By Mark Rumold – EFF.org

COVID-19 has trapped many of us in our homes, isolating us from family and friends and limiting our movements. But there are few people who feel the isolating impacts of COVID-19 more acutely than those who are actually incarcerated­ in jails and prisons across the country. As Jerry Metcalf, an inmate in Michigan, wrote for the Marshall Project’s “Life on the Inside” series:

A Guide to Whistleblowing for Federal Employees, Contractors, and Grantees

By Government Accountability Project

The job of government to serve the public’s interests depends on the commitment and effort of millions of federal employees, contractors, and grantees around the world. Those same workers are in the best position to learn when decisions and actions deviate from the core mission and responsibilities of government, be it through corruption, failing to comply with laws and regulations, wasting taxpayer money, or jeopardizing public health and safety.

By Jeffrey Sterling

In 2015 I was wrongfully convicted of, and imprisoned for, violating the U.S. Espionage Act. Now, while there is no question that I stand in solidarity with WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange in a British court as he fights extradition, little did I know that my presence is also there as fodder to support extradition. If I am going to be used in such a way, there should at least be a modicum of truth to my inclusion. I found nothing reasonable about being persecuted and sentenced to prison under the Espionage Act.

Given that Manning still faces a $256,000 fine for refusing to testify about WikiLeaks to a grand jury, said one reporter, “she will now struggle with destitution and poverty, but at least she will no longer be in a jail cell.”

By Jessica Corbett – Common Dreams

By Peter Kornbluh – The Washington Post

The revelation that the CIA secretly co-owned the world’s leading manufacturer of encryption machines, and rigged those devices to conduct espionage on more than 100 nations that purchased them for more than half a century, has generated a number of historical and ethical questions: What did U.S. officials know, and when did they know it, about key episodes in recent world history? How did U.S. policymakers act on the intelligence that was gathered? Did U.S. officials have an obligation, as The Washington Post’s Greg Miller put it, to “expose or stop human rights violations unfolding in their view”? Should the United States have been spying on friends and foes alike?

Committee to Protect Journalists

Washington, D.C., February 21, 2020 — The United Kingdom should not extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to face espionage charges in the United States, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

By Parker Higgins – Freedom of the Press Foundation

In an open letter today, more than 40 press freedom and civil liberties groups strongly condemned the “cybercrime” charges against Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Glenn Greenwald and demanded that Brazilian authorities renounce them immediately.

By Chip Gibbons — Defending Rights & Dissent

Throughout its history, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has used its expansive powers to investigate, monitor, and surveil First Amendment-protected activity. As early as 1924, public concern about the FBI’s violation of First Amendment rights and other civil liberties spurred official attempts to check the FBI’s power. This report covers FBI surveillance of political activity over roughly the past decade.

From Restore The Fourth

Dear Chairman Graham, Ranking Member Feinstein, and members of the Senate Judiciary Committee:

The Inspector-General’s report into the mishandled Carter Page case shows vividly that FBI agents engage in serious abuses with respect to domestic surveillance, and misuse powers intended for foreign intelligence to conduct surveillance of American citizens,[1] despite prior efforts by Congress to rein in FBI domestic surveillance dating back to the 1970s. This report, and the delay in consideration of the expiring PATRIOT Act Section 215 to March 2020, create an opportunity for hearings into abusive FBI practices with respect to domestic surveillance.

by Thomas Drake — Common Dreams

It was the head of the Australian Cyber Security Centre who finally admitted before an Australian Parliament committee that she had unilaterally directed and pressured the CyberCon conference to drop myself and an academic research professor (an Australian citizen) from the University of Melbourne as speakers.