The English Blog

Cartoon: NSA's Huge Data Collection

© Chappatte in The International New York Times BACKGROUNDWe now know the NSA collects hundreds of thousands of address books and contact lists from e-mail services and instant messaging clients per day. Thanks to this information, th...

Cartoon: NSA Phone Hacking

BACKGROUNDThe US government may have been monitoring German chancellor Angela Merkel's cell phone for more than 10 years, according to a report by Der Spiegel based on internal documents from the National Security Agency (NSA). Preside...

Cartoon: NSA Spying Scandal

This cartoon by Rick McKee from The Augusta Chronicle relates to the NSA spying scandal, which has been widely covered on this blog. The cartoon shows a man in his bathroom. He has just finished having a shower (or a bath), and is sta...

Cartoon: Patriot Act Put On Hold

BACKGROUNDIf you’re making a phone call today, there’s a chance the NSA might not know about it. The spy agency was forced to halt its collection of bulk telephone metadata early Monday after the Senate failed to extend three key provi...

Cartoon: Snoop Obama

BACKGROUNDPresident Barack Obama's administration is facing controversy after revelations of details of massive programs run by the National Security Agency for collecting information from telephone and Internet companies. The Washi...

Words in the News: Surveillance

Barack Obama was facing a mounting domestic and international backlash against US surveillance operations on Monday as his administration struggled to contain one of the most explosive national security leaks in US history. Full stor...

Cartoon: Dirty Tricks or Treat

This cartoon by John Darcow from the Columbia Daily Tribune mixes the NSA spying scandal with Halloween (which is tonight, by the way). In the cartoon, an NSA spy wearing a stereotypical spy outfit (raincoat and headphones) has just b...

Words in the News: Surveillance

The phone, internet and email records of UK citizens not suspected of any wrongdoing have been analysed and stored by America's National Security Agency under a secret deal that was approved by British intelligence officials, according...

Words in the News: Bulk

Barack Obama confirmed on Tuesday that the US plans to end the National Security Agency's systematic collection of Americans’ telephone records, as leaders of a key committee in Congress insisted they were close to a deal with the Whit...

CNN Video: Obama's New Blackberry

President Obama's new PDA has a secret side, as CNN's Brian Todd reports: Embedded video from CNN Video TranscriptTODD (voice-over): It's official. The new president won't have to kick his tech habit. ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE...