Both the Government and Twitter need to reassure the public that sensitive user data were not compromised
Both the Government and Twitter need to reassure the public that sensitive user data were not compromised
A whistle-blower’s disclosure that the Indian Government forced Twitter to hire its agent, who then got access to the platform’s user data, should alarm anyone even remotely interested in the health of democracy in the country. At the very least, it requires an official response from the Government as also from Twitter, arguably the most influential social media network of these times. Instead, there now is silence. But perhaps this is hardly surprising, given how such matters have played themselves out in recent years. The disclosure was made to U.S. government agencies and congressional committees last month but came to light when CNN and The Washington Post reported about it last week. The whistle-blower is Peiter ‘Mudge’ Zatko, a cybersecurity expert brought in to help a Jack Dorsey-run Twitter in November 2020 to confront challenges related to security and privacy. He was fired by Mr. Dorsey’s successor Parag Agrawal early this year. In his short stint there, he found that Twitter had a long way to go to address security vulnerabilities — the disclosure says, “he uncovered extreme, egregious deficiencies by Twitter”. But, according to Mr. Zatko’s disclosure, Twitter conveyed a very different message to the outside world, and thus ended up deceiving everyone from users to investors, and from the Federal Trade Commission to Elon Musk (who not long ago seemed to want to buy the social media network).
The Indian angle may be a side-story in all this but, worryingly for the world’s largest democracy, comes under the ambit of what Mr. Zatko considers “multiple episodes suggesting that Twitter had been penetrated by foreign intelligence agencies and/or was complicit in threats to democratic governance”. To be fair, there are unanswered questions about this part of his disclosure, whose most important line is the following: “The Indian government forced Twitter to hire specific individual(s) who were government agents, who (because of Twitter’s basic architectural flaws) would have access to vast amounts of Twitter sensitive data”. It is not clear, for instance, whether the agent he is referring to is the grievance officer that social media networks operating in India are required to recruit, as per the new laws framed last year. Also, it may seem that the access to sensitive data that this agent has is a product of Twitter’s own flaws and not anything else. That is why a clarification is important. In recent years, the Government has come across as being too eager to block its critics on social platforms. That, on top of unfettered access to sensitive user data, as is being alleged in the disclosure, can kill free speech. It is now time for the Government to assure everyone that it is indeed batting for the individual’s rights of free speech and privacy.
Afghanistan's defence minister demands Pakistan not allow its airspace to be used by the US military, while Islamabad denies the accusation and cites a lack of evidence.
Afghan Minister of Defence Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob told a press conference in Kabul that deploying drones into Afghanistan is still a clear invasion of the country by the US.
(AFP)
The Taliban's acting defence minister has said that Pakistan had allowed US drones to use its airspace to access Afghanistan, which Pakistan's foreign minister denied.
Afghan Acting Minister of Defence Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob told a news conference on Sunday in Kabul that American drones had been entering Afghanistan via Pakistan.
"According to our information the drones are entering through Pakistan to Afghanistan, they use Pakistan's airspace, we ask Pakistan, don't use your airspace against us," he said.
Pakistan's foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said he had made checks after the air strike and had been told that Pakistani airspace was not used. He said he would check again after Sunday's allegations but expected the position to be the same.
"I really don't believe that this is a time that I wish to get into a debate with anyone or to have accusations... frankly, I'm focused on the flood relief efforts," Bhutto-Zardari said in an interview, referring to deadly floods in Pakistan that have left millions of people homeless.
"The Afghan regime has promised not only to its own people, but to the international community, that they will not allow their soil to be used for terrorists," he said.
A spokesperson for the US Central Intelligence Agency declined to comment.
READ MORE:Western model for Afghanistan was wrong - former US top general
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFzrK4_teRY[/embed]
'Absence of any evidence'
Pakistan's foreign ministry released a statement saying it noted Yaqoob's comments with "deep concern".
"In the absence of any evidence, as acknowledged by the Afghan Minister himself, such conjectural allegations are highly regrettable and defy the norms of responsible diplomatic conduct," the statement said.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said the Taliban "grossly violated" a 2020 agreement on the withdrawal of US-led forces from Afghanistan by hosting and sheltering Al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri
Pakistani authorities have previously denied involvement in or advanced knowledge of a drone strike the United States said it carried out in Kabul in July that killed Zawahiri.
The Taliban said it is investigating the July air strike and that it has not found the al Qaeda leader's body.
Yaqoob's comments came at a time when the Afghan Taliban is mediating talks between Pakistan and the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also known as Pakistani Taliban.
Afghanistan, which is undergoing an acute economic crisis, also relies heavily on trade with Pakistan.
READ MORE:US judge: 9/ 11 victims not entitled to seize Afghanistan's frozen funds
Source: AFP
The Department of Justice released a version of the document it used to convince a judge to issue a warrant to seize documents from former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence. The affidavit, which a judge ordered the Justice Department to release, lays out why the FBI felt there was probable cause that crimes had been committed.
Despite redactions, the affidavit includes many new details and clues about why the FBI and the National Archives worried about "a lot of classified records" mixed in with other things at Trump's house, which is also a private club and resort.
The first redaction in the document, on the first page, is the name of the FBI agent who wrote and signed this 32-page affidavit.
We also definitively see the FBI is conducting a criminal investigation, although it does not specifically name former President Donald Trump as the target, and that the National Archives referred the potentially illegal activity after retrieving 15 boxes of documents, which intermingled classified documents with other things from Trump in January.
The affidavit is redacted to shield the identities of witnesses, details about a federal grand jury, and to hide specifics about the ongoing investigation. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart ruled the redactions were "narrowly tailored to serve the Government’s legitimate interest in the integrity of the ongoing investigation."
The FBI was initially investigating the 15 boxes already turned over by Trump. They wanted to know how those boxes got to Mar-a-Lago, whether classified documents were stored improperly and whether people who should not have seen classified information saw these documents.
The FBI agent who signed the affidavit ****cites experience and training with counterintelligence and espionage investigations and the use and storage of sensitive information.
What’s not clear is what led the FBI to believe there were additional documents at Mar-a-Lago. CNN has reported that at some point the DOJ began to suspect the Trump team was not being truthful and a witness came forward.
The agent says this affidavit is not exhaustive of the facts known by the FBI. It simply establishes probable cause for the search. It also, conversely, does not allege a crime against Trump or anyone else. This is common boilerplate language often found in FBI affidavits.
Read 18 U.S. Code § 793 here. It concerns “gathering, transmitting or losing defense information.”
The system of classifying information as sensitive or classified is not set out in law. Rather, the rules are spelled out in a presidential executive order. The most recent update came during the Obama administration, with Executive Order 13526. Read it.
This page outlines some of the different classifications of information. Even though we get very little information about the specific nature of classified documents Trump had, we can infer from the inclusion of these definitions that the documents at Mar-a-Lago ranged from Top Secret -- requiring special storage -- to even more restrictive sub-classifications that required special access.
CNN’s Katie Bo Lillis laid out the various classifications here.
HUMINT involves human intelligence, and disclosing identities could put sources who provide information to the US at risk in foreign countries.
NOFORN is an important designation because it signifies information that is not supposed to be given to foreign governments or individuals without an OK from the agency that developed or obtained the intelligence.
Here we learn the sections of federal law and regulations that may have been violated.
The Code of Federal Regulations — or CFR — is published annually by federal agencies. 32 C.F.R Parts 2001 and 2003 are federal regulations from the National Archives related to the handling of classified national security information.
But the affidavit also cites Title 18 of the US Code — that’s federal law. 18 US § 1519 has to do with the “destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in Federal investigations and bankruptcy.” Read it.
18 US Code § 2071 has to do with the “concealment, removal, or mutilation generally” of federal documents or property. Read it.
The PRA is the Presidential Records Act, passed by Congress in the aftermath of Richard Nixon’s failed attempt to take presidential documents with him out of the White House after Watergate. For an explanation of why the American public, and not the former president, own Trump’s presidential documents, click here.
A good portion of what we have learned about this case, including the first news of the search itself, has come either from Trump’s own statements or disclosures by his allies.
We’re getting heavily into redactions here.
Here’s that CBS affiliate report. Remember, this is two days before President Joe Biden took office. The images of moving trucks at Mar-a-Lago were captured by news helicopters keeping watch on Trump’s soon-to-be permanent address.
Points 24-37 in the affidavit establish probable cause. Starting on this page we shift to “Provision of the Fifteen Boxes to NARA.”
An important date here. By early May 2021, a few months after Trump left office, the Archives had already established that it was missing documents covered under the Presidential Records Act and was told 12 boxes had been “found” and were ready for pick up at Mar-a-Lago. See a full timeline of what we know.
After the affidavit was released, Trump responded on Truth Social, calling it "a total public relations subterfuge by the FBI & DOJ.”
This is important. The FBI identified 184 classified documents in the 15 boxes given by Trump to the Archives. These included 92 documents classified SECRET and 25 documents classified TOP SECRET.
The documents have additional markings, such as NOFORN, and also handwritten notes by Trump.
“Based on my training and experience, I know that documents classified at these levels typically contain” national defense information, the affidavit says.
We have entered a new portion of the affidavit, which outlines that there was classified information in the 15 boxes of presidential records Trump turned over to the Archives in January 2022.
The Justice Department left unredacted Trump’s claim, through his lawyers, that he could issue some sort of blanket declassification order. It also describes a claim from Kash Patel, a former Trump national security aide who was named as one of Trump’s designees to the National Archives in June.
CNN’s Jeremy Herb noted: The investigator who wrote the affidavit cited a May article from right-wing website Breitbart, in which Patel claimed reports that the National Archives found classified material at Mar-a-Lago were “misleading” because Trump had declassified the materials.
The rest of the section in the affidavit, however, is classified, so it’s not clear why federal investigators cited Patel’s comments.
Since the FBI’s search, Trump has pointed to a January 19, 2021, memo in which he declassified documents related to the FBI’s Russia investigation. There’s no evidence, however, that those materials were what the FBI was looking for when it searched Mar-a-Lago earlier this month.
More important clues.
A DOJ lawyer says the documents in the 15 boxes were removed from a secure facility at the White House on January 20, 2021, the day Trump left office.
The lawyer specifically told Trump’s lawyers the documents were not handled appropriately and asks Trump’s attorney to secure and preserve the room at Mar-a-Lago where the 15 boxes had been stored.
If nothing else, we know Trump’s lawyers saw DOJ’s request.
The DOJ has redacted its arguments laying out probable cause for the August search at Mar-a-Lago. CNN’s Marshall Cohen, Tierney Sneed and Jeremy Herb reported that in a legal brief also made public Friday, prosecutors wrote that these details had to be redacted because they would provide a "road map" to the investigation and that revealing "this information could thus adversely impact the government's pursuit of relevant evidence." Read more here.
Here are some new details. The FBI was looking at more than a storage room and Trump’s “45 Office.” They also focused on his “residential suite” and a room identified as Pine Hall. Here’s a picture of Pine Hall from the Library of Congress. It’s described as “antechamber to the owner’s suite.”
The FBI took pains to make clear that Mar-a-Lago club members would not be disturbed by the search.
The conclusion asks for a search warrant, which was granted and then kept under seal. Read key lines from that document here.
Two teams of agents were sent to Mar-a-Lago. The Case Team was the main group of agents on the case and they were planning to search the storage room. A second team, the Privilege Review Team, searched Trump’s office and sought to separate any documents with information that could be considered “attorney-client privileged” and keep those away from the Case Team.
Earlier this week, Trump’s legal team asked for a “special master” to review the materials that were retrieved under the search warrant. Their request is still pending.
The affidavit was submitted on August 5, a Friday. The search was conducted the next Monday, August 8.
This May letter from Trump’s attorney complained there had been public reporting about the DOJ investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents. It argued that he voluntarily handed over documents, which may be an oversimplification.
Trump’s lawyer argued the president has sweeping “unfettered” authority to declassify documents — and that neither presidents nor former presidents can be prosecuted with regard to classified documents. That’s the heart of Trump’s defense so far.
Trump’s lawyer demanded that his letter arguing Trump had “unfettered” ability to de-classify documents be presented to any judge considering the matter. On that request, the FBI complied.
Here’s a description of Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s sprawling 58-bedroom Florida estate. The FBI promised that the search, according to the affidavit, would not extend beyond areas used by Trump.
The first thing the FBI wanted to do was seize any classified documents and the boxes or containers that held them. The last was any evidence of “knowing alteration, destruction, or concealment” of records.
According to IRNA's reporter, the governor of Yazd, in honoring the memory of the martyrs of the Islamic Revolution, Rajaei and Bahoner, said: "Serving the people by attracting the cooperation of different groups is one of the goals of the government."
Mehran Fatemi said that the 13th government is honest in fulfilling its promises and continued: serving the people with the participation of all members of the society and the double efforts of managers should be pursued with strength and tact in the province.
The governor of Yazd further pointed to the performance of the 13th government in Yazd and said: 14 steps in different departments with the aim of reaching a new planning Yazd, which is carried out according to the plan with the support of the people and the activities of the officials.
Fatemi said: Acquiring four airplanes to strengthen and develop Yazd's flight lines in the first phase, creating defenses for transferring water from industrial sources to drinking water, and developing a development plan in 2 phases are among the government's goals and approach in this province.
The governor of Yazd mentioned the start of the executive operation of 31 thousand 980 residential units in the form of the National Housing Movement plan, attracting the highest amount of credit in the province from presidential travel credits and job scholarships among other important programs.
According to Fatemi, financial accounts and tax offices of large mines have been transferred to the province, creating an atmosphere of direct communication with the people, developing the field of technology and knowledge base, and providing rural drinking water infrastructure.
He said: the significant expansion of solar energy production in the province, the family planning plan and the establishment and operation of stagnant and closed units It has been part of the government's program along with cultural affairs and other needs.
The governor of Yazd mentioned one of the important actions of the government to follow up on the issue of vaccination and said: 95% of the people of the province have been vaccinated against Corona in the first dose, 86% in the second dose, and 42% in the third dose, and this process is strong with the cooperation of the people and the follow-up of the authorities. continues.
Fatemi stated: Although before the 13th government, we witnessed about 50 water cuts to the province, but due to the importance of the issue, we are setting up a water committee for the first time in the country and the issue of follow-up and prevention of water cuts.
He informed about the importance of following up the handing over of a mine to cover the cost of transfer water to the province, that so far good measures have been taken in this regard and this process continues seriously and 110 thousand billion Tomans have been allocated for it, which is unprecedented.
In this ceremony, a eulogy program was held and an exhibition of martyrs' photos was held.
2nd to 8th of Shahrivar month is named government week.
In an interview with IRNA's parliamentary reporter, Hojjatul Islam Alireza Salimi, referring to the reformists' creation of atmosphere about the corruption in Mobarakeh Steel Company, said: "The reformers' feet are stuck in the story of corruption in Mobarakeh Steel Company and they cannot escape from accountability."
The member of the presiding committee of the Islamic Council added: "When the issue of corruption was brought up in Mobarakeh Steel Company, the voice of the reformists was raised in the fight against corruption, but now that their names have been published among the corrupt, they have started the game of "Who was it, who was it, I wasn't there?" .
Salimi stated: The story of the reformists in the story of Foulad Mobarakeh corruption is the story of that wrongdoer and thief who runs in the market and shouts "Hey thief, thief."
He pointed out that many people are involved in the corruption case of Foulad Mobarakeh, from the former president's office to other people in the 11th and 12th governments.
The member of the presiding committee of the parliament informed about the serious efforts of the 13th government to fight against economic corruption and said: the government is looking to eliminate the roots of corruption and in this regard, it is very careful in appointing managers in the enforcement agencies.
the doctor Tajbakhsh Fanaian In an interview with IRNA theater reporter about the Fajr Theater Festival and its impact on the development of the performing arts in the country, he stated: The festival has two procedures; Structural procedure and content aspect. From a structural point of view, I don't think that this event will lead to many new events unless possibilities are considered in the decision-making process. For example, more work should be done in the field of research during this festival period.
It can almost be said that the audience, producers, managers and officials express dissatisfaction with what is happening on the theater stage.
He continued: In the field of content; The structure and themes of the festival seems to be approved by all friends that in these forty years of holding festivals in the course of theater in the country, no one has been fully satisfied. It can almost be said that the audience, producers, managers and officials express dissatisfaction with what is happening on the theater stage. Apart from the exceptions that can always happen but it does not turn into a flow. We have not yet seen something that satisfied and convinced a part of the theater body to express their satisfaction. We do not see this expression of satisfaction from one person, even if someone is really satisfied, he cannot say that he is really satisfied!!
Satisfaction with Fajr theater is more superficial and in the heart it is the opposite approach
This university lecturer pointed out that there is so much confusion in the atmosphere of the theater and there is so much dissatisfaction that if someone says they are satisfied, they will be accused, and he noted: Therefore, everyone refrains from expressing their satisfaction. Therefore, what we have seen is dissatisfaction from all elements involved in the theater, including the audience.
He added: "The festival has the same problem of dissatisfaction from the public involved." Sometimes dissatisfaction rises from those who, for example, participated in the festival and thought it was permissible to take their right and did not take it. Sometimes there is no objection in this sense, but overall, not much satisfaction is achieved. But there is still the expectation that the festival should emerge as an event in the country that is the result of the collection of Iranian theater. But this important thing is not realized due to the confusion that I mentioned.
Based on this, due to structural, thematic, content and artistic disturbances, the festivals are in such a way that no one is satisfied and they have not achieved much. That is, if there was no Fajr Theater Festival, my personal opinion is that the flow of theater would have continued as it has been until now.
This member of the policy making council of the 41st Fajr Theater Festival stated: Of course, in this area, I am referring to the Fajr Festival and maybe there are other themed festivals that have caused people to enter the theater profession through those festivals. This issue has happened in the form of an incident in some cases, but we saw this happening less in the Fajr festival.
I see the government's determination to overcome the chaos of the theater as serious
As a rule, I see the capacity of this in the current management, which intends to develop and organize the organization, not in an imposed way, but I emphasize that they consider the organized.
Emphasizing that when I accepted and joined this esteemed group as a member of the policy-making council, it means that I like the thinking of this administration and take it seriously, he said: My expectations are neither low nor limited; In a way, if a certain type of show is going to become popular in Iran, I will go to it and support it. As a rule, I see the capacity of this in the current management, which intends to develop and form an organized organization, not in an imposed way, but I emphasize that it is organized. Necessity demands that any organization that has the desired growth in its mind and ideas and supports it, its goals and methods should be compatible with each other in order to move towards the destination.
When the goal is clear, one hopes that the theater will find order and be saved from this chaos where everyone is unhappy.
This writer and researcher in the field of performing arts noted: As a rule, the realization of any goal requires compliance with various aspects related to that goal. That is, as much as only dealing with material issues does not cure pain, just dealing with content issues does not bring us to the goal. Therefore, all these elements must go hand in hand.
My experience tells me that the new management group wants to reform various aspects of the theater based on the desired goals, and those goals are usually in the pursuit of the national theater. We still haven't reached an agreement on a national theater, what is a national theater? Anyone who performs a work on stage says that this work represents the entire nation of Iran and the history of Iran. This is a claim and anyone can do it.
Iranian culture is a culture whose foundations are clear
Fanaian stated that the national theater also has its own characteristics: the national theater can emerge in the geography of the culture of a country and a people. The cultural, political, factional, and cross-sectional geography of Iran has been known throughout the centuries. The cultural geography of Iran is known to those who do research. It has the ability to be recognized and transmitted from one person to another, from one person to another or from one person to another. It means that it is not a baseless culture, Iranian culture is a culture whose foundations are clear. On the basis of this culture, art can be shaped and organized because the base of Iranian culture is ready and this is not a difficult task.
He reminded: We have great writers, philosophers and mystics. We are benefiting from such people right now. But over the years these cultures seem to have lost their signs. There has been a confusion regarding the recognition of the culture of Iran and everyone makes comments about this culture without the necessary studies. Especially in the form of art, everyone considers themselves free to say whatever they want. But at least we have not paid attention to this, whatever they want to say, "they are sad".
This means "say whatever your heart wants!" The heart must first be narrow and there must be longing for something. Anxiety can be social; Concern can be religious; The concern can be family and it can be the concern of love. Love in its true meaning, not today's childish love games! Love is the concept that our poets and mystics have talked about.
Actually, when these concerns exist, our culture has a lot to say based on these concerns. Iran's geography culture; Reasoned culture; provable; It is transferable and acceptable to other cultures. Because it has a very rational and logical support.
In the end, Fanayan said: based on such a culture, if theater and other arts find their form, we will have a great art and we will have an art that, based on the philosophy of unity in the same multiplicity and plurality in the same unity, while having a single theme, will be able to express many diverse subjects in The world of art should search. And each artist should create new works from that single theme according to their own taste and understanding. This Iranian culture, that is, the culture of unity at the same time as plurality and plurality at the same time as unity, compels us to work both thematically and very diversely.
