Ken Silva | The Libertarian Institute

How the Military is Using Your Data to Fight China

by Ken Silva | Sep 24, 2020 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy

A new generation of Cold Warriors want your data to build artificial intelligence-powered weapons for their escalating conflict with China. This has been made explicit by the U.S. National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI), a relatively new and secretive government body tasked with boosting the military’s AI capabilities. The NSCAI is a who’s who of the military-tech complex, with figures such as former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, former deputy defense secretary Robert Work, Oracle CEO Safra Catz, and Chris Darby, who heads the CIA investment arm In-Q-Tel. According to...

Big Tech Firmly Embedded in the War State, DoD Report Shows

by Ken Silva | Apr 19, 2020 | Economics, Featured Articles, Foreign Policy

The Department of Defense inspector general has released a damning report on the DoD’s massive “JEDI” cloud computing project, exposing a revolving door between Amazon and the Pentagon. The DoD’s September 2017 announcement of JEDI (a catchy acronym for Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure) sparked a frenzy in the US tech sector, with the country’s largest companies vying for the access, power, and prestige that would accompany the $10 billion prize. Government awarded Microsoft the contract last October, but Amazon is disputing the decision in court, and allegations of corruption...

The $2 Trillion Stimulus Package Is Funding Your Own Surveillance

by Ken Silva | Mar 31, 2020 | Events, Featured Articles

From corporate bailouts to endowments for art, the $2 trillion stimulus package signed into law last Friday has been roundly criticized as a smash-and-grab robbery perpetrated by the country’s elite. And rightly so. However, there is another provision in the 1,000-plus page legislation that should concern Americans just as much as any of its negative fiscal or economic implications: funding for what seems to be a massive surveillance program. Tucked away in a section labeled “emergency appropriations for coronavirus health response and agency operations” is a $500 million allocation to the...

The NSA’s Encroaching Oversight

by Ken Silva | Feb 28, 2020 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy, Justice, Libertarianism, Politics

The NSA’s spy program failed miserably, but some spooks want to expand it The US National Security Agency spent $100 million over three years on illegally collecting millions of American phone records – all for two reports with unique counterterrorism intelligence, according to a declassified report from an NSA oversight body. So naturally, intelligence officials and lawmakers want the NSA’s records collection program reauthorized, and some even want it expanded to include more modern forms of communications such as encrypted chat apps. The NSA’s failed spying scheme is detailed in a report...