navy – Techdirt (original) (raw)

Government Prosecutor Caught Sending Emails With Tracking Software To Reporters And Defense Attorneys

from the Mark-Harmon-must-be-rolling-over-in-his-grave dept

Well, this is a new twist on prosecutorial misconduct. Why play fair when you can play with Network Investigative Techniques?

A Navy prosecutor last week sent an email to the editor of Navy Times that was embedded with a secret digital tracking device. The tracking device came at a time when the Naval Criminal Investigative Service is mounting an investigation into media leaks surrounding the high-profile court-martial of a Navy SEAL accused of war crimes.

That email, from Navy prosecutor Cmdr. Christopher Czaplak to Navy Times editor Carl Prine, came after several months of Navy Times reporting that raised serious questions about the Navy lawyers’ handling of the prosecution in the war crimes case.

The NCIS claims this is all above-board, which is obviously the case because no one was surprised by the presence of trackers and no one had to issue a statement defending the use of emails containing tracking software. Oh wait. The other thing.

The reporter was more than surprised the prosecutor decided to engage in his own leak investigation to track the source of information covered by a protective order. The prosecutor’s employer, the US fucking government, explained via a spokesman that this tracking software was not “malware” or a “virus” and does nothing more than send IP addresses back to the NCIS home base. This is apparently supposed to make this OK.

But how OK is it really? Not very, it would appear. Not only does the use of this NIT violate a handful of laws, it also plays havoc with a handful of protections, Constitutional and otherwise.

The Navy email to Navy Times contained hidden computer coding designed to extract the IP address of the Navy Times computer network and to send that information back to a server located in San Diego. Under U.S. criminal law, authorities normally have to obtain a subpoena or court order to acquire IP addresses or other metadata. Not using one could be a violation of existing privacy laws, including the Electronic Communications Privacy Act.

Defense attorneys involved in the SEALs’ war crimes cases have said that 13 lawyers and paralegals on their team also received emails with a similar tracking device, according to court documents filed by the defense attorneys.

Sure, there’s not much to be gleaned from scraped IP addresses, but it’s possible that’s not all that was picked up by the NCIS’s NIT. It could have gathered email metadata as well, which can be almost as revealing as the content of the emails, especially when prosecutors are looking for sources of leaks.

This is problematic for a number of reasons. Targeting journalists to reveal sources does damage to First Amendment protections. Targeting defense attorneys puts attorney-client confidentiality at risk and strongly suggests the government isn’t interested in a fair trial.

NCIS insists its prosecutor is in the right, despite all this potential collateral damage. The attorney representing a Navy SEAL accused of war crimes begs to differ.

“The conduct of the prosecution is egregious,” said Tim Parlatore, a New York-based attorney, who is among several, including Marc Mukasey, a member of President Donald Trump’s legal team, defending the 39-year-old Gallagher. “(Cmdr.) Chris Czaplak should lose his law license and face criminal charges. He illegally spied on the defense attorneys and the media. The prosecutor needs his own defense attorney.”

The US government continues to downplay this as just a normal thing done in leak investigations. But it isn’t. It targeted journalists and defense attorneys — two parties that definitely shouldn’t be on the receiving end of anything even mildly nefarious originating from government prosecutors. This prosecutor decided the most important thing here wasn’t respecting rights or focusing on the suspect on trial, but rather sniffing out the source of a leak. This doesn’t reflect well on the NCIS and it’s quite possible there’s a benchslap awaiting this prosecutor, if not sanctions and a dismissal.

Filed Under: 4th amendment, carl pine, christopher czaplak, investigation, leaks, navy, nit, tracking, war crimes
Companies: navy times

US Navy Accused Of Massive Amounts Of Piracy By German Software Company

from the navy-pirates? dept

We’ve made the point for a long time that, on a long enough timeline, pretty much everybody is a pirate. The point is that the way copyright laws have evolved alongside such useful tools as the internet makes knowing whether common sense actions are actually copyright infringement an incredibly dicey riddle to solve. Often times without even trying, members of the public engage in infringing activities, up to and including the President of the United States.

And, it appears, up to and including entire branches of the United States military, though claims of accidental infringement in this case would appear to be rather silly. Bitmanagement, a German software company that produces virtual reality software, is accusing the US Navy of what can only be described as massive levels of copyright infringement.

In 2011 and 2012, the US Navy began using BS Contact Geo, a 3D virtual reality application developed by German company Bitmanagement. The Navy reportedly agreed to purchase licenses for use on 38 computers, but things began to escalate.

While Bitmanagement was hopeful that it could sell additional licenses to the Navy, the software vendor soon discovered the US Government had already installed it on 100,000 computers without extra compensation. In a Federal Claims Court complaint filed by Bitmanagement two years ago, that figure later increased to hundreds of thousands of computers. Because of the alleged infringement, Bitmanagement demanded damages totaling hundreds of millions of dollars.

Both parties have since investigated the issue, with the Navy reportedly simply admitting that it installed the software on nearly half a million computers. Bitmanagement had assumed the Navy would be paying for these installations, but the military branch failed to do so and instead tried to work out much lower licensing costs with the company long after the fact. For its part, the government insists that it bought concurrent licenses rather than client licenses, but this defense makes little sense for any number of reasons. The scale of installations suggests that more than 38 users would be on the software at any given time, not to mention that Bitmanagement’s VARs are not authorized to sell concurrent licenses, and that nothing in the contracts the Navy agreed to even mentions the word “concurrent.”

In a request for summary judgement, Bitmanagement is asking for the government to be liable for the hundreds of thousands of installations it carried out and pay for them accordingly.

Now, while this infringement by the US government seems anything other than accidental, keep in mind that this same US government that regularly puts out reports and comments on the dastardly amounts of copyright infringement carried out by other foreign governments and their citizens. It seems as though America should get its own house in order, at least at the level of the federal government, before pointing any more fingers.

Filed Under: bs contact geo, copyright, infringement, navy, piracy, us government, virtual reality
Companies: bitmanagement

DailyDirt: Planning For A Mars Colony

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

The Martian is inspiring some re-vitalized enthusiasm for manned missions to Mars. Along with the discovery of liquid water flowing on the surface of the red planet, science fiction combined with actual science is making space exploration sound cool again. However, there are still plenty of harsh realities for manned space exploration. Men have walked (and driven) on the moon, but beyond that, it’s unclear how much anyone really benefits from having people touch the surface of another moon or planet — without a plan to stay there and accomplish even more significant tasks. Becoming an interplanetary species sounds like a nice idea, but it’s not a pressing issue to actually do it — and we probably won’t be ready for it until we can actually set long term goals (ahem, and pass budgets on time).

After you’ve finished checking out those links, take a look at our Daily Deals for cool gadgets and other awesome stuff.

Filed Under: interplanetary travel, manned missions, mars, mars colony, mars simulation, martian cities, navy, space exploration, submarine
Companies: mars one, nasa

DailyDirt: Robots Of The Sea

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Robots can come in all kinds of shapes and sizes, but some of the more interesting designs mimic some animals in the ocean. Machines that can operate underwater have some obvious military applications, but studying biomimicry can also lead to discoveries in biology and deep sea ecosystems. Here are just a few projects looking at some varieties of sea-faring robots.

By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

Filed Under: biorobotics, evolution, fish, jellyfish, navy, octopus, robojelly, robots

DailyDirt: Never Get Involved In A Land War In Asia…?

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

While there has been a lot of talk about the threat of cyberwarfare, there should probably be more concern about actual warfare and new secret weapons that can shoot things that explode. Not to be too paranoid, but the US has been focused on terrorism for the last several years, but regular armies/navies/etc haven’t been standing still. Here are just a few possible examples.

By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

Filed Under: aircraft carrier, crop circles, navy, satellites, submarines, war, weapons

DailyDirt: Weapons Of Some Destruction

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Projectile weapons are so old school. There are so many other kinds of weapons to choose from nowadays. Some are non-lethal, but others are just as lethal — even though they only send out electromagnetic waves. Here are some examples of new weapons under development that could cause some damage (temporary or permanent).

By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

Filed Under: cyber-army, lasers, navy, stun ray