Echelon is not our favorite topic, but the story just keeps going and going like some evil energizer bunny roaming prime-time TV. Beyond the bad metaphors, it turns out that the US NSA is prohibited from spying domestically. But, the NSA is the agency that’s probably handling the US portion of Echelon. Whoops. So, in early June, EPIC filed a freedom of information request with the NSA. The NSA missed the legal deadline to respond. Now, they’ve been sued.

Of course, it could be worse. Echelon may be the largest spy project ever conceived, but it’s restricted to material that’s been sent out of your computer into the wilds of the internet. The Australian government has the legal power to go beyond that and both monitor and change the contents of private computers. I’ve been mistaking Australia for a modern 'western' democracy that signed international Human Rights accords. Silly me. Any Australians for emigrating to someplace with more rights respect? Say, the People’s Republic of China. Coverage: Wired

It's monday. And what’s monday without our infamous hopelessly complete waste of time. This week, we bring your a solute to the evil dancing baby of Christmases yor. Thanks to the twisted, demented individual known as Aaron Dragushan we present Billy, Halloween and Beer.