The SNOWDEN Saga continues...

[idiit]

Glen Greenwald Says The ‘Most Shocking’ NSA Leaks Yet to Come

“There are a lot more stories,” Greenwald told a large crowd at the Global Investigative Journalism Conference currently taking place in Rio de Janeiro. “The archives are so complex and so deep and so shocking, that I think the most shocking and significant stories are the ones we are still working on, and have yet to publish.”

“We are undertaking high-risk journalism. We shall continue doing so until we publish the last document I have,”

http://intellihub.com/2013/10/16/glen-greenwald-says-shocking-nsa-leaks-yet-come/

 

[idiit]

[QUOTE]Mass spying by the NSA violates our freedom of association.[/QUOTE]

Americans Have Lost VIRTUALLY ALL of Our Constitutional Rights

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013...rtually-all-of-our-constitutional-rights.html

^^

Americans Have Lost VIRTUALLY ALL of Our Constitutional Rights
Posted on October 16, 2013 by WashingtonsBlog

 

[idiit]

if you are truly interested in the snowden saga the above linked washington's blog article is a must read.

 

[Skip]

Today's report in the Washington Post about the NSA/CIA Joint Drone Program has finally revealed that the NSA TAKES CONTROL OF PEOPLES COMPUTERS!

So it's possible many of those computer "viruses" we get with trojans inside are actually coming courtesy of the NSA.

I've been waiting for this bit of truth to make its way into the daylight.

We've all probably been hacked by the NSA. They can probably take remote control of millions of computers anytime they like.

It reminds me of what I thought was going down for decades. That the US military can take remote control of any electronically controlled weapons system it sells to foreign governments, like F-16s and missile defense systems. It's similar to the Iranians taking control of that US drone and forcing it to land. Our gov't can probably do that with all the jet aircraft we sell to countries like Saudi Arabia.

Now with its partnerships with private US corporations the NSA can get into anyone's computer and scan its contents and take it over.

What's REALLY SCARY is that when all these secrets were still secrets, they would use the technology sparingly so that ppl wouldn't know they had such tech. Now that the NSA secrets are out in the open, they can use the tech much more without worrying about the secrets getting out!

 

[CannaBunkerMan]

Skip, that's what I'm worried about most, that the recent failure of all three branches of our government to do jack shit about reigning in the NSA and their Orwellian methods will only serve to embolden the NSA to push their surveillance state further down our collective throats.

 

[gaiusmarius]

very true Skip, in a way this is the perfect way to go public about a whole bunch of stuff at once. they have done so much that it's hard to even know where to begin with raining them in. specially when you read that Glenn Greenwald still has some stories in the works which according to him will be just as big as his previous reports on these documents he got from Snowden. in the end we are all so shocked that no one is even arguing against even being able to do this type of spying, now people are begging to at least have a warrant on an individual before they spy on him, not mentioning that the fisa warrant is basically a rubber stamp.

 

[Skip]

I've heard that there are two bills to rein in the NSA before Congress.
One is by the guy who wrote the Patriot Act. He believes the NSA has overstepped its authority and has created a new bill to do away with all the metadata collection and stop some of the other programs the NSA has.

Meanwhile my wonderful Senator Feinstein, who is basically the main person overseeing the NSA (she heads the Senate Intelligence Committee), has offered up a rival bill that changes nothing about the NSA's spying. She's hoping to undermine support for the other bill to rein in the NSA. She is PERSONALLY RESPONSIBLE for all the spying going on, cause she is the only one (along with her committee and the House Intelligence Committee) with the power to do something.

Unfortunately Sen. Feinstein along with the two committees have not been given all the info about NSA spying and in fact have been lied to by the NSA leadership.

But rather than firing these NSA people or charging them, instead they are given more free rein because now that it's all in the open, they can do their spying on everyone more openly.

 

[CannaBunkerMan]

At least SOMEONE is beating them at their own game. Way to go buddy, keep up the good fight! What's this I hear about Greenwald teaming up with Pierre Omidyar (ebay)? Untainted money supporting actual journalism? Without propaganda? It's like a breath of fresh air! I am cautiously optimistic!

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...s+Top+Stories)&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher

USA TODAY
Snowden says he took no secret files to Russia

He tells New York Times he left NSA documents with journalists in Hong Kong.

Edward Snowden says he left all classified documents in Hong Kong and took none to Russia after fleeing from his job at the National Security Agency, The New York Times reported Thursday.

The former NSA contractor also said he protected the files from China's intelligence agents.

"There's a zero percent chance the Russians or Chinese have received any documents," he declared in what the newspaper described as an "extensive interview" over several days the past week using encrypted communications.

Snowden, who fled Hawaii in June, defended his actions, maintaining that they helped U.S. national security by igniting a debate about the extent of telephone and Internet surveillance programs. He said their "secret continuance" posed "a far greater danger than their disclosure."

He told the Times he left all sensitive files outlining the agency's surveillance techniques with journalists in Hong Kong before flying on to Moscow, where he has been granted temporarily asylum.

He said it would not "serve the public interest" to have taken the documents to Russia.

"What would be the unique value of personally carrying another copy of the materials onward?" he asked.

The Times writes that Snowden said he made the revelations that he no longer had any NSA documents "to explain why he was confident that Russia had not gained access to them. He had been reluctant to disclose that information previously, he said, for fear of exposing the journalists to greater scrutiny."

U.S. officials have expressed fears that other governments may have obtained the secrets, but Snowden said he believes that the NSA knows he didn't give anything to Russia or China.

Snowden considers himself a whistleblower. The Obama administration has charged him with violating the Espionage Act.

In the interview, the 30-year-old Snowden "offered detailed responses to accusations that have been leveled against him by American officials and other critics, provided new insights into why he became disillusioned with the N.S.A. and decided to disclose the documents, and talked about the international debate over surveillance that resulted from the revelations," the Times writes.

 

[Skip]

Another way the NSA (and others) can get into your computer and take control is via the operating system or other software with backdoors.

Did you know the NSA has ppl in most big US software companies, and vice versa? That's how they coordinate giving the NSA whatever it wants in terms of access.

And a company like Google is so in bed with the NSA, much of what they do is at the request of the spies.

Some day the world will have to hold these companies accountable for their actions that violate privacy rights and the lies they've told their users about their security.

 

[Hydrosun]

We are the ones that need to hold the government and companies accountable. However I still use google, chrome, and windows while connected to the internet.

Tor has proven to be compromised, as you said most companies are in bed with them. How the hell can we maintain privacy and still participate in the internet?

 

[gaiusmarius]

actually tor is not compromised, just some exit nodes are set up by the nsa to catch ip's. but if you chose your exit node to be in russia or so you have a good chance of tor keeping you anonymous, at least as far as my reading on this has taken me.

yeah apparently google and co make a good chunk of their income from spying on their users and making that information available to gov agencies for a fee, i remember back when their price list came out for such services. back when it was all suspected before Snowden provided the proof.

 

[Hydrosun]

Well they haven't come for us civil objecting cannabis criminals, but their autonomous tips to local leo are similar to drone strikes on Merican soil.

 

[CannaBunkerMan]

Who needs TOR when you can use a book cypher? Old school, but (almost) unbeatable without knowing what book was chosen as the cypher.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_cipher

WIKI

A book cipher is a cipher in which the key is some aspect of a book or other piece of text; books being common and widely available in modern times, users of book ciphers take the position that the details of the key are sufficiently well hidden from attackers in practice. This is in some ways an example of security by obscurity. It is typically essential that both correspondents not only have the same book, but the same edition.[1]

Traditionally book ciphers work by replacing words in the plaintext of a message with the location of words from the book being used. In this mode, book ciphers are more properly called codes.

...

 

[gaiusmarius]

and another one bites the dust.....

France has joined Brazil and Germany saying that the NSA's spying activities will no longer be tolerated in France. French Paper La Mond has reported in a story co written by Glenn Greenwald, that the NSA was not just surveiling terror suspects and their contacts, not just spying according to key words, but also collecting all communications from the captains of French industry and finance as well as the political elite of France. so now they are pissed too, back when it was only the little people being spied on the French leadership didnt give two shits about it. only when it comes out that they have been targeted them selves, do they open their liar mouths to complain. just typical, such a self serving bunch as the worlds politicians would be hard to find except maybe in the banking and finance sector. still it looks like the NSA will shortly be made to work much harder to get their grubby fingers on peoples private communications. with any luck they will be forced to use warrants on an individual basis again before collecting private content on people.


Snowden leaks: France summons US envoy over NSA surveillance claims

Prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault 'shocked' at Le Monde's claims that US intercepts French phone calls on 'massive scale'

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/21/us-france-nsa-idUSBRE99K04920131021

The French government summoned the US ambassador in Paris on Monday to demand an urgent explanation over claims that the National Security Agency had engaged in widespread phone and internet surveillance of French citizens.

The French daily Le Monde published details from the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden suggesting the US agency had been intercepting French phone traffic on what it termed "a massive scale".

Le Monde said more than 70m French phone calls had been recorded in one 30-day period late last year. Techniques included the automatic recording of conversations from certain numbers, and sweeping up text messages based on keywords. The paper warned that the interceptions were likely to have targeted not just those with suspected terrorist links but also people in business, politics and the French administration.

The French prime minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, said he was shocked and demanded the US provide "clear answers, justifying the reasons these practices were used and above all creating the conditions of transparency so these practices can be put to an end".

Asked if France should be directly voicing its concerns to Barack Obama, Ayrault said it was up to the French president, François Hollande, to take any action, but "clearly there must be measures and they will be taken".

The White House responded by saying that the US "gathers foreign intelligence of the type gathered by all nations".

Caitlin Hayden, spokeswoman for the National Security Council at the White House, said: "We've begun to review the way that we gather intelligence, so that we properly balance the legitimate security concerns of our citizens and allies with the privacy concerns that all people share."

The claims were published as John Kerry, the US secretary of state, arrived in Paris for the start of a European tour to discuss the Middle East, especially Syria, and keen to stress close military and intelligence ties with Paris, which Kerry recently called the "oldest ally" of the US.

Laurent Fabius, French foreign minister, is due to meet Kerry on Tuesday to discuss Syria, but a French official said the NSA question would also be raised. Fabius warned: "This sort of practice between partners that invades privacy is totally unacceptable and we have to make sure, very quickly, that this no longer happens."

Fabius added: "We co-operate in a useful way in the fight against terrorism, but that does not justify everything."

The US ambassador, Charles Rivkin, was summoned to the French foreign ministry hours after Le Monde's investigation was published on Monday morning .

A French official said Rivkin was met by the ministry's head of staff, who reminded the US "that these types of practices between partners are totally unacceptable and we must be assured that they are no longer happening". The French demanded that Washington provide a full explanation "and tangible response to our concerns as soon as possible".

Marie Harf, deputy spokesperson at the state department, said the US was keen to ensure that press reports of "alleged intelligence activities" would not damage relations with France and other countries.

The reports in Le Monde, which were co-written by the outgoing Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald – who worked with Snowden to lay bare the extent of the NSA's actions – claimed that between 10 December 2012 and 8 January 2013 the NSA recorded 70.3m phone calls in France.

According to the paper, the documents show that the NSA was allegedly targeting not only terrorist suspects but also politicians, businesspeople and members of the administration under a programme codenamed US-985D. The paper said "French interests" were "targeted on a daily basis".

Le Monde highlighted what it called "techniques used to violate the secrets or simply the private life of French people". The paper said: "The agency has several collection methods. When certain French phone numbers are dialled, a signal is activated that triggers the automatic recording of certain conversations. This surveillance also recovered SMS and content based on keywords."

Such methods, it added, allowed the NSA to keep a systematic record of the history of each target's connections. Le Monde said the unpublished Snowden documents it had seen showed "intrusion, on a vast scale, both into the private space of French citizens as well as into the secrets of major national firms".

The most recent documents cited by Le Monde, dated April 2013, indicated the NSA's interest in email addresses linked to Wanadoo, once part of France Telecom. About 4.5 million people still use wanadoo.fr email addresses in France. Also targeted was Alcatel-Lucent, a French-American telecoms company that employs more than 70,000 people and works in the sensitive sector of equipping communication networks.

One of the documents instructed analysts to draw not only from the electronic surveillance programme, but also from another initiative dubbed Upstream, which allows surveillance on undersea communications cables.

Le Monde said one document it consulted showed that between 8 February and 8 March 2013 the NSA collected, worldwide, 124.8bn telephone data items and 97.1bn computer data items. In Europe, only Germany and the UK exceeded France in terms of the numbers of interceptions.

Le Monde questioned why the French government had remained so discreet for months on the NSA question, compared with the tougher stance shown by Brazil and Germany.

In July Hollande threatened to suspend negotiations for a transatlantic free trade agreement after reports in the Guardian and Der Spiegel that the NSA spied on EU offices and European diplomatic missions in Washington and at the UN in New York.

"We were warned in June [about the programme] and we reacted strongly but obviously we need to go further," Fabius said. Also in July, Le Monde reported that France runs its own vast electronic surveillance operation, intercepting and stocking data from citizens' phone and internet activity, using similar methods to the NSA's Prism program.

 

[gaiusmarius]

Germany's turn to summon US envoy

Germany's turn to summon US envoy

and the repercussions are starting to be a headache for the black op gov of the USA.

Germany summons US envoy over alleged NSA spying

http://channels.isp.netscape.com/news/story.jsp?idq=/ff/story/1001/20131024/eng1524.htm

GEIR MOULSON
Associated Press

BERLIN (AP) — Germany's Foreign Ministry summoned the U.S. ambassador Thursday following allegations that American intelligence may have targeted Chancellor Angela Merkel's cellphone.

At the same time, a senior lawmaker expressed concern at the White House's statement that it isn't monitoring and won't monitor Merkel's communications — a response that didn't address what might have happened in the past. And the defense minister added that Europe can't simply return to business as usual in trans-Atlantic ties following a string of reports that the U.S. was spying on its allies.

Merkel's government says she complained to President Barack Obama on Wednesday after receiving information her cellphone may have been monitored.

The Foreign Ministry said U.S. Ambassador John B. Emerson is expected to meet Thursday afternoon with Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, who will "spell out the position of the German government."

The U.S. Embassy said it had no comment.

Defense Minister Thomas de Maiziere told ARD television the alleged surveillance would be "really bad" if confirmed. "The Americans are and remain our best friends, but this is absolutely not right," he said.

"I have reckoned for years with my cellphone being monitored, but I wasn't reckoning with the Americans," said de Maiziere, who was previously Merkel's chief of staff and Germany's interior minister.

"We can't simply return to business as usual," de Maiziere said when asked about possible effects on U.S.-German and U.S.-European relations.

This week, France demanded an explanation of a report the U.S. swept up millions of French phone records, and also summoned the American ambassador.

Leaders of the European Union's 28 countries meet in Brussels later Thursday for a long-planned summit.

De Maiziere didn't specify what effects the affair might have on relations. However, he said that "the relations between our countries are stable and important for our future; they will remain that way."

Germany, which has Europe's biggest economy, has been one of Washington's closest allies in Europe. The United States was West Germany's protector during the Cold War and the country is still home to thousands of U.S. troops.

A German parliamentary committee that oversees the country's intelligence service held a meeting Thursday to discuss the matter.

Its head, Thomas Oppermann, said he was informed that news magazine Der Spiegel had confronted the chancellery with documents on the matter, that the suspicion of surveillance was reviewed and found to be "plausible." Der Spiegel has published material from NSA leaker Edward Snowden, but didn't detail its sources on the cellphone story.

Recalling previous reports to the panel that U.S. authorities have said they didn't violate German interests, Oppermann said ahead of the meeting that "we were apparently deceived by the American side."

White House spokesman Jay Carney said Wednesday that Obama assured Merkel that "the United States is not monitoring and will not monitor the communications of the chancellor."

The German government didn't say what Merkel thought of Obama's response, but a prominent lawmaker with her party who heads Parliament's domestic affairs committee criticized Carney's statement.

"I think we are all outraged, across party lines," Wolfgang Bosbach told Deutschlandfunk radio. "And that also goes for the response that the chancellor's cellphone is not being monitored — because this sentence says nothing about whether the chancellor was monitored in the past.

"This cannot be justified from any point of view by the fight against international terrorism or by averting danger."

Merkel had previously raised concerns over allegations of mass electronic eavesdropping when Obama visited Germany in June, demanded answers from the U.S. government and backed calls for greater European data protection. Her government is striking a markedly sharper tone now, and signaling frustration over the answers provided so far by the U.S. government.

In a statement Wednesday, the government said Merkel called for U.S. authorities to clarify the extent of surveillance in Germany and to provide answers to "questions that the German government asked months ago."

Ahead of Germany's elections in September, which Merkel won, Germany's opposition accused her government of downplaying revelations of NSA spying — although at the time there was no suggestion the chancellor's phone was targeted.

On Wednesday, European lawmakers called for the suspension of an agreement that grants U.S. authorities access to bank data for terror-related investigations, a sharp rebuke of Washington's surveillance programs.

___

AP correspondent David Rising contributed to this report.

10/24/2013 8:19

 

[CannaBunkerMan]

More manufactured outrage by the EU leaders. It is inconceivable that they hadn't assumed this to be the case. To appease and preserve their respective voting bases, Merkel and others pretend to be shocked at the latest Snowden allegations. THEY ARE ALL IN IT TOGETHER! Snowden is achieving his goal, and the timing of his releases has been masterful, to date.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/25/opinion/ghitis-u-s-spying/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn

CNN

U.S. needs to get spying under control

(CNN) -- The entire world, it seems, is angry at America. Allegations of electronic spying by the U.S. National Security Agency have reached far and wide. People everywhere -- friends and foes -- feel the American government breathing behind them, its eyes burning just over their shoulder.

As America's European allies gather to discuss how to respond to the latest news of U.S. spying, it is clear the time has come for Washington to take much more meaningful action to address the allegations.

The fallout over electronic spying has becoming serious and costly. Already Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff canceled a trip to Washington -- even after President Barack Obama personally appealed to her -- in protest after reports of eavesdropping. The continuing drip of revelations from Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor who fled the United States with a trove of secret information about America's intelligence practices, has become more than an irritant and distraction.

When news is made public that the United States has been listening in, recording, saving information without authorization, governments are under pressure to respond. Relations are harmed. The price can easily exceed the benefits.

It is time to rethink the decision-making process in America's gigantic electronic surveillance structure and to become more selective about how the United States will use its surveillance resources and manpower.

First, though, it's worth noting that the United States is not the first or the only country to engage in massive spying. The practice is older than the Bible, which tells many a tale of surreptitious intelligence gathering. The ancient Chinese, Greek and Romans engaged in spying, and today practically every country does it.

But spying technology has changed the landscape. It's now possible to gather almost unlimited amounts of information about practically everyone on Earth. At the same time, technology has also made it possible for just one well-positioned person to unveil all the virtual microphones to the world.

That means intelligence gathering is easier and cheaper than ever. But it also means there's a greater chance of getting caught.

This hasn't stopped intelligence chiefs the world over from forging ahead with data collection. Spy masters in many capitals are shifting uncomfortably in their chairs, hearing their government and their nation's citizens complain about U.S. spying that looks a lot like what they do.

Ex-CIA agent: It's easy to bug phones
In the Netherlands, a government report last year said one in every 1,000 phones in the country is tapped by the government. The point of the official Dutch report was to complain that phone tapping is an inefficient and antiquated method.

A few days ago, the French daily Le Monde published a detailed account of American eavesdropping in France. The French people were indignant. The response from the government was more muted. The reason is simple: French intelligence does pretty much the same thing the NSA does, engaging in large scale "metadata" collection.

In fact, Le Monde a few months ago revealed the French General Directorate for External Security has been collecting massive amounts of private information. "The entirety of our communications are being spied on," said the newspaper. "All of our e-mail messages, SMS messages, itemized phone bills and connections to Facebook and Twitter are then stored for years."

Sound familiar? That's exactly what Snowden's first accounts revealed the United States as doing. We had suspected it. Many people found it only normal and not particularly disturbing. Others felt deeply violated. Others still were unsure: The government must protect the country, and that means spying. But how far is too far?

The NSA spying is driven by security concerns. It is a matter of national defense. Other countries have spied for security but also to gain an advantage in business or against domestic political challenges.

Britain is defending itself against charges that it spied on Belgian firms. Canada has apologized to Brazil for spying on Brazilian companies.

And Brazilian intelligence has engaged in spying for domestic political reasons.

Spy chiefs are, more than anything, envious at the scale of surveillance the NSA has developed.

This takes us back to a truth learned in childhood: The fact that everyone does it, or that so many do it, does not make it right.

Personal privacy has been steadily disappearing -- a deeply unsettling trend. But just because we seem to be moving inexorably in that direction, it doesn't mean we shouldn't stop, review and decide if we should take action to stop it.

There is no question that the United States faces very real security threats, and some spying is necessary and justified. The question is who should the government be allowed to target in its invasion of privacy, and who should make that decision?

The existing system is far too lax.

The latest reports allege that U.S. spying reached into the activities of America's allies, including German Chancellor Angela. Merkel called Obama, who denied the accusations, saying the United States "is not monitoring and will not monitor" her communications.

But the reason spying charges are the main topic of discussion at the summit of European Union leaders -- America's allies -- is that Washington is not addressing the substance of the complaints. Personal assurances by Obama are not enough. The solution is not an apology but a change in current practices.

As a starting point for rethinking the process, I suggest the establishment of an intelligence and privacy board, a group made up of individuals with strong knowledge of national defense, security, ethics, privacy and diplomacy. Let them, under strict clearance, review the decision-making process. What should America collect? Who should be targeted, what should be saved?

When does the benefit outweigh the risk?

If you leave the question to the spies, they will choose to record it all, to save it all. That's too easy, and it's too dangerous. Not surprisingly, it leaves everyone angry at America. Even if everybody else does it.

 

[Hermanthegerman]

We should give
asylum to snowden, here in Germany. NSA spyed out Merkels phone are we in war now?

 

[gaiusmarius]

quoted from the CNN article above:

The NSA spying is driven by security concerns. It is a matter of national defense. Other countries have spied for security but also to gain an advantage in business or against domestic political challenges.

oh yeah for sure, LMFAO! liar liar pants on fire.....they were spying for economic and military advantages over everyone else, ally or foe. they were spying to collect blackmailing material and in the end if there was any time left they spied on a few terrorists and pedos. saying they were only doing t for national security is a big fucking joke and a white wash. you do not need to spy on merkel for national security! while they point out that obama said he was not and won't be listening to merkel, he never said that they never had listened to her. so again CNN is spinning shit to make it look better then it really is.

 

[Stoner4Life]

​

 

[idiit]

More manufactured outrage by the EU leaders. It is inconceivable that they hadn't assumed this to be the case. To appease and preserve their respective voting bases, Merkel and others pretend to be shocked at the latest Snowden allegations. THEY ARE ALL IN IT TOGETHER! Snowden is achieving his goal, and the timing of his releases has been masterful, to date.

^^ zackly.