Snowden

NSA’s XKEYSCORE spy program is “as easy as typing a few words in Google”
The National Security Agency's infamous XKEYSCORE program, revealed by leaker Edward Snowden, makes searching the world's private communications as easy to use as Google, according to training documents published by the Intercept. XKEYSCORE was one of the first programs that the Guardian wrote about when Snowden began leaking NSA documents in 2013. [...]
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Snowden will remain criminal for revealing that US spied on its own people
It's unlikely that Snowden will ever be removed from the US wanted list, as he told the truth about the "bastion of freedom" that lectures other states while spying on its own citizens, said Matteo Bergamini, director of Shout Out UK. It’s been two years since the publications of the NSA documents by Edward Snowden. What is the biggest achievement that came out of the revelations? [...]
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Snowden still on the lam 2 years after blowing whistle on illegal NSA activities
A lot has changed in the two years since Edward Snowden decided to let the world know about the NSA's illegal activities, ranging from the mass collection of surveillance data, to tapping German Chancellor Angela Merkel's mobile phones. Despite having his world turned upside down, Snowden says he has no regrets about the life changing decision he made on June 5, 2013. [...]
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Snowden says Australia watching its citizens “all the time,” slams new metadata laws
NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden accused Australia of undertaking mass surveillance of its citizens and passing laws on the collection of metadata that he says do not protect society from acts of terrorism. Snowden, addressing the Progress 2015 conference in Melbourne via satellite link, criticized Australia's new metadata laws, which allow the government and intelligence agencies to keep a con [...]
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Too little too late? NSA starting to implement “Snowden-proof” cloud storage
The NSA is implementing a huge migration to custom-designed cloud architecture it says will revolutionize internal security and protect against further leaks by data analysts with unfettered access to classified information. Put simply, the NSA hopes to keep future Edward Snowdens out by employing a cloud file storage system it built from scratch. [...]
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Snowden, nein! High court foils opposition attempt to bring whistleblower to Berlin
A German court has rejected a bid by opposition parties to bring ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden to Berlin to testify about the US agency's intelligence activities in Germany before a parliamentary committee. Members of Germany’s Green and left parties petitioned Berlin’s Federal Constitutional Court to grant Snowden temporary entry to Berlin in order to answer questions about the National [...]
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Snowden Vindicated—’Citizenfour’ Documentary Untangles the NSA Leak Saga
Citizenfour must have been a maddening documentary to film. Its subject is pervasive global surveillance, an enveloping digital act that spreads without visibility, so its scenes unfold in courtrooms, hearing chambers and hotels. Yet the virtuosity of Laura Poitras, its director and architect, makes its 114 minutes crackle with the nervous energy of revelation. [...]
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“Alternative Nobel” human rights award goes to Snowden
US whistleblower Edward Snowden was among five winners of the Swedish human rights award, announced in Stockholm on Wednesday. The decision to the honor former National Security Agency contractor might have cost the 2014 Right Livelihood Awards’ jury the ability to announce the winners from Swedish Foreign Office pressroom, a usual place for such statements since 1995, Foundation director Ole [...]
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Supreme Court justice warns of drones creating ‘Orwellian’ future
US Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor has voiced concerns that, without sufficient protections, the age of unmanned drones and ubiquitous surveillance will usher in an "Orwellian world." Sotomayor told faculty and students at Oklahoma City University last week that technological capabilities allow devices to monitor "your conversations from miles away and through your walls." [...]
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‘We share the same prosecutor’: Snowden, Assange & Dotcom team up
In the first-ever gathering of the world's leading whistleblowers, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden and journalist Glenn Greenwald joined internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom to discuss threats to privacy worldwide. The whistleblowers came out in support of Dotcom's campaign against unaccountable surveillance by the NZ government, at an event to promote Dotcom’s [...]
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NSA, GCHQ have secret access to German telecom networks – report
US and UK intelligence services have secret access points for German telecom companies’ internal networks, Der Spiegel reports, citing slides created in the NSA’s ‘Treasure Map’ program used to get near-real-time visualization of the global internet. The latest scandal continues to evolve around the US’ NSA and the British GCHQ, both of which appear to be able to eavesdrop on German g [...]
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NSA denies whistleblower Snowden “raised concerns” in emails
In response to a Freedom of Information request, the NSA denies that its former NSA contractor-turned whistleblower Edward Snowden ever raised concerns in emails to colleagues to his colleagues over the agency's surveillance work. Interest in Edward Snowden’s past email communications with his former NSA colleagues arose following an interview Snowden gave to NBC News in May, when he said he [...]
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Snowden”to get Swiss asylum if he testifies on NSA”
Switzerland has reportedly decided it will not extradite National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden to the US if he comes to testify against the NSA's spying activities, Swiss media said. In the document, titled “What rules are to be followed if Edward Snowden is brought to Switzerland and then the United States makes an extradition request,” Switzerland’s Attorney General stat [...]
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Snowden leak exposes US plan to spy on foreign businesses for profit
A 2009 intelligence document provided to journalists by former government contractor Edward Snowden suggests the United States weighed someday conducting espionage to prevent losing its economic prowess to other countries. The document, published first by The Intercept on Friday this week, outlines tactics the American intelligence community may implement in the future in the event of certain s [...]
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NSA search engine allows law enforcement to scour data on citizens
The United States National Security Agency has built a massive information sharing system intended to allow intelligence community analysts from across the US government access hundreds of billions of records detailing the lives of people the world over. This “Google-like” search engine, according to journalist Ryan Gallagher at The Intercept, was developed by the NSA as early as 2007, but [...]
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“We are giving all of our privacy for just the possibility of a little bit of safety”
Intelligence agencies like the NSA and GCHQ seek to scoop up literally every single form of digital and non-digital communication and data in the world all the time, political cartoonist and author Ted Rall told RT. It is very clear that the general mood in Europe as well as in the UK and in the USA is in favor of more privacy in the wake of Edward Snowden’s NSA revelations. [...]
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Snowden granted 3-yr residence permit – lawyer
Edward Snowden has received a residence permit in Russia, which is valid for three years, starting on August 1, the former NSA contractor's lawyer announced. “On the first of August he received a three-year residence permit,” lawyer Anatoly Kucherena told reporters. [...]
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Obama’s ratings tumble in Germany, Russia in wake of NSA spying, Ukraine crisis
Revelations of the National Security Agency's global spy program, together with civil strife in Ukraine has severely damaged Barack Obama's popularity among Brazilians, Germans and Russians, a major US polling agency reported. Thanks to a series of global scandals, the United States in general, and its commander-in-chief in particular, [...]
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“Snowden should be praised, not prosecuted” – UN rights watchdog
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights believes the world owes a "great dea" to NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, saying he should not face trial for his revelations of sweeping state surveillance as they have served the public interest. “Those who disclose human rights violations should be protected: we need them,” Commissioner Navi Pillay told reporters on Wednesday. [...]
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US knew about Snowden file destruction at UK newspaper
The White House were given the heads up that UK authorities were to force The Guardian newspaper to destroy hard drives containing top secret NSA documents. Emails obtained by the Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) indicate that US intelligence officers including NSA chief Keith Alexander were notified about Britain’s intent to retrieve the classified papers. [...]
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‘Second CIA spy in Germany’: Berlin raids Ministry of Defense
German authorities have carried out a raid on the residence of a defense ministry official suspected of passing secrets to the US, just one week after the arrest of a German intelligence officer who worked as a double agent. Officials from the Federal Prosecutor's Office said Wednesday that residential and office premises of the staff of the Federal Ministry of Defense in Berlin were searched on [...]
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Facebook mind control experiments linked to DoD research on civil unrest
Facebook's experiment on over half-a-million unsuspecting users has taken a new twist with the revelation that a researcher connected to a Department of Defense-funded program to use the military to quell civil unrest also participated in the study. Social media sites exploded over the weekend after it was revealed that Facebook, no stranger to controversy of late, secretly manipulated posts be [...]
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