Edward Snowden

[Jules 98]

Interesting situation.....

 

And I bet he has more to say (or reveal) but hasn't said it yet or won't. I guess time will tell..

 

 

http://wikileaks.org/Statement-from-Edward-Snowden-in.html

 

One week ago I left Hong Kong after it became clear that my freedom and safety were under threat for revealing the truth. My continued liberty has been owed to the efforts of friends new and old, family, and others who I have never met and probably never will. I trusted them with my life and they returned that trust with a faith in me for which I will always be thankful.

 

On Thursday, President Obama declared before the world that he would not permit any diplomatic "wheeling and dealing" over my case. Yet now it is being reported that after promising not to do so, the President ordered his Vice President to pressure the leaders of nations from which I have requested protection to deny my asylum petitions.

 

This kind of deception from a world leader is not justice, and neither is the extralegal penalty of exile. These are the old, bad tools of political aggression. Their purpose is to frighten, not me, but those who would come after me.

 

For decades the United States of America has been one of the strongest defenders of the human right to seek asylum. Sadly, this right, laid out and voted for by the U.S. in Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is now being rejected by the current government of my country. The Obama administration has now adopted the strategy of using citizenship as a weapon. Although I am convicted of nothing, it has unilaterally revoked my passport, leaving me a stateless person. Without any judicial order, the administration now seeks to stop me exercising a basic right. A right that belongs to everybody. The right to seek asylum.

 

In the end the Obama administration is not afraid of whistleblowers like me, Bradley Manning or Thomas Drake. We are stateless, imprisoned, or powerless. No, the Obama administration is afraid of you. It is afraid of an informed, angry public demanding the constitutional government it was promised — and it should be.

 

I am unbowed in my convictions and impressed at the efforts taken by so many.

 

Edward Joseph Snowden

 

Monday 1st July 2013

Edited July 3, 2013 by Jules

[Jules 98]

Oops sorry, see it was posted here already:

 

http://www.thegridironpalace.com/forums/index.php?/topic/65818-statement-by-edward-snowden-from-moscow/

[Thanatos 2,847]

Snowden was granted temporary asylum in Russia, for one year, as of 3:35 Russian time today. He has already left the airport.

 

While I believe Russia is only doing this to give the finger to the US, as it were, and not because of anything to do with human rights, (their anti-gay laws prove that), it is still good that he is beyond Obama's grasp.

 

I find it astounding that both sides of the political aisle are steaming at this granting of asylum, instead of calling on Obama to fix what Snowden has shown. The NSA has committed nothing short of morally reprehensible acts and should be forced to own up to the consequences.

[Bucman 891]

I wonder when Snowden will release the other damaging things he says he has, if he ever does.

[Favre4Ever+ 4,476]

They did release something else recently...

 

(CNN) -- You've never heard of XKeyscore, but it definitely knows you. The National Security Agency's top-secret program essentially makes available everything you've ever done on the Internet — browsing history, searches, content of your emails, online chats, even your metadata — all at the tap of the keyboard.

 

The Guardian exposed the program on Wednesday in a follow-up piece to its groundbreaking report on the NSA's surveillance practices. Shortly after publication, Edward Snowden, a 29-year-old former Booz Allen Hamilton employee who worked for the NSA for four years, came forward as the source.

 

This latest revelation comes from XKeyscore training materials, which Snowden also provided to The Guardian. The NSA sums up the program best: XKeyscore is its "widest reaching" system for developing intelligence from the Internet.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/31/tech/web/snowden-leak-xkeyscore

[Thanatos 2,847]

The program gives analysts the ability to search through the entire database of your information without any prior authorization — no warrant, no court clearance, no signature on a dotted line.

 

An analyst must simply complete a simple onscreen form, and seconds later, your online history is no longer private. The agency claims that XKeyscore covers "nearly everything a typical user does on the Internet."

 

As The Guardian points out, this program crystallizes one of Snowden's most infamous admissions from his video interview on June 10:

"I, sitting at my desk," said Snowden, could "wiretap anyone, from you or your accountant, to a federal judge or even the president, if I had a personal email."

 

WOW. JUST WOW.

 

FUCK YOU, US GOVERNMENT. FUCK YOU.

[blotsfan 2,112]

Dude, don't worry about it. Its for our safety.

[OSUViking 505]

I read something interesting, a quote from a Russian official to be exact. The US reportedly hasn't given into Russian extradition requests, yet Obama gets to cry like a little baby when Russia doesn't hand over someone who should be regarded as a hero. I used to like Obama (somewhat), but this makes me fucking resent him. There was a vote to defund Prism and other NSA programs like it recently, and it was voted down. Shows how fucked up our government is. Shows how fucked up democracy can be. The majority of people I know are the sheeple who follow everything the voice of the Democrats or Republicans say, and they adamantly support the NSA/detest Snowden. Good luck getting anything done, my generation. I hope we have some political enlightenment that takes us off the course to a police state.

[RazorStar 4,025]

political enlightment can only be incited through bloody revolution.

[Omerta+ 1,206]

And now Razor will dissappear.

 

In reality though that whole whiny ass monologue irritates me almost as much as the government.

[RazorStar 4,025]

Nah, being canadian has some serious perks. In that while I'm being listened on, international law is an utter headache.

[Jules 98]

Wow!!!!

 

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/aug/08/lavabit-email-shut-down-edward-snowden

 

https://lavabit.com/

[Thanatos 2,847]

Read that whole article guys.

 

A private company shut down rather than allow the government to spy on its customers, after being told by a US court that it must assist the government in its spying.

 

Yes, that is what its coming to.

[OSUViking 505]

If that's what it takes... strongly worded letters won't work with our representatives. (cough cough... Sherrod fucking Brown).

[Jules 98]

Holy shit are you all listening to this Obama press conference? He has seemed very uncomfortable even for Obama standards through the whole thing IMO.

 

He took a few early childish shots at Putin and seems ridiculously uncomfortable when he speaks about Russia/Snowden/Putin.

 

Ohhhhhh Ohhhhhhhh

[Thanatos 2,847]

Holy shit are you all listening to this Obama press conference? He has seemed very uncomfortable even for Obama standards through the whole thing IMO.

 

He took a few early childish shots at Putin and seems ridiculously uncomfortable when he speaks about Russia/Snowden/Putin.

 

Ohhhhhh Ohhhhhhhh

 

The teleprompter is probably on the fritz again.

[Jules 98]

Another internet service shutting down.

 

 

http://rt.com/usa/silent-circle-shutdown-lavabit-300/

 

 

[Jules 98]

The teleprompter is probably on the fritz again.

 

Watched the almost full hour of Obama just now.

 

My reaction:

 

[OSUViking 505]

You could stand watching a politician rationalize spying for an hour? I'll up-vote you just for that, madam.

 

I'm liking the moves taken by Silent Circle and LavaBit; I wonder if eventually social media will follow suit (you know, the people who have claimed they wouldn't do this if they didn't have their backs to the wall). Some hilarity would follow suit as the masses of my generation would be lost without Twitter to communicate with their peers.

[Guest Phailadelphia]

What about that press conference was so unbelievable? Sec 215 of the Patriot Act (the interpretation of techniques used by the NSA) was revealed to the public by the administration and they're working towards reforming how the NSA surveillance is going to work. I'm not sure I understand the outrage.

[OSUViking 505]

I'm not sure I understand the outrage.

 

I didn't watch the conference; really, I was going off of my experience with politicians in general talking about the spying in the past month or so. My own "outrage" so to speak comes from how much politicians have tried to justify the spying, and also the casual response of "Yeah; we've known this for about 7 years now" when the leaks were first made public.

[Jules 98]

New stuff from Snowden.

 

http://rt.com/usa/nsa-snowden-us-media-russia-486/

 

[BUCK3Y3 44]

Guess I can chime in on Snowden haven't been here in awhile. I appreciate Snowden telling the American people about the "phony" NSA spying. I might have even admired him had he stopped at that point. Now I view him as a traitor. Telling other countries we are spying and how we are doing it is completely irresponsible. The damages caused wouldn't be limited to our government. It endangers the lives of American citizens and that ain't fucking cool. I'm looking at the big picture. Him buddying up with Russia makes him a traitor on Obama's level. I think people forgot the hot Mic incident where Obama said "I'll have more flexibility after I'm reelected." This was well before his reelection. Well before campaigning. It made me uneasy for three reasons. 1. He was talking to the Russians. 2. What was he talking about? 3. He sounded Ohh so confident about his reelection as if it were already in the bag and the democratic process was merely a formality. Snowden could've stopped his leaks at the point in which he did the American people a service but he didn't. He is a traitor in my book. Many Americans opposed to the government want to put Snkwden on a pedestal because he put them in a tough spot but if you look at the big picture he put us all in a tough spot. I am not a fan of our government. I didn't join the military for the government. I did it for my family and I feel Snowden has now done more harm than good.

Edited August 18, 2013 by ManBearPig

[blotsfan 2,112]

Snowmen wouldn't have gone to other countries if this one wasn't trying to get rid of him.

[Guest Phailadelphia]

I actually agree with ManBearPig (to an extent) on this one. NSA surveillance leak? Awesome. Putting US global interests abroad at risk? Not awesome. It's one thing to incite reform. It's another entirely to hurt your country's economic and foreign policy interests.