This is an important step in ensuring judicial oversight of the government’s digital search. While we are glad to see that the judge is taking steps to oversee the government's “narrowed” search, EFF has long warned against the problems with the two-step approach of overseizure of digital information followed by a search of the information for evidence responsive to the warrant. Because of the vast troves of data that the government has access to in these cases, it risks executing a general search, the very danger that the Fourth Amendment is meant to guard against. As the en banc 9th Circuit warned in 2010:“The process of segregating electronic data that is seizable from that which is not must not become a vehicle for the government to gain access to data which it has no probable cause to collect.”

Judge Approves Warrant For Data From Anti-Trump Website

August 26, 2017 Robert Iafolla, www.reuters.com Educate! Donald Trump, Investigation, Protests, Surveillance

By Robert Iafolla for Reuters - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A District of Columbia Superior Court judge on Thursday approved a government warrant seeking data from an anti-Trump website related to Inauguration Day protests, but he added protections to safeguard “innocent users.” Chief Judge Robert Morin said DreamHost, a Los Angeles-based web-hosting company, must turn over data about visitors to the website disruptj20.org, which is a home to political activists who organized protests at the time of Donald Trump’s inauguration as U.S. president in January. Morin, who will oversee review of the data, said the government must explain what protocols it will use to make sure prosecutors do not seize the data of “innocent users.” The U.S. Justice Department said it sought the records connected to the site because of concerns that it helped facilitate the planning of protests on Inauguration Day, when more than 200 people were arrested for rioting and vandalizing businesses in downtown Washington. DreamHost resisted the request, saying the scope of the warrant was too broad and trampled on the rights of 1.3 million visitors to the site, many of whom were simply expressing their political views.

DOJ Drops Request For IP Addresses From Trump Resistance Site

August 23, 2017 Morgan Chalfant, www.thehill.com Resist! DOJ, Donald Trump, Inauguration, Investigation

By Morgan Chalfant for The Hill - The government said in a brief released Tuesday that it has "no interest" in the 1.3 million IP addresses related to the website disruptj20.org. It says it is solely focused on information that could constitute evidence related to criminal rioting on Inauguration Day. “The Warrant — like the criminal investigation — is singularly focused on criminal activity,” the reply brief states. “It will not be used for any other purpose.” Privacy and civil liberties advocates were up in arms last week when the web hosting company DreamHost publicized a July 12 search warrant for information related to disruptj20.org, which was used to organize protests on Inauguration Day. DreamHost said complying with the request would amount to handing over roughly 1.3 million visitor IP addresses and other information about visitors to the site. Lawyers for DreamHost opposed the warrant, arguing it raised First and Fourth Amendment concerns. “In essence, the Search Warrant not only aims to identify the political dissidents of the current administration, but attempts to identify and understand what content each of these dissidents viewed on the website,” the company’s lawyers said in a legal argument opposing the request.

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