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Gulfgal98 is traveling today and is unavailable so I'm covering for her.

NSA Converting Our Spoken Words Into Searchable Text
Yes … They’re Collecting the Content of AMERICANS’ Phone Calls, Too

Dan Froomkin reports today at the Intercept:

Most people don’t realize that the words they speak are not so private anymore, either.

Top-secret documents from the archive of former NSA contractor Edward Snowden show the National Security Agency can now automatically recognize the content within phone calls by creating rough transcripts and phonetic representations that can be easily searched and stored.

The documents show NSA analysts celebrating the development of what they called “Google for Voice” nearly a decade ago.

The Snowden documents describe extensive use of keyword searching as well as computer programs designed to analyze and “extract” the content of voice conversations, and even use sophisticated algorithms to flag conversations of interest.

***

By leveraging advances in automated speech recognition, the NSA has entered the era of bulk listening.

And this has happened with no apparent public oversight, hearings or legislative action. Congress hasn’t shown signs of even knowing that it’s going on.

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“It’s pure authoritarianism”: Glenn Greenwald exposes the link between Baltimore’s uprising and the NSA
Award-winning journalist tells Salon why the erosion of civil liberties at home and abroad is interconnected

It got lost in all the hubbub of the uprising in Baltimore, as well as the addition of a few more candidates to the 2016 presidential election, but according to reports from multiple sources last week, it’s looking more probable than ever that the so-called Patriot Act will not be reauthorized until after it’s undergone some privacy-protecting revisions. The distance between vague promises in a report and an actual change to the bill’s infamously broad language is considerable, of course. But absent the waves of outrage inspired by leaks from former CIA contractor Edward Snowden — whose collaboration with Salon alum and Intercept founding editor Glenn Greenwald recently led to an Academy Award — it’s hard to imagine reformers ever getting even this close.

Recently, Salon spoke over the phone with Greenwald, whose book on his experience with Snowden, “No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State,” was recently released in paperback. We touched on the reception to the book, the events in Baltimore, Hillary Clinton’s sincerity and the importance of the controversy involving this year’s PEN Awards and Charlie Hebdo. Our conversation is below and has been edited for clarity and length.

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You may have noticed a few aesthetic changes to the site over the last week. Some of the site vernacular has been changed, the articles on the front page are now called "Featured Editorials" rather than "Featured Diaries" and on the community page they have been changed to "Community Writers" rather than "Community Diaries", with essays now being used rather than diaries to describe the written articles. The menu listings have also been changed to reflect these changes. There were also some changes made to the Front Page sidebar, the greeting were expounded on and a "Featured Editorials" list was added as a teaser for any non-members who may happen upon the site.

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Hope you all are having a fine Sunday.

I finally got tired of the site slowing down and hanging so the aggregator was totally disable and it is running much smoother. I have heard no one complain so I don't think it is missed by anyone. The site is running very well and I think it was worth the trade off.

By now you've probably noticed that we've added a front page with featured diaries. The URL for the front page is caucus99percent.com and the URL for the community diaries page is caucus99percent.com/diaries which is different than what it used to be. You may want to reset your bookmarks by going to the page you use most often, which is probably the community diaries page for most, and bookmark (favorites for IE) it. Also for those members that have diaries featured on the front page you may want to occasionally check them as they have been getting additional comments from the extra exposure.

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We had some changes to the site over the last week. The bug in the tag system was fixed, you can now go ape shit tag crazy.

Caucus99percent site history and site meta. Please read this all the way through, folks, especially the end, it's important for the future of this site.

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First up, a little site meta. The autoplay problem with the Video button in the editor toolbar has been corrected, you can now embed videos easily and quickly by clicking the "Insert Video" button and enter the video url in the top box, select "OK" and you're done, give it a try. It also works with many different sources (Youtube, Vimeo, etc.). When I get some time I'll write a FAQ explaining all the various functions of the toolbar. Most of the buttons work by simply highlighting the text that you want wrapped with HTML code and then selecting the appropriate button in the toolbar, it will automatically wrap the text. It's very easy once you get used to it. Open a diary and just play with the buttons and then just cancel the diary or leave the page, that's the best way to learn what each button does.

Public Service Announcement: Only one week left to file your income tax return.

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A little news and John Prine.

MIT States That Half of All Children May be Autistic by 2025 due to Monsanto

A senior scientist at MIT has declared that we are facing an epidemic of autism that may result in one half of all children being affected by autism in ten years.

Our "free market" society is suffering from a lack of values.

If you look up "values" the dictionary is full of monetary definitions, who cares? Empirical valuation is arbitrary.

The values I am talking about are core beliefs that guide and motivate attitudes and actions.