UDATE - JUNE 20 2015
Last weekend, the Sunday Times published a front-page story (full text here), citing anonymous British sources claiming that both China and Russia have copies of the Snowden documents. It’s a terrible article, filled with factual inaccuracies and unsubstantiated claims about both Snowden’s actions and the damage caused by his disclosure, and others have thoroughly refuted the story. I want to focus on the actual question: Do countries like China and Russia have copies of the Snowden documents?
I believe the answer is certainly yes, but that it’s almost certainly not Snowden’s fault.
Snowden has claimed that he gave nothing to China while he was in Hong Kong, and brought nothing to Russia. He has said that he encrypted the documents in such a way that even he no longer has access to them, and that he did this before the US government stranded him in Russia. I have no doubt he did as he said, because A) it’s the smart thing to do, and B) it’s easy. All he would have had to do was encrypt the file with a long random key, break the encrypted text up into a few parts and mail them to trusted friends around the world, then forget the key. He probably added some security embellishments, but—regardless—the first sentence of the Times story simply makes no sense: “Russia and China have cracked the top-secret cache of files…”
But while cryptography is strong, computer security is weak. The vulnerability is not Snowden; it’s everyone who has access to the files.
There is a lot of evidence for this belief. We know from other top-secret NSA documents that as far back as 2008, the agency’s Tailored Access Operations group has extraordinary capabilities to hack into and “exfiltrate” data from specific computers, even if those computers are highly secured and not connected to the Internet.
These NSA capabilities are not unique, and it’s reasonable to assume both that other countries had similar capabilities in 2008 and that everyone has improved their attack techniques in the seven years since then. Last week, we learned that Israel had successfully hacked a wide variety of networks, including that of a major computer antivirus company. We also learned that China successfully hacked US government personnel databases. And earlier this year, Russia successfully hacked the White House’s network. These sorts of stories are now routine.
Those government hacking examples above were against unclassified networks, but the nation-state techniques we’re seeing work against classified and unconnected networks as well. In general, it’s far easier to attack a network than it is to defend the same network. This isn’t a statement about willpower or budget; it’s how computer and network security work today. A former NSA deputy director recently said that if we were to score cyber the way we score soccer, the tally would be 462–456 twenty minutes into the game. In other words, it’s all offense and no defense.
In this kind of environment, we simply have to assume that even our classified networks have been penetrated. Remember that Snowden was able to wander through the NSA’s networks with impunity, and that the agency had so few controls in place that the only way they can guess what has been taken is to extrapolate based on what has been published. Does anyone believe that Snowden was the first to take advantage of that lax security? I don’t.
I am reminded of a comment made to me in confidence by a US intelligence official. I asked him what he was most worried about, and he replied: “I know how deep we are in our enemies’ networks without them having any idea that we’re there. I’m worried that our networks are penetrated just as deeply.”
Seems like a reasonable worry to me.
The open question is which countries have sophisticated enough cyberespionage operations to mount a successful attack against one of the journalists or against the intelligence agencies themselves. And while I have my own mental list, the truth is that I don’t know. But certainly Russia and China are on the list, and it’s just as certain they didn’t have to wait for Snowden to get access to the files. While it might be politically convenient to blame Snowden because, as the Sunday Times reported an anonymous source saying, “we have now seen our agents and assets being targeted,” the NSA and GCHQ should first take a look into their mirrors.
Go Back to Top. Skip To: Start of Article.
Statue of Edward Snowden
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Edward_Snowden
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BLOGGED:
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FEB 22 2015- Snowden Wins Oscar..... Hell Yeah!
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Mass surveillance exposed by Snowden ‘not justified by fight against terrorism’
Last weekend, the Sunday Times published a front-page story (full text here), citing anonymous British sources claiming that both China and Russia have copies of the Snowden documents. It’s a terrible article, filled with factual inaccuracies and unsubstantiated claims about both Snowden’s actions and the damage caused by his disclosure, and others have thoroughly refuted the story. I want to focus on the actual question: Do countries like China and Russia have copies of the Snowden documents?
I believe the answer is certainly yes, but that it’s almost certainly not Snowden’s fault.
Snowden has claimed that he gave nothing to China while he was in Hong Kong, and brought nothing to Russia. He has said that he encrypted the documents in such a way that even he no longer has access to them, and that he did this before the US government stranded him in Russia. I have no doubt he did as he said, because A) it’s the smart thing to do, and B) it’s easy. All he would have had to do was encrypt the file with a long random key, break the encrypted text up into a few parts and mail them to trusted friends around the world, then forget the key. He probably added some security embellishments, but—regardless—the first sentence of the Times story simply makes no sense: “Russia and China have cracked the top-secret cache of files…”
But while cryptography is strong, computer security is weak. The vulnerability is not Snowden; it’s everyone who has access to the files.
The vulnerability is not Snowden; it’s everyone who has access to the files.
First, the journalists working with the documents. I’ve handled some
of the Snowden documents myself, and even though I’m a paranoid
cryptographer, I know how difficult it is to maintain perfect security.
It’s been open season on the computers of the journalists Snowden shared
documents with since this story broke in July 2013. And while they have
been taking extraordinary pains to secure those computers, it’s almost
certainly not enough to keep out the world’s intelligence services.There is a lot of evidence for this belief. We know from other top-secret NSA documents that as far back as 2008, the agency’s Tailored Access Operations group has extraordinary capabilities to hack into and “exfiltrate” data from specific computers, even if those computers are highly secured and not connected to the Internet.
These NSA capabilities are not unique, and it’s reasonable to assume both that other countries had similar capabilities in 2008 and that everyone has improved their attack techniques in the seven years since then. Last week, we learned that Israel had successfully hacked a wide variety of networks, including that of a major computer antivirus company. We also learned that China successfully hacked US government personnel databases. And earlier this year, Russia successfully hacked the White House’s network. These sorts of stories are now routine.
I believe that both China and Russia had access to all the files that
Snowden took well before Snowden took them because they've penetrated
the NSA networks where those files reside.
Which brings me to the second potential source of these documents to
foreign intelligence agencies: the US and UK governments themselves. I
believe that both China and Russia had access to all the files that
Snowden took well before Snowden took them because they’ve penetrated
the NSA networks where those files reside. After all, the NSA has been a
prime target for decades.Those government hacking examples above were against unclassified networks, but the nation-state techniques we’re seeing work against classified and unconnected networks as well. In general, it’s far easier to attack a network than it is to defend the same network. This isn’t a statement about willpower or budget; it’s how computer and network security work today. A former NSA deputy director recently said that if we were to score cyber the way we score soccer, the tally would be 462–456 twenty minutes into the game. In other words, it’s all offense and no defense.
In this kind of environment, we simply have to assume that even our classified networks have been penetrated. Remember that Snowden was able to wander through the NSA’s networks with impunity, and that the agency had so few controls in place that the only way they can guess what has been taken is to extrapolate based on what has been published. Does anyone believe that Snowden was the first to take advantage of that lax security? I don’t.
We simply have to assume that even our classified networks have been penetrated.
This is why I find allegations that Snowden was working for the Russians or the Chinese
simply laughable. What makes you think those countries waited for
Snowden? And why do you think someone working for the Russians or the
Chinese would go public with their haul?I am reminded of a comment made to me in confidence by a US intelligence official. I asked him what he was most worried about, and he replied: “I know how deep we are in our enemies’ networks without them having any idea that we’re there. I’m worried that our networks are penetrated just as deeply.”
Seems like a reasonable worry to me.
The open question is which countries have sophisticated enough cyberespionage operations to mount a successful attack against one of the journalists or against the intelligence agencies themselves. And while I have my own mental list, the truth is that I don’t know. But certainly Russia and China are on the list, and it’s just as certain they didn’t have to wait for Snowden to get access to the files. While it might be politically convenient to blame Snowden because, as the Sunday Times reported an anonymous source saying, “we have now seen our agents and assets being targeted,” the NSA and GCHQ should first take a look into their mirrors.
Go Back to Top. Skip To: Start of Article.
Statue of Edward Snowden
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Edward_Snowden
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BLOGGED:
EDWARD SNOWDEN GLOBAL HERO/Dec-2014 (Just In SNOWDEN DOCS AVAIL4DOWNLOAD) JUNE 2014 updates/ CUBA NWORLD RAPED BY USA- freedom of humanity’s internetworksociety stolen ewww /GOD BLESS CHILDREN/GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS -ALWAYS- Thank u4Canada's Freedom 2da n everyda/France may take Snowden if Brazil does NOT-Hell Yeah- AND THX RUSSIA when no1 gave a sheeet -SNOWDEN UP 4 NOBEL PEACE PRIZE / Edward Snowden wins Oscar- CITIZEN4 Hell Yeah Feb. 22 2015
http://nova0000scotia.blogspot.ca/2014/03/edward-snowden-well-someone-crashed-my.html------
FEB 22 2015- Snowden Wins Oscar..... Hell Yeah!
Edward Snowden documentary
Citizenfour wins Oscar
Laura Poitras’ film about Edward Snowden and the
NSA spying revelations carries off Academy award for non-fiction films
The Citizenfour team accept the award for best
documentary feature. Photograph: Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Monday 23 February 2015 03.51 GMT
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Mass surveillance exposed by Snowden ‘not justified by fight against terrorism’
Report by Nils
Muižnieks, commissioner for human rights at the Council of Europe, says
‘secret, massive and indiscriminate’ intelligence work is contrary to rule of
law
A video screengrab shows Edward Snowden
participating via satellite link at a human rights hearing at the Council of
Europe in Strasbourg in June 2014. Photograph: Frederick Florin/AFP/Getty
Images
The “secret, massive and indiscriminate”
surveillance conducted by intelligence services and disclosed by the former US
intelligence contractor Edward Snowden cannot be justified by the fight against
terrorism, the most senior human rights official in Europe has warned.
In a direct challenge to the United Kingdom and
other states, Nils Muižnieks, the commissioner for human rights at the Council
of Europe, calls for greater transparency and stronger democratic oversight of
the way security agencies monitor the internet. He also said that so-called
Five Eyes intelligence-sharing treaty between the UK, US, Australia, New
Zealand and Canada should be published.
“Suspicionless mass retention of communications
data is fundamentally contrary to the rule of law … and ineffective,” the
Latvian official argues in a 120-page report, The Rule of Law on the Internet
in the Wider Digital World. “Member states should not resort to it or impose
compulsory retention of data by third parties.”
As human rights commissioner, Muižnieks has the
power to intervene as a third party in cases sent to the European court of
human rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg. His report is published the week after the UK’s
Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) found that the legal regime governing mass
surveillance of the internet by the monitoring agency GCHQ is “human rights
compliant”.
In his report, Muižnieks wrote: “In connection with
the debate on the practices of intelligence and security services prompted by
Edward Snowden’s revelations, it is becoming increasingly clear that secret,
massive and indiscriminate surveillance programmes are not in conformity with
European human rights law and cannot be justified by the fight against
terrorism or other important threats to national security. Such interferences
can only be accepted if they are strictly necessary and proportionate to a
legitimate aim.”
The civil liberties organisations which brought the
claim in the IPT case are planning to appeal against the ruling to the ECHR - a
case in which the commissioner could participate.
Muižnieks told the Guardian: ”I’m interested in
weighing in on such cases about surveillance. Surveillance has gone beyond the
bounds of the rule of law and democratic oversight needs to be more robust.
“We have seen examples where there’s a clear lack
of oversight of security: the first was black sites, torture and rendition; the
second was the revelations about mass surveillance. I want to influence the
working of the court and its thinking.
“These recommendations [in the report] are my
interpretation of basic human rights principles. The court often refers to my
work in their judgments. There’s no substantial case law in internet-related
issues so far.
“The UK is a country we are watching closely on
these issues. It has a huge influence on whether or not the rule of law will
prevail in the digital environment. All of these data sharing agreements should
be as transparent as possible so we can assess the extent to which they are
abiding by the law. Our right to privacy has been compromised on a regular
basis and on a mass scale. I find that very worrying.”
Muižnieks said he expects to visit the UK next year
and examine the UK’s record on surveillance. Asked about the IPT ruling, he
commented: “I would note that very few complaints to this tribunal have been
upheld in the last few years which raises many questions for me.”
He supported calls for publication
of the so-called Five Eyes treaty that authorises intelligence sharing between
the UK, US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand as a contribution to
greater transparency. A case requesting its release has already been lodged at
the ECHR.
His report contained a number of recommendations
including:
• No states … European or otherwise, should access
data stored in another country without the express consent of the other country
or countries involved unless there is a clear, explicit and sufficiently
circumscribed legal basis in international law for such access.
• Member states should ensure that their
law-enforcement agencies do not obtain data from servers and infrastructure in
another country under informal arrangements.
• [Countries] should stop relying on private
companies that control the internet and the wider digital environment to impose
restrictions that are in violation of the state’s human rights obligations.
• The activities of national security and
intelligence agencies [should be brought within] an overarching legal
framework. Until there is increased transparency on the rules under which these
services operate their activities cannot be assumed to be in accordance with
the rule of law.
• States should ensure that effective democratic
oversight over national security services is in place. For effective democratic
oversight, a culture of respect for human rights and the rule of law should be
promoted, in particular among security service officers.
The Council of Europe, which has 47 member states
including the UK, Russia and Turkey, is the body that oversees the European
court of human rights in Strasbourg.
TRENDING ON FACEBOOK 2DA AUG 8
comment:
The Director of the CIA has apologized (admitted or confessed is another way to describe it) for unlawful domestic spying on the US Senate Intelligence Committee. The DOJ says it will not investigate further (not enough evidence - which is silly or even dumb since evidence of a crime doesn't get any stronger than a confession of guilt!) Saying you are sorry is another way to say you did it, right?
So my question to you...why is Holder ignoring this?
Government spying on its own citizens is not like stealing a pack of gum from the grocery store. It is extremely serious.
Government spying on its own citizens is not like stealing a pack of gum from the grocery store. It is extremely serious.
--------------
imho- August 1 2014- still thankful 4 -EDWARD SNOWDEN GLOBAL HERO-(Aug 1-2014) -SNOWDEN nominated 4 Nobel Peace Prize- 90% of world opposes NSA AND 'CIVILIZED' NATIONS SPYING- come election time- voters will walk the talk.... and the country that has the courage and honour 2 take Edward Snowden will be remembered as bravely honouring the people versus backdoor listening on ur citizens...wait and see...
Edward Snowden nominated for Nobel peace prize
OSLO, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- Two Norwegian politicians on Thursday sent a letter to the Norwegian Nobel Committee, nominating the U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden for the 2014 Nobel peace prize.
Baard Vegard Solhjell, a former Norwegian minister from the Socialist Left party, and his party colleague Snorre Valen, jointly wrote the nomination letter, in which they said that Snowden's revelations of U.S. monitoring of internet communications have contributed to the trust between nations and peoples that is necessary for peace.
The public debate and the political changes that have followed Snowden's whistleblowing has "contributed to a more stable and peaceful world order," they said in the letter.
Snowden has provided critical knowledge of how monitoring takes place in a modern society and "his actions have reintroduced trust and transparency as guiding principles in security. These values can not be overstated," said they.
Both Solhjell and Valen are members of the current Norwegian parliament.
The deadline for nominating candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize for 2014 is Feb. 1. But the Norwegian Nobel Committee members can make their nomination as late as in late February at their first meeting after the expiry of the deadline.
Those entitled to nominate include former Nobel peace prize laureates, members of national assemblies and governments, university professors in certain disciplines such as history and social studies, and members of international courts.
Snowden was nominated by the Swedian sociology professor, Stefan Svallfors, in July 2013. This nomination stands good as nominations which come after the deadline are normally included in the following year's assessment.
The five-member committee, which received 259 nomination letters last year, never provide a list of nominees and claims that it is independent of outside influence when it makes a decision on the winner.
At the first review, the committee prepares what is called a short list,which usually contains the names of five to 20 nominees.
Although a choice is usually made in mid-September, a final decision can be up to the last moment before the announcement of the laureate or laureates, which takes place on the second Friday in October.
The Nobel peace prize is given on the 10th day of December every year at a ceremony held in Oslo City Hall.
Related:
Snowden sees "no chance" to get fair trial in U.S.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Edward Snowden, a former U.S. defense contractor who revealed the U.S. secret surveillance programs, wrote on Thursday in an online chat that it is "not possible" for him to return to the United States under current whistleblower protection laws and he sees "no chance" to have a fair trial in his home country.
"Returning to the U.S., I think, is the best resolution for the government, the public, and myself, but it's unfortunately not possible in the face of current whistleblower protection laws, which, through a failure in law, did not cover national security contractors like myself," Snowden said, according to answers posted on the website of advocacy group "Free Snowden." Full story
Lawyer dismisses allegations of Snowden spying for Russia
MOSCOW, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- Gossips about alleged involvement of the Russian secret services to the saga of the former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden are "utter rave," Snowden's lawyer said Wednesday.
"This is utter rave and provocation," the Interfax news agency quoted Anatoly Kucherena as saying. Full story
No real reform of surveillance
BEIJING, Jan. 22 (Xinhuanet) -- On Friday, US President Barack Obama made his first substantive speech on the surveillance programs of the US National Security Agency. Although he seems to have accepted a few recommendations of the NSA Review Panel, his proposed reforms of the United States' global surveillance fall far short of being satisfactory, as the White House has failed to address a number of issues.
In his speech, Obama made it clear that the US government will continue to collect the communication data of American and foreign nationals, including the interception of communications by foreign government leaders. Full story
Commentary: Obama's spying overhaul proposals too weak to win back trust
BEIJING, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- President Barack Obama is known for eloquence. But his long-awaited speech on overhauling the controversial intelligence community of the United States has failed to impress as it has little substance.
Obama moved in the right direction by ordering to curtail some of the spying programs of the National Security Agency (NSA) to enhance transparency and privacy seven months after the disclosure of the superpower's spying saga. Full story
JULY 31ST. / AUGUST 2014
·
Edward Snowden nominated for Nobel
news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-
Jan 30, 2014 · OSLO,
Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- Two Norwegian politicians on Thursday sent a letter
to the Norwegian Nobel Committee, nominating the U.S. whistleblower Edward
...
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From Russia with love..... at least Russia is protecting
this global hero....
Edward Snowden in Russia
In early June 2013, ex-CIA employee//NSA contractor Snowden leaked details of mass surveillance programs that the US secret services carry out around the world.
US officials charged Snowden with three crimes, each punishable by 10 years in prison. He is accused of unauthorized communication of national defense information, willful communication of classified intelligence to an unauthorized person and theft of government property.
Snowden flew from the US to Hong Kong and then arrived in Moscow on June 23, 2013. He could not leave the transit area of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport as his US passport had been revoked.
On June 30, 2013, Wikileaks legal advisor Sarah Harrison handed over political asylum applications on behalf of Snowden to the consulate at Sheremetyevo Airport. The applications were addressed to 21 countries, including Austria, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Cuba, Finland, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, Poland, Russia, Spain, Switzerland and Venezuela.
On July 1, Russian President Vladimir Putin offered a condition by which Edward Snowden could stay in Russia. Putin requested that Snowden stop causing harm to the US.
On July 5, it was reported that Edward Snowden applied for asylum with six more countries.
On July 7, Foreign Minister of Venezuela Elías Jaua announced that Venezuelan officials had offered the ex-CIA employee on the run guarantees of asylum and were expecting a response. Bolivian President Evo Morales also expressed his willingness to accept Snowden in his country if the latter were to submit an official request. Nicaragua was the third country to offer help.
On July 11, Edward Snowden sent an email to foreign human rights organizations in Russia, the UN mission in Moscow and some prominent Russian lawyers inviting them to a meeting on July 12 in the transit area of Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow. After the meeting it was announced that Snowden intended to apply for temporary political asylum in Russia.
On July 16, lawyer Anatoly Kucherena who consulted the former CIA employee announced that Snowden had submitted an official asylum request to a representative of the Russian Federal Migration Service. In his application, Snowden stated threats to his life as the reason for seeking asylum.
On August 1, the media learned that Snowden received temporary asylum in Russian for one year. Lawyer Kucherena announced that Snowden left the airport in a taxi, alone.
On August 6, lawyer Kucherena, representing Snowden’s interests, reported that his client had registered with the Russian immigration service.
The decision to provide Snowden with temporary political asylum was made by a Moscow regional department of the Federal Migration Service.
Later, Head of the Moscow Department of the Federal Migration Service Olga Kirillova announced that Snowden had not settled in Moscow.
On October 10, the Washington Post reported that four US whistleblowers from Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence and Wikileaks employee Sarah Harrison met with Snowden in Moscow to present him with an award “for telling the truth.”
Also on October 10, Snowden’s father, Lonnie Snowden, arrived in Moscow. On October 15, lawyer Kucherena reported that Snowden met with his father, no other details were revealed.
On October 16 it became known that Snowden’s father was returning to the US but planned to travel to Russia again.
On October 17, The New York Times reported that Snowden gave an interview denying that he brought any classified documents to Russia. Snowden claimed that he passed all the classified papers he managed to obtain to journalists he met with in Hong Kong before flying to Moscow, and that he did not keep any copies.
On October 31, it was reported that Snowden got a job and would be managing IT support for a major Russian website starting November 1.
On October 31, Snowden met with a member of the German Bundestag, Hans-Christian Stroebele, and handed over a letter to the German government, parliament and general prosecution. Stroebele, who is a member of a parliamentary committee on security services, and the ex-CIA employee discussed conditions on which Snowden could testify for a German investigation of US intelligence activity, including the wiretapping of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s phone.
On December 16, the Euronews audience recognized Snowden as Man of the Year 2014, with 47% of the votes. Earlier, The Guardian, a newspaper that was the first to publish the controversial story, also called Snowden the Man of the Year.
On December 24, in an interview with the Washington Post, Snowden said that his mission was complete.
On December 25, Snowden congratulated the British people on Christmas and urged them to think about how dangerous mass surveillance organized by the governments of several countries could be for the future of the world. The statement recorded in Russia was Snowden’s first appearance after his being granted a political asylum in Russia in August 2013. The statement was aired an hour after the Royal Christmas Message on Channel 4.
On January 22, 2014, Snowden gave an interview to the New Yorker from Moscow via encrypted channels. Snowden called the allegations that he is a Russian intelligence agent ridiculous and expressed confidence that Americans would not believe such an assumption.
On January 26, Snowden gave his first television interview since his stay in Russia. In strict confidence, he spoke to journalist and documentary filmmaker Hubert Seipel. In the interview, Snowden said he decided to tell the public about the scale of the mass surveillance that western intelligence services are conducting after he watched an address by the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, who, according to Snowden, lied in front of the US Congress.
On February 18, it was reported that Snowden was elected Rector of the University of Glasgow.
On March 10, Snowden participated in the South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive technology conference in Austin, Texas, by teleconference. He said that he had disclosed the data on secret US national intelligence programs to protect the law.
On April 7, The New York Times reported that Snowden was awarded the Ridenhour Truth-Telling Prize.
On April 8, Edward Snowden spoke at a meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe by teleconference. Snowden said that the international community must develop new standards to prevent mass surveillance programs.
The former US intelligence service employee also spoke about the Fingerprints program that not only allows tracing but will also analyze the activity of online users.
On April 17, Snowden asked a video question in English during a live Q&A session with President Vladimir Putin. Snowden asked if Russia is involved in the interception, storage or analysis of conversations of millions of people and whether the president justifies mass surveillance. Putin responded that the Russian intelligence services only used wiretapping and surveillance if authorized by court in strict compliance with the law, and that therefore, no mass surveillance was being carried out.
On May 21, Snowden gave his first interview to a US television channel from a hotel in Moscow. The interview lasted for about four hours.
On May 29, lawyer Kucherena announced that Snowden was going to apply for an asylum extension.
On June 2, AFP, citing local media, reported that Snowden sent an official request to Brazil seeking political asylum.
In an interview with The Guardian, Snowden said that he spends some of his time on improving his technical skills and is developing a professional encrypting protocol that could help some professionals, including journalists, protect their data and information sources.
http://en.ria.ru/news/20140731/191521540/Edward-Snowden-in-Russia.html
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Snowden Applies for Temporary Asylum in Russia
14:27 31/07/2014
Fugitive
NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden has applied to have his temporary asylum in
Russia extended for another year, his lawyer Anatoly Kucherena said Thursday.
----
JULY 19 2014
More people than ever oppose the NSA practices Edward
Snowden revealed. Why should he spend his life in prison?
The
justice system would never allow Snowden to present a real defense at trial.
That's just one reason to give him amnesty
FOR ALL THE SHIT KICKING AT
RUSSIA- RUSSIA PROTECTS WORLD HERO EDWARD
SNOWDEN..... FROM THE CREEPY USA HOOKS....
Edward Snowden May Extend
Asylum in Russia
World | Indo-Asian News
Service | Updated: June 05, 2014 10:06 IST
Moscow: Fugitive US intelligence whistleblower Edward
Snowden could extend his refugee status in Russia, his lawyer said on
Wednesday.
"Everything is fine, we
are dealing with issues to extend the status, so everything is ok,"
Interfax news agency quoted Anatoly Kucherena as saying, according to Xinhua.
------------------------
SNOWDEN STRIKES AGAIN: UK intelligence used FACEBOOK, YOUTUBE to manipulate online behavior...
Hacking Online Polls and Other Ways British Spies Seek to Control Internet...
German plan to take on NSA: Classical music and typewriters...
-----------------------------
OH BABY- SHARING THE EDWARDWARD SNOWDEN LOVE- FROM CANADA- JUNE 21- FROM GERMANY- ONE OF WORLD'S GREATEST PAPERS
The
NSA in Germany: Snowden's Documents Available for Download
In
Edward Snowden's archive on NSA spying activities around the world, there are
numerous documents pertaining to the agency's operations in Germany and its
cooperation with German agencies. SPIEGEL is publishing 53 of them, available
as PDF files.
America's National
Security Agency has been active in Germany for decades. During the Cold War,
much of its focus was on targets beyond West Germany's eastern border. But even
then, the NSA continued to monitor communications within, and originating in,
West Germany. Since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the NSA has increased
its ability to monitor global communications -- and documents from the archive
of whistleblower Edward Snowden show that Germany is the agency's most
important base of operations in continental Europe.
The documents show that the NSA, while focusing on counter-terrorism
and other areas of importance to national security, has also established
systems that allow it to monitor vast amounts of digital and other forms of
communications in Germany and elsewhere. The agency can intercept huge amounts
of emails, text messages and phone conversations. The NSA even monitored the
mobile phone of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
When revelations of
NSA spying in Germany first broke last year, German officials indicated they
were unaware of the breadth of US intelligence activity in the country. For
this week's cover story, SPIEGEL once again examined all of the documents from
Snowden's archive pertaining to NSA activity in Germany. The story can be read here.
But Snowden documents
also indicate that Germany's foreign intelligence agency, the BND, and its
domestic intelligence agency, the BfV, work closely together with the NSA in
sites around Germany. For SPIEGEL's story on that cooperation, click here.
Below are PDF files
of the most important documents pertaining to that cooperation. SPIEGEL has
redacted them to obscure the identification of BND and NSA agents, phone
numbers, email addresses and other information that could put lives in danger.
A glossary explaining many of the abbreviations found in the documents can be found here. SPIEGEL's
editorial explaining why we have elected to publicize the documents can be read here.
Please note, in some
of the documents, you may have to scroll down to get to the text.
·
Nostalgic recollections out of the NSA intranet from NSA workers formerly
stationed in Bad Aibling
-------------------
.jpg)
Calls for Snowden to be given French citizenship
Published:
12 Jun 2014 16:36 GMT+02:00
/page/view/tag/Could the US whistleblower Edward Snowden be made an honorary citizen of France? That’s the plan of two French senators, who have proposed the controversial move in parliament, adding to the growing movement calling for the former spy to be granted asylum in France.
/page/view/tag/Could the US whistleblower Edward Snowden be made an honorary citizen of France? That’s the plan of two French senators, who have proposed the controversial move in parliament, adding to the growing movement calling for the former spy to be granted asylum in France.
A
campaign in France to grant asylum to Edward Snowden gained momentum this week
when two senators lodged a proposal to make the US fugitive an honorary French
citizen.
The
move by two centrists Catherine Morin-Desailly and Chantal Jouanno comes just a
week after a petition calling for Snowden to be granted asylum in France gained 33,000 signatures in less
than 12 hours.
The
petition would not have gone down well with US authorities and the senators
provocative move to make Snowden an honorary French citizen will only stoke the
flames even further.
The
senators said the president of France and the Prime Minister “had a
responsibility” to grant asylum to the former NSA agent.
The
text of the proposal recognizes that Snowden was responsible for launching a
“healthy and urgent reflection on the legitimacy of phone tapping” and stressed
“the special obligation of France in respect” of the fugitive.
“The
revelations around Edward Snowden have shown that the massive data collection
by the NSA citizens around the world went beyond the framework of the fight
against terrorism or other geopolitical risks,” the pair said in a statement.
“No
administrative hindrance should stand in the way of his asylum in France,” they
added.
The
former NSA intelligence agent provoked the wrath of the US when he leaked
thousands of documents revealing the extent of US spying on citizens and
organisations around the world.
The
documents Snowden leaked to journalists have repeatedly exposed the vastness of
America's information gathering via electronic means and have prompted awkward
political confrontations and embarrassments. The files at one point revealed
American intelligence services had tapped the mobile phone of German Chancellor
Angela Merkel.
Another
centrist MP Yves Jégo lodged a similar proposal to the senators in May in the
National Assembly.
Though
the petition and the calls for Snowden to be given French citizenship have
struck a chord with the public, the likelihood of the fugitive setting up home
in Paris or Provence is unlikely. The government has not officially reacted,
but Prime Minister Manuel Valls said in an interview on BFM TV on Tuesday that he was "not
favorable" towards harboring Snowden.
The
move comes at a time when US - French relations are strained due to a dispute
over the decision by US authorities to fine French bank BNP billions of dollars for
breaking a trade embargo with Iran.
------------------
----------------
JUNE 2014- 'France must give refuge to Edward Snowden'
---------------
FREEDOM COSTS DEARLY
God bless Edward Snowden- we love u honey
WALK A MILE IN MY SHOES- Joe South
JUNE 10, 2014
Edward Snowden's NSA leaks 'an important service', says Al Gore
Former vice-president argues whistleblower exposed 'violations of US constitution far more serious than crimes he committed'Ewen MacAskill, defence correspondent
The Guardian, Tuesday 10 June 2014 19.31 BST
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/10/edward-snowden-nsa-leaks-important-service-al-gore
--------------------------
HALIFAX CHRONICLE HERALD- JUNE 7 2014
Cell firm report shows countries can tap into operator’s networks
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONDON — Vodafone , one of the world’s largest cellphone companies, revealed the scope of government snooping into phone networks Friday, saying authorities in some countries are able to directly access an operator’s network without seeking permission. The company outlined the details in a report that is described as the first of its kind, covering 29 countries in which it directly operates. It gives the most comprehensive look to date on how governments monitor the communications of their citizens.
The most explosive revelation was that in a small number of countries, authorities require direct access to an operator’s network — bypassing legal niceties like warrants. It did not name the countries. “In those countries, Vodafone will not receive any form of demand for lawful interception access as the relevant agencies and authorities already have permanent access to customer communications via their own direct link," the report said.
The report itself reflects the concern now being raised regarding privacy rights around the world. Though Vodafone is a global company, it consists of separate subsidiaries, all of which are subject to domestic laws of the countries in which it operates.
“The need for governments to balance their duty to protect the state and its citizens against their duty to protect individual privacy is now the focus of a significant global public debate," the company said in the report. “We hope that . . . disclosures in this report will help inform that debate."
The findings will heap anxiety on civil rights advocates already alarmed by the revelations of Edward Snowden , the former National Security Agency systems administrator whose leaks have exposed some of the agency’s most sensitive spying operations.
Shami Chakrabarti, the director of the human rights group Liberty, described the findings as a worstcase scenario infringement into civil rights.
---------------------
UPDATES JUNE 5, 6, 7, 2014- u hijacked my blog/facebook etc... F**kU...am still here...
EDWARD SNOWDEN-JUNE 5 2014 updates/ CUBA (Cuban Twitter invaded by America -USAID- Oh God) –SUPERSTAR EDWARD SNOWDEN... FREEDOM ROARS..... F**K the free world who refused 2 help the freedom of humanity’s internetworksociety... only Russia had the guts2 step up and take Snowden in- and maybe Brazil- fake democracy is the west defined.... we will remember. hugs and love Edward Snowden... hugs and love... AND 2 our troops- 2Da Canada finishes in Afghanistan- Afghan Women and Children matter 2
----
Whistleblowers
like Snowden deserve proper legal protection
Annie
Machon
A year
ago I stumbled across a story about a troubling new surveillance program
developed by the National Security Agency: Prism. While nobody was identified as the
source of the disclosure,
I was awestruck by the bravery of this unknown person who had made this
information available to the public.
At the
time the Obama administration
had been waging an aggressive war on whistleblowers even as
U.S. officials responsible for actual aggressive war on Iraq and the torture of “war on terror”
detainees were escaping accountability
Ex-CIA officer, John Kiriakou, who helped expose the CIA’s torture program, was languishing
in prison; Kirk Wiebe, William Binney and Thomas
Drake of the NSA
had narrowly escaped prosecution for exposing NSA malfeasance. Indeed, despite having
gone through all the approved channels, Drake had faced a 35-year prison
sentence.
And,
of course, the kangaroo court of military justice had just started to tryChelsea
Manning for her exposure of U.S. war crimes concealed in
classified files. It is the whistleblower Manning who is now serving a 35-year
stretch in prison, while the war criminals and torturers continue to walk free.
President
Barack Obama has used and
abused the 1917 U.S. Espionage Act against whistleblowers during his
years in the White House
more times than all his predecessors put together. This paranoid hunt for the “insider threat” has been going on since at
least 2008, as we know from documents leaked to Wikileaks in 2010.
Against
this background, fully aware of the hideous risks he was taking and the
prospect of the rest of his life behind bars, a young man stepped forward. Four
days after the initial Prism disclosure, Edward Snowden announced to the world that he was the
source of the story and many more to come. He was clear then about his
motivation and he remains clear now in the few interviews he has done since:
what he had seen on the inside of the NSA
caused him huge concern.
The
American intelligence infrastructure, along with its equivalent agencies across
the world, was constructing a global surveillance network that
not only threatened the Constitution of the United States, but also eroded
the privacy of all the world’s citizens.
According
to another disclosure, the
global surveillance
state wanted to “master the Internet,” a project headed by the
United Kingdom’s Government Communications Headquarters or GCHQ, the NSA’s British counterpart. As
increasing numbers of us conduct aspects of our lives over the Internet (be it
banking, health, social lives, organizations, activism,
relationships) this growing lack of privacy strikes at the very root of
democracy.
Privacy
was enshrined as a basic human right in the United Nations Declaration in 1948
precisely because without it we are vulnerable to the encroachments and abuses
of the state. What Snowden
has disclosed would fulfill the Stasi’s wildest dreams and has the potential to
go beyond the dystopic horrors of George Orwell’s novel 1984.
So
what did Snowden
disclose? Prism was only
the start, and that was bad enough – a program to scoop up all our metadata:
whom we’re in contact with, for how long, what we’re reading, what we’re
viewing. NSA apologists say that
this is not invasive, it is not looking at the contents of the communications.
But I can assure you that metadata is intelligence gold dust. It can provide a
far more detailed overview of a person’s life than any individual communication
often can.
But it
gets worse. Then came Tempora and associated documents that
disclosed that the UK’s GCHQ was mainlining information from the transatlantic
fiber-optic cables, which affected all European citizens, as well as displaying
how GCHQ was prostituting itself to the NSA for money and putting NSA objectives above the priorities
of the UK government.
And
then XKeyscore, enthusiastically used by
Germany’s BND, presumably without the knowledge of its
political masters. There have been many more: Brazil’s Petrobras oil company, the French telephone network, charities, the Muscular
access point and the massive Fascia database, which contains trillions of
device-location records … Where to stop?
This
year Britain’s Joint Threat Research Intelligence Group was
using Squeaky
Dolphin‘s real-time monitoring of social media networks, and the
bulk collection of private webcam images via the Optic Nerve program.
This
last disclosure most
grimly does away with the “done nothing wrong, nothing to hide” argument. In
this era of families living in different countries and long-distance
relationships, video Skype is increasingly used to stay in contact with loved
ones. And this contact can be somewhat intimate at times between
couples. On video. Anyone who has ever used Skype for
such purposes must surely be feeling violated?
Out
of this morass of spying came moments of personal annoyance for western
politicians, not least the information that German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s
mobile phone was also being tapped, as were those of numerous other politicians. Which rather blows
out of the water the
much-abused argument that all this surveillance is to stop
terrorists. On what planet would the NSA
spooks need to live to seriously think that Merkel could be deemed a terrorist?
All
these disclosures are of the gravest public interest. Yet how have western
politicians reacted? In the usual way – shoot the messenger. All
the standard li(n)es have been trotted out by
the spies: Snowden was too
junior to know what he is talking about, and was ”just” a contracted
systems administrator (this line says more about the ignorance of the
politicians about all things tech than anything about Snowden’s job); that Snowden is a traitor for fleeing
to Russia, when in fact he was trapped there by the U.S. government withdrawing
his passport while he was in transit to Latin America; or that he should “man up” and return to the U.S. to stand trial.
There were even apparently calls from the spies for him to be
extra-judicially murdered.
Despite
this, his disclosures have resulted in congressional hearings in the U.S.,
where senior spooks have been caught out lying about the efficacy of
these spy programs. A U.S. federal judge has declared the NSA’s activities unconstitutional,
and minor reforms are underway to protect the rights of U.S. citizens within
their own country.
Which
is a start. However, that still leaves the rest of us living under the
baleful gaze of the NSA and its
vassals.
The
British response has been
largely muted, with politicians immediately assuring the grateful citizens of
the UK that everything done by the spies is legal
and proportionate, when in fact it was manifestly not. Nor is this
any consolation for the rest of Europe’s
citizens – after all, why should the British Foreign Secretary be
able to take it upon himself to authorize intercept programs such as Tempora
that sweep up the communications of an entire continent?
Press
discussion of Snowden’s
disclosures in the UK has been largely muted because of acensorship notice slapped on the media,
while the Guardian newspaper that helped to break the story had its hard disks smashed up by GCHQ.
Other
countries have displayed a more robust response, with Brazil planning to build
its owntransatlantic cables to Europe to avoid the Tempora
program, and in Germany people have beendemanding that the constitution be upheld
and privacy ensured against the American surveillance behemoth.
The
European parliamentary Civil
Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) committee has heldmonths-long hearings with evidence from
tech experts, whistleblowers
and campaigners about what it should do to protect EU citizens from the
predations of the U.S. Edward Snowden
himselfgave a statement.
This
is all well and good, but it would be more helpful if they could give Snowden asylum in Europe and also put in place some
meaningful measures to protect our rights one year on – in fact, all they would
need to do is enact the provisions of the European parliament’s own July 2001 report into the Echelon fiasco.
Echelon, some of you may remember, was a global proto-surveillance network, where
the intelligence agencies of the U.S., UK, New Zealand, Australia and Canada (now
called Five Eyes) could all share product and subvert oversight measures in
each others’ countries. In 2001 the EU recommended that Europe develop its own Internet
infrastructure and move away from its dependency on U.S. corporate proprietary
software.
All
good suggestions, but all too soon forgotten after 9/11 and the rush to the “war on
terror”.
One
year on from Snowden I would
suggest that these measures should indeed be implemented. The European
Parliament needs to take action now and show its 500 million citizens that it
is serious about protecting their rights rather than pandering to the demands
of the U.S. government and its corporate sponsors.
So,
on this anniversary, I want to salute the bravery of Edward Snowden. His conscious courage
has given us all a fighting chance against a corporate-industrial-intelligence
complex that is running amok across the world. I hope that we can all find
within us an answering courage to do what is right and indeed take back our
rights. His bravery and sacrifice must not be in vain.
Annie Machon is a former
intelligence officer in the UK’s MI5
Security Service (the U.S. counterpart is the FBI). She is also a British member of Sam Adams
Associates for Integrity in Intelligence. First published on RT OP-Edge. Republished here with
permission.
--------------
Every person who cherishes freedom- needs 2 buy this book also FLASH BOYS AND WALLSTREET THIEVES
---------------
--------------
German
committee wants to question Edward Snowden in Moscow over NSA spying on Angela
Merkel
Friday,
6 June 2014 - 8:15pm IST | Place: Berlin (Germany) | Agency: Reuters
With backing from
Chancellor Angela Merkel's grand coalition government, a German parliamentary
committee wants to meet former United States intelligence contractor Edward
Snowden in Moscow in the coming weeks, German network ARD reported on Thursday.
The ruling
right-left coalition has resisted opposition demands that Snowden come to
Germany to testify to the parliamentary committee looking into the mass
surveillance of German citizens by the US National Security Agency (NSA) that
he exposed.
The NSA practices
have become a major political issue in Germany, which is sensitive to the
abuses of such agencies after their Nazi and Communist pasts, and reports that
the NSA monitored Merkel's mobile phone calls have cast a shadow over the once
close US-German relations.
ARD quoted a leader
of the committee, Christian Flisek, saying a meeting with Snowden in Moscow
would not have the character of witness testifying but rather be a chance to
give members a chance to get a better picture of Snowden.
Flisek told ARD
that the committee members would have, for instance, the chance to ask Snowden
directly whether or not he wanted to return to the US. Flisek said it was
now up to Snowden to decide if he wants to meet the committee in Moscow,
something the Germans would like to do by July 2.
The Greens and Left
parties, the two small opposition parties on the committee, voted against the
measure because they want Snowden to come to Germany to testify. The
coalition-dominated committee voted against that.
Snowden has said he
would like to be questioned in Germany. But the German government had told the
committee it could not ensure that Snowden would not be detained and possibly
extradited to the United States once he arrived.
Russia granted
Snowden a year's asylum in August 2013 despite the US wanting Moscow to send
him home to face criminal charges, including espionage, for disclosing in June
secret US Internet and telephone surveillance programmes. Last month,
Snowden said he was not under the control of Russia's government and had given
Moscow no intelligence documents after nearly a year of asylum there.
--------------
Edward
Snowden patriot or traitor? How about 'Hero?'
June
6, 2014
June 5
was the one year anniversary of Edward Snowden's public outing of the NSA
spying into every minute particle of our personal lives.
Yet a
year later people are still debating whether Snowden should be regarded as a
patriot or a traitor.
So
let's make the issue as starkly clear as possible.
If a
friend tells you that your lying, backstabbing, hypocritical, deceitful spouse
is cheating on you do you call your friend a traitor and then go crawling back
to your unfaithful spouse?
If a
fellow citizen tells you that your lying, backstabbing, hypocritical, deceitful
Statist political leaders are cheating on you do you call your fellow citizen a
traitor and then go crawling back to your psychopathic leaders?
Government,
as a matter of fact and not of opinion, is the ultimate criminal enterprise.
It, like every gang from the Crips to the drug cartels to the Mafia, impose
monopoly rule over a geographical area and claim a right to use everything and
everyone in it for the ruler's personal benefit.
Big
lickspittle statist media like the Washington Post try mightily to bury us all
under the old familiar snowjob of "It's complicated."
"Did
his information help shed needed sunshine into the workings of U.S.
intelligence- and data-gathering?" they opined, "Or did it
irreparably jeopardize current operations and put personnel at risk?"
Really?
Is your spouse screwing someone else actually "complicated?"
If
this country and its government really belong to "us" and not just to
the ruling class then yes, the light needs to be shed. If "current
operations" were "irreparably jeopardized" then maybe they damn
well needed to be – are we a free society or a lying, backstabbing,
hypocritical, deceitful, cheating, covert society?
If any
"personnel" were put at risk it falls squarely on the head of The
State for putting them at risk, not on the head of the truth-teller. That would
be like blaming your truth-telling friend for your spouse's infidelity.
In
short, Snowden, along with other truth-tellers like Daniel Ellsberg, Bradley
Manning, and Julian Assange, has become the ultimate litmus test between
big-government worshipping Statists and freedom-loving individuals.
If
everything is "complicated" and there are no absolutes then Snowden
and the others are neither patriots nor traitors, your spouse is neither loyal
nor a cheater and your Statist political leaders are neither principled nor
mendacious.
Feel free to crawl back to both your
cheating spouse and your cheating government. Libertarians, meanwhile, will
honor and celebrate the Snowdens of the world.
------------
Stephen
Fry denounces UK government for not acting on Snowden revelations
Performer tells conference marking first
anniversary of NSA leaks that using fear of terrorism to spy on public is
'deeply wrong'
Mark
Townsend and Kevin Rawlinson
theguardian.com,
Saturday 7 June 2014 15.25 BST
NSA
whistleblower Edward Snowden takes part via video linkup at an event in New
York last week Photograph: Richard Drew/AP
Stephen
Fry has denounced the government's failure to act over the mass surveillance
programme revealed by the whistleblower Edward Snowden, labelling its behaviour
as "squalid and rancid".
Opening
a day of debate to galvanise action against industrial-scale spying by the
British and US intelligence agencies, Fry said that exploiting the fear of terrorism
is a "duplicitous and deeply wrong means of excusing something as base as
spying on the citizens of your own country".
The
performer was speaking via a pre-recorded interview at a London summit on
Saturday marking the anniversary of the start of Snowden's revelations, which
were first published in the Guardian and the Washington Post.
The
day of action is billed as the biggest privacy event of 2014, with more than
500 people attending the event at Shoreditch Town Hall in east London.
Speaking
at the event are experts in technology, security and human rights from across
the world.
Among
them are Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, who said: "The tide is beginning
to turn as the public comes to understand just how broken the surveillance
state is."
Other
high-profile speakers include Alan Rusbridger, the Guardian editor-in-chief who
led the team that masterminded a series of remarkable disclosures from the
files leaked by the National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower.
The
summit is organised by the Don't Spy on Us Campaign, a coalition of privacy,
free expression and digital rights organisations which is urging the British
government to end mass surveillance on the web and mobile phone networks by the
UK's eavesdropping centre GCHQ.
The
coalition is calling for an inquiry that will report before next year's general
election and investigate the extent to which current laws have failed to
protect the privacy of members of the public.
They
also are demanding new legislation to make the security agencies accountable to
MPs.
Other
measures include the use of judges instead of the home secretary to decide when
spying can be justified.
Blogger
and activist Cory Doctorow, who is also speakign at the event, said:
"Freedom from surveillance is essential to freedom itself. The freedom to
think, to speak and to have discourse without fear of reprisal or even judgment
is at the core of democracy itself."
Emma
Carr, acting director of Big Brother Watch, called on the government to
publicly acknowledge that the UK's surveillance laws need to be reviewed.
"Without
affirmative action, the government will certainly find that the general
public's faith in politicians to properly monitor how the security agencies are
using surveillance powers will diminish," she said.
Gos
Hosein, executive director of Privacy International, added: "Secret
surveillance is anathema to a democratic society, as no real debate can take
place without an informed public."
---------
Journalist
who ran Edward Snowden revelations warns of privacy risk
Glenn
Greenwald says Europeans must defend online privacy rather than wait for Irish
Government intervention
----
Edward Snowden Damage Apparently Less than Feared:
Report
World
| Agence
France-Presse | Updated: June 06, 2014 18:25 IST
Kuala Lumpur: Edward Snowden does
not appear to have taken as much as originally thought from NSA files, The
Washington Post reported late Thursday.
The damage is still "profound" from the former NSA contractor who blew the cover on vast US surveillance programs of everything from everyday people's phone calls to intrusions into high-tech companies' servers, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said, according to the Post.
Still, "it doesn't look like he took as much" as first thought, Clapper was quoted as saying in what the Post called a rare interview Tuesday.
"We're still investigating, but we think that a lot of what he looked at, he couldn't pull down," Clapper said.
"Some things we thought he got he apparently didn't," the director was quoted as saying.
The Post said this view contrasts with the initial worse-case scenario in which the US intelligence community assumed that Snowden, who faces espionage charges, "compromised the communications networks that make up the military's command and control system."
The damage is still "profound" from the former NSA contractor who blew the cover on vast US surveillance programs of everything from everyday people's phone calls to intrusions into high-tech companies' servers, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said, according to the Post.
Still, "it doesn't look like he took as much" as first thought, Clapper was quoted as saying in what the Post called a rare interview Tuesday.
"We're still investigating, but we think that a lot of what he looked at, he couldn't pull down," Clapper said.
"Some things we thought he got he apparently didn't," the director was quoted as saying.
The Post said this view contrasts with the initial worse-case scenario in which the US intelligence community assumed that Snowden, who faces espionage charges, "compromised the communications networks that make up the military's command and control system."
-----
One year of Edward Snowden’s revelations
6 June 2014
Thursday marked one year since evidence of the US government’s mass surveillance programs first began appearing in the Guardian newspaper. Through installments over the ensuing months, whistleblower Edward Snowden has revealed the existence of a government operation aimed at collecting, storing and trawling through the personal and political communications of the American people and countless millions more around the world.The international surveillance apparatus Snowden has uncovered is more powerful than any in history. Billions of emails, phone calls, texts, videoconference and webcam recordings, facial images and credit card records are collected with the help of large corporations such as Verizon, Google and Yahoo. Both the metadata and content of communications are stored and can be accessed without a warrant. This allows the surveillance agencies to draw social and political profiles of every person in the US and hundreds of millions of people beyond America’s borders.
Snowden has leaked documents showing that the National Security Agency (NSA) spies not only on individuals, but also on governments and government leaders (“allies” and enemies alike); international organizations such as the United Nations, the European Union and NATO; and foreign corporations. The United States government is the world’s biggest practitioner of cyber warfare, hacking into the communications of China, Iran and many other countries.
The detailed exposure of the colossal scope and universal character of the American Big Brother operation renders utterly absurd the official claims of a “limited” and “narrowly focused” program motivated by the need to protect the American “homeland” against terrorists. The continued promotion of this obvious lie by the intelligence agencies, the White House, and their enablers in Congress and the judiciary is an insult to the intelligence of the people.
Since the first revelations were published a year ago, the reality of an emerging police state run by unelected intelligence spooks and military brass, lurking behind the threadbare and impotent trappings of democracy, has been thoroughly exposed. The real target of this repressive apparatus—which enables the state to draw up “enemies lists” of people to be seized and eliminated in the event of social upheavals that threaten the interests of the ruling class—is not foreign jihadists (with whom the US government collaborates in Syria, Libya and other places around the world), but the working class.
This blanket surveillance is patently illegal and unconstitutional. It is precisely the type of “unreasonable” operation proscribed by the US Constitution’s Fourth Amendment, which states that “the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrant shall issue, but upon probable cause…”
Nevertheless, one year after the first Snowden revelations, none of these programs has ended or been limited. They remain in place, while President Obama, in the name of reform, has moved to more firmly institutionalize them.
Public opposition remains broad and intense. Months of lies about the supposedly harmless and legal character of the programs, combined with relentless attacks on Snowden by the government and the media, have not succeeded in eroding popular support for the whistleblower. But the views of the people mean nothing to those who wield economic and political power.
Hardly less revealing than the programs themselves has been the official response to their exposure. Since day one, there has been virtually no call from the media or either of the two major parties for the termination of these programs or the impeachment and prosecution of the officials, beginning with the president, responsible for authorizing and implementing them.
On the contrary, with only the rarest of exceptions, the newspapers, networks, pundits and politicians rounded against Snowden. Rather than hailing the courageous and principled response by the young man to massive violations of the democratic rights of the people, these forces denounced Snowden as a traitor and a criminal, while absolving the real criminals.
In a continuation of the Obama administration’s policy towards prior whistleblowers such as WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and WikiLeaks leaker Bradley (Chelsea) Manning, the Obama administration charged Snowden with three counts of violating the Espionage Act of 1917.
Snowden’s passport was revoked and his physical safety threatened. In July, the administration forced down the airplane of Bolivian President Evo Morales in an attempt to capture Snowden. Snowden was forced to accept an offer of temporary asylum in Russia.
Assassination was publicly discussed as an option amongst military and intelligence operatives. In October, former NSA director Michael Hayden talked about putting Snowden on an Obama administration “kill list.”
Those professionally or personally affiliated with the revelations have been subjected to police repression. In July, British intelligence forced the Guardian to destroy hard drives and threatened the newspaper with closure. In August, police detained David Miranda, the partner of Guardian reporter Glenn Greenwald, for nine hours at London’s Heathrow Airport. His belongings—including his computer—were illegally searched and seized.
The threats and lies continue to this day. Last week, Secretary of State John Kerry responded to Snowden’s interview with NBC News by demanding that he “man up” and hand himself over to the US “justice system.” Kerry told NBC’s Chuck Todd, “Edward Snowden is a coward. He is a traitor. And he has betrayed his country.”
The ruling elite is terrified of the emergence of Snowden, who exemplifies a broader political radicalization of millions of young people. Born in 1983, he speaks for a significant section of a generation that has experienced nothing but political reaction and the ever more bloody eruption of American militarism. Key milestones include the stolen election of 2000, the “war on terror,” the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Abu Ghraib, the expansion of the police powers of the state and assault on democratic rights (Patriot Act, Homeland Security, Guantanamo, etc.) and the ever more obscene growth of social inequality.
One year after the Snowden revelations began, what political conclusions are to be drawn?
The creation of a totalitarian spying operation is not a temporary departure that can be corrected by palliatives or appeals for reform. The erection of these programs is a response by the ruling class—not just in the United States, but internationally—to the deepest needs of a capitalist system in mortal crisis. That the Snowden revelations include the exposure of similar programs in Britain, Australia, Canada, Germany, France—in fact, every major capitalist “democracy”—demonstrates that the assault on democratic rights is rooted in the existing social and economic order.
In particular, it is linked to the malignant growth of social inequality and militarism, both of which have been exacerbated by the global breakdown of capitalism that began in 2008.
The defense of democratic rights falls to the working class. It must resolutely defend Snowden and all others who risk their lives to expose the crimes of American and world capitalism. And it must link the fight against dictatorship to the struggle against war and social inequality.
This requires a conscious political struggle against capitalism and for the reorganization of the world economy on a democratic and egalitarian basis.
There will be great social struggles in every country, including the United States. The ruling class is terrified at the prospect of mass working class opposition. Its response is the preparation of a police state. The working class must base its struggles on its own independent, revolutionary strategy. The critical issue is the building of a new leadership to arm the coming struggles with a socialist perspective and program. That is the fight being taken up by the Socialist Equality Party.
Eric London and Barry Grey
----
BLOGGED
SABLE ISLAND- NOVA SCOTIA-JUNE 2014- come visit - owned by wild horses and nature -wild, harsh, beautiful- come visit - June 2014
MARCH 8, 2014- just in... Love u Edward Snowden... F**king politicians globally.... u betray ur everyday people... and we know it.... shame on the lot o ya
Canadian cyberspy agency CSEC fretted about staff after Snowden leaks
Staff worried about staff after leaks of sensitive information by Edward Snowden
The Canadian Press Posted: Apr 07, 2014 5:17 PM ET Last Updated: Apr 07, 2014 6:23 PM ET
European Union ... voted down helping Edward 2 settle in nations globally.... only Russia had the guts 2 say "FU" - and our world youth want privacy and protection??? yet allow this 2 happen... disappointing..
COMMENT: however USA instigated Cuban youth 2 protest??? over and over again??
U.S. Surveilled Cuban Youth Through "Cuban Twitter" And They Did Not Know About It, Report Says
http://www.hngn.com/articles/28012/20140403/u-s-surveilled-cuban-youth-through-twitter-know-report.htm
------------------------------
GOT IT BACK...LOVE U EDWARD
FREEDOM
ROARS BABY... FREEDOM ROARS..... F**K the free world who refused 2 help the
freedom of each of us... only Russia had the guts2 step up.... we will
remember. hugs and love Edward Snowden... hugs and love... GOING ON 200,000
WATCHES... THERE WILL BE OVER A MILLION BE4 THE WEEKEND.... FREEDOM ROARS.
You
Can Watch Edward Snowden’s SXSW Interview Live Today [Updated With Replay]
Où
sont les Niegedens d'antan? By Dan Van
Winkle
COMMENT:
This video is waaay too hard to follow because of the
horrible audio. Check out the transcript here instead - http://blog.inside.com/blog/2014/3/10/edward-snowden-sxsw-full-transcription-and-video
(Still providing the video link below for you tinfoil hats that don't trust the transcript. :-) )
Hey SxSW A/V staff! How'd you mess up the audio this badly? Couldn't find the mic mute buttons?
(Still providing the video link below for you tinfoil hats that don't trust the transcript. :-) )
Hey SxSW A/V staff! How'd you mess up the audio this badly? Couldn't find the mic mute buttons?
Comment:
Based on the comments below - the government trolls are way
over paid. Great job Ed! I have backed out of google, linkedin,
skype, and am setting up encrypted replacement services for anything that goes
out with my real name. Sad that I have to live as a yellow sponge when I
use google services. Sad that you have to live in a country so far from home.
(sux that home sh!ts on the constitution)
Comment:
Mr Snowden we thank you !!!!!!!
------------------
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EDWARD
SNOWDEN- LIVE IN TEXAS MARCH 12- You Can Watch Edward Snowden’s SXSW Interview
Live Today [Updated With Replay]
Où
sont les Niegedens d'antan?
By Dan Van Winkle
Edward Snowden and ACLU at SXSW
Streamed live on Mar 10, 2014
Take
Action: https://www.aclu.org/immunity4snowden
More information: https://www.aclu.org/nsa-surveillance
Edward Snowden speaks about privacy and technology with the ACLU's Ben Wizner and Christopher Soghoian at SXSW Interactive.
More information: https://www.aclu.org/nsa-surveillance
Edward Snowden speaks about privacy and technology with the ACLU's Ben Wizner and Christopher Soghoian at SXSW Interactive.
[UPDATE 2:31PM] The entire replay is now
embedded above.
Edward Snowden is coming to SXSW
today… kind of. The infamous whistle-blower of the NSA will be calling in for
an interactive interview (Snowden will field audience questions) with the Texas
Tribune, and they’ll be streaming it live for everyone to see. Predictably,
some people aren’t too happy about Snowden’s appearance.
He’s been hiding out in Russia ever
since he leaked tons of details about government surveillance programs to the
press, so hearing his thoughts on the surveillance and privacy issues directly
is a rare event. It’s also one that Representative Mike Pompeo (R-KS) is keen
to stop SXSW from holding, and he’s posted an online letter asking them to
cancel the appearance.
Pompeo wrote:
I share your passion for educating
the American public on the intersection of civil liberties and technology, but
I am deeply troubled to learn that you have invited Edward Snowden to address
SXSW on privacy, surveillance, and online monitoring in the United States.
Certainly an organization of your caliber can attract experts on these topics
with knowledge superior to a man who was hired as a systems administrator and whose
only apparent qualification is his willingness to steal from his own government
and then flee to that beacon of First Amendment freedoms, the Russia of
Vladimir Putin.
Whoa, somebody woke up on the wrong
side of the Orwellian dystopia this morning.
SXSW, on the other hand, thinks it’s important
to hear all sides and voices in the debate on online privacy and surveillance.
Whether or not you agree with his actions, it’ll certainly be interesting to
get a firsthand account from the man himself.
The interview, moderated by a member
of the ACLU, will kick off at 12PM EDT, and you can watch it live on the Texas Tribune website.
If you’re too busy working or something else lame like that, you can catch the replay later courtesy of the ACLU.
Then, you can go back to your normal life of worrying that every single piece
of technology you own is sending videos of all that weird stuff you do when
you’re alone (yeah, you know
what I’m talking about) to spies.
At least give them something
interesting to look at. Maybe get some hobbies.
Meanwhile in
related links
- The NSA’s advice column for employees is
hilariously ironic
- Microsoft is a bit annoyed that British spies
thought about spying with Kinect
- The same spies who spied on Yahoo, which is
another technology no one uses
Edward Snowden is living under guard at a secret location in
Russia, but is able to travel around the country freely without being
recognised, according to the ...
---------------------------
mashable.com/2014/03/10/edward-snowden-sxsw-watch/
Mashable
Loading...
2 days ago - National Security Agency
whistleblower Edward Snowden appeared via ... Interactive
Festival in Austin, Texas today and said if he could do i...
venturebeat.com/.../watch-edward-snowden-live-str...
VentureBeat
Loading...
2
days ago - For the first time since fleeing the country, activist Edward Snowden
will ... crowd at this year's South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi)
event today. ... are partnering with the Texas Tribune to live-stream
the conversation, ...
----------------------
Snowden and
Assange won't be making the trip to Texas, however. They'll appear on live
... NSA leaker Edward Snowden and WikiLeaks founder and ... NASA 2
days ago;
---------------------
 |
|
Houston
Chronicle
Loading...
5
days ago - 20, 2012, file photo, Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks
speaks to the media and ... Assange (over live video) will make
an appearance this year at the South By .... Activate for access to
HoustonChronicle.com today!
AND...
The
Guardian
Loading...
4
days ago - Wikileaks founder calls for people to help roll back surveillance where even the
most powerful politicians cannot. ... The Wikileaks founder Julian
Assange on Saturday told an audience in Texas that .... “We
are actually living in a world that we don't understand,” he said. ...
Sign up for the Guardian Today.
www.cnbc.com/id/101477738
CNBC
Loading...
4
days ago - In a surreal session in Austin today, Wikileaks founder Julian
Assange spoke with an ... Sign at 2014 South by Southwest, Austin, Texas.
Julian Assange warns SXSW of 'military occupation
of the Internet space'
Published: Saturday, 8 Mar 2014
| 3:26 PM ET
By: Liz Gaines | Re/code
|
|
|
Cadie Thompson | CNBC
Sign at 2014 South by Southwest,
Austin, Texas
In a surreal session in Austin today,
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange spoke with an enormous exhibit hall full of
SXSW attendees via a problematic Skype connection from the Ecuadorian Embassy
in London.
(Well, it was full at the beginning
of the session. Poor remote video can quickly lose a crowd.)
Assange — credited with opening the
current era of classified document releases, and unable to travel
internationally for fear of extradition — is not necessarily this arena's star
of the year. That would be Edward Snowden, who is also speaking with SXSW via video chat from Russia
on Monday. Also on Monday, journalist Glenn Greenwald, who has been Snowden's key outlet, will be join SXSW on a hookup from
Brazil.
CNBC's parent NBC Universal is an
investor in Re/code's parent Revere Digital, and the companies have a
content-sharing arrangement.
------------------------------
... Hill Country & the rest of Central
Texas a better place to live. ... 2 days ago. SXSW
is more than ... Edward Snowden ...
Edward Snowden
and the NSA Leaks. ... Edward Snowden, participates remotely in a
panel discussion at South by Southwest in Texas on Monday ...
--------------
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