News you may have missed #320

• Wikileaks alleges US government surveillance. British quality broadsheet The Guardian is one of a handful of mainstream media outlets to seriously examine the allegation of Wikileaks, that its editor and co-founder, Julian Assange, became the target of “half a dozen attempts at covert surveillance in Reykjavik”, by individuals who said they represented the US Department of State. The article, written by Joseph Huff-Hannon, also cites intelNews.
• Saudi charity wins wiretap case against NSA. The Saudi-based charity Al-Haramain was taken to court in September 2004 by the US government, which accused it of maintaining terrorist links. But the charity has successfully demonstrated that the National Security Agency engaged in warrantless spying on it. However, the judge limited liability in the case to the government as an institution, rejecting the lawsuit’s effort to hold individual US government officials personally liable.
• Kremlin accused of KGB-style honey-traps. The Kremlin has been accused of sanctioning a Soviet-style honey-trap campaign against opposition politicians and journalists using entrapment techniques based on money, drugs and women. The allegations follow the release of a string of videos on the web purporting to show an opposition politician, a political analyst and the editor of the Russian edition of Newsweek magazine in compromising situations.