Guardian NSA Story Brings Vast Scale of Spying on Public Into The Open

international | rights and freedoms | opinion/analysis

Wednesday June 12, 2013 23:35

by T

Scale of global spy network is vast

The recent ongoing breaking news from the Guardian reporting on the NSA files leaked by whistle blower Edward Snowden documenting the surveillance state has become a major news story. This article tries to give some background and context to these events.
It has been known for some time that the US National Security Agency (NSA) has dramatically increased it's spying on Americans. Traditionally their remit was to spy on foreigners and in that respect every other country was fair game and still is. Back in the mid 1990s Nicky Hagar (from New Zealand) exposed their Global Surveillance network -known as Echelon - giving the first hints came through of the vast network of the NSA listening stations worldwide and the technology at its disposal and the scale of intercepts. Then in 2000 Interception Capabilities 2000 report to the EU extended this further explaining how phone calls and data transmitted by satellite were sucked up spy satellites and ground based listening stations and submarine taps on cables. The report hinted how the capability existed to tap into the high capacity fiber optic transmission cables which by that time were carrying far more traffic than satellite based systems. This was followed by author James Bamford who wrote Body of Secrets which documented the history of the NSA up to that point and he described how the rapidly evolving global communication system and computer power was having a parallel effect within the intelligence intercept community. Since those early days the Internet exploded on the scene and data in the form of emails, webpages and other forms of data came to the fore and has transformed communications and media.

Then when 9/11 happened the gloves came off completely and it was used for the pretext of stripping civil liberties in many countries and in the USA this came in the form of the Patriot Act, although there were many earlier acts of legislation (CALEA 1994) in the Clinton here which gave sweeping powers to government to put in place the infrastructure to tap any form of communication. Even in the mid 1990s the EU issued directives (European Council Resolution of 17 Jan 1995) to all members states to put in place systems in all of their telephone exchanges equipment with the ability to tap any phone call. So the US is by no means the sole Orwellian / Big Brother state although as the main superpower it holds a special position.

It was just after 9/11 during the Bush era that the US government crossed the line and began widespread indiscriminate spying on US citizens something expressively forbidden in their laws. It was suspected this was occurring but those who spoke or suggested such were labelled nuts or conspiracy theorists. Then in 2006 Mark Klein -a brave -and former AT&T employee revealed that secret rooms had been built for the NSA in the main switch centers of the AT&T telephone network packed with highly classified equipment which gave the NSA direct access and could make a copy of the feeds of telephone calls, internet traffic to the data-mining equipment in these rooms and onward into the NSA system which has vast storage to save all this data. It should be noted that over the past 40 years, disk storage actually advanced quicker than computer processors. Unfortunately while the revelations of this whistle blower should have got widespread front page coverage and the type of reaction to bring down a government, it didn't and the mainstream corporate press gave it scant coverage. What actually happened is that Bush and a compliant Congress ended up passing legislation to make this illegal policy of spying on Americans legal. In parallel it should be noted that this exact same technology was and is deployed against the citizens in practically every other country in the World. In the case of neighbour the UK, since the early days were part of the US Echelon global spying intercept system and although they are the junior partner in this, they still have their own incredible capabilities, with GCHQ their best known spy center. No doubt the UK do and easily can tap or intercept most of the communications into and out of Ireland and probably some capability for internal intercepts too.

And so this brings us to last week when the Guardian's Glenn Greenwald broke the story on the latest whistle blower, 29 year Edward Snowden a former technical assistant of the CIA and employee of defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton (for over the past decade much of the NSA intelligence work has been privatised and outsourced to defence contractor firms) who revealed that the NSA is currently collecting millions of phone calls from all the top phone companies in America under a top secret court order which was leaked by Snowden. Some of these companies are AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, BellSouth, T-Mobile He also described the PRISM system which is designed to spy on Internet traffic and as part of that program he revealed that the NSA has a direct tap into the data-centers of Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and other companies meaning every Gmail, google search, map search, google docs, yahoo mail, hotmail etc or any sort of interaction you have with these services is recorded and available by the NSA for data-mining and analysis. The scale is actually difficult to comprehend and mentally absorb what they are doing. It is exceedingly unlikely that they would have direct access to these companies and NOT to the data held by Facebook and Twitter. In fact it would be absurd to think otherwise.

And they have the software systems to match with these systems. For example from a previous whistle blower, William Binney, one of the best mathematicians and code breakers in NSA history and who worked for the Defense Department's foreign signals intelligence agency for 32 years he said as reported here: "I can pull your entire life together from all those domains and map it out and show your entire life over time," And Binney knows what he is talking about since he wrote the original software (ThinThread) that can identify in real time, networks of connections between individuals based on their electronic communications.

Meanwhile for the past couple of years it has been widely known to those interested in such things that the NSA has been constructing a huge $2 billion data storage facility in Bluffdale, Utah. But the intelligence agency doesn't ever build one of anything and there is actually a second similar data center under construction elsewhere with credible reports of two others making that four. Each of these data-centers is designed for storage and operations for decoding encrypted data and emails. The NSA can routinely crack open SSL traffic. In fact some years back they made huge advances in their ability to crack encryption systems. It is probably not well known but the NSA is the biggest employer of top mathematics in the US and probably the World. The crypto-analysis break through is most likely to have been in theory and in hardware capability with the most likely candidate the successful operation of a limited quantum computer -a system many physicists have been trying to build over the past 15 years or so. However it is on the data storage side that the site in Utah is both interesting and frightening, for it is planed to store a Yottabyte which works out at one thousand trillion trillion gigabytes, written as 1,000,000,000,000,000 GB although it is very unlikely it will be able to store this amount of data until a few more years into the future and is more likely to open with a capability of exabytes which is still big. This would be using the very latest technologies.

There is also another important change that has occurred over the past few decades in state surveillance of the population and that is spying has gone from directed and focused taps and intercepts on peoples and organisations and flipped to collecting electronic communications (phone + email + internet usage) and electronic transactions (utility bills, credit card transactions, insurance details, ATM activity, location data from GPS in phones and from phone masts) on everybody and storing all this information indefinitely. Then if for any reason you show up on the anything all the data on you, your life, who you are, your relationships, your friends is available. This is an important flip-over and it has been enabled by the exponential increase in computer technology and ability to store astronomical amounts of data. The trend of technological capability where already millions of cameras are in place where already the software can read car registrations and do face recognition (indeed Facebook runs such software in the background on its servers so that it can automatically tag photos with names of people once it knows the identify of one photograph) means the electronic totalitarian state is not only well and truly here but it is becoming ever more intrusive and sunk its roots into the very fabric of society. The only way it can be stopped is for people to force the change. It will not come from geeks in the corner inventing some technical fix because the near infinite resources of the corporate state with its own army of scientists, money and hardware can easily and quickly outdo and nullify any such momentary "advance". We are faced with a choice and that is: Either we all stand up and collectively participate to fight this or we are condemned to this crushing of our humanity. We are so used to been in denial and stepping back to let others do the fighting and resistance but this is no longer an option. It is very much the same approach and choices we must make with regard to other major issues facing us -namely to get up off our arses and help radically restructure our destructive consumer society and turn it into an equitable, just and sustainable society. Most of the challenge is facing our own denial, apathy and fears.

Going back to the part about the secret rooms in AT&T and other Telecoms firms, James Bamford reported that Israeli companies were involved in supplying some of equipment for the NSA. He says in his book -The Shadow Factory: The NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America: "According to a former Verizon employee briefed on the program, Verint, owned by Comverse Technology, taps the communication lines at Verizon... At AT&T the wiretapping rooms are powered by software and hardware from Narus, now owned by Boeing, a discovery made by AT&T whistleblower Mark Klein in 2004."

Both Verint and Narus are Israeli companies founded in the 1990s and provide monitoring and intercept capabilities to service providers and government organizations. As Robert Poe of Wired says: Narus' product, the Semantic Traffic Analyzer, is a software application that runs on standard IBM or Dell servers using the Linux operating system. It's renowned within certain circles for its ability to inspect traffic in real time on high-bandwidth pipes, identifying packets of interest as they race by at up to 10 Gbps

But the marketing vice president of Narus makes it clear what they can do: "Anything that comes through (an internet protocol network), we can record. We can reconstruct all of their e-mails along with attachments, see what web pages they clicked on, we can reconstruct their (voice over internet protocol) calls."

This means all the NSA need to do is tap the in pipes to the data centers of places like Apple, Google and so on although as reported we know that they agreed to provide the data because of the secret court orders.

Some Quotes from William Binney
"Here’s the grand design. You build social networks for everybody. That then turns into the graph*, and then you index all that data to that graph, which means you can pull out a community. That gives you an outline of everybody in that community. And if you carry that out from 2001 up, you have 10 years of their life that you can then lay out in a timeline that involves anybody in the country. Even Senators and Representatives—all of them." The name of this program is Stellar Wind. *a graph refers to a mathematical technique of analysis.

“I’m willing to sacrifice all of that because I can’t in good conscience allow the US government to destroy privacy, internet freedom and basic liberties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine they’re secretly building,”
In his first television interview since he resigned from the National Security Agency over the its domestic surveillance program, William Binney discusses the NSA’s massive power to spy on Americans and why the FBI raided his home after he became a whistleblower. Binney was a key source for investigative journalist James Bamford’s recent exposé in Wired Magazine about how the NSA is quietly building the largest spy center in the country in Bluffdale, Utah. The Utah spy center will contain near-bottomless databases to store all forms of communication collected by the agency including private emails, cell phone calls and Google searches and other personal data.

Guardian Coverage Of The NSA Files

How to Build a Secret Facebook

NSA Whistleblower Details How The NSA Has Spied On US Citizens Since 9/11

The Guardian's Bombshell Revelation About NSA Domestic Spying Is Only The Tip Of The Iceberg

Eavesdropping 101: What Can the NSA Do?

NSA collecting phone records of millions of Verizon customers daily

Edward Snowden, NSA files source: 'If they want to get you, in time they will'

Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind the NSA surveillance revelations

Obama administration under pressure as US senators demand end to secrecy

NSA Whistleblower (Binney): 'It's A Violation Of Everybody's Constitutional Rights'

DID YOU KNOW?: Two Secretive Israeli Companies Reportedly Bugged The US Telecommunications Grid For The NSA

The NSA Is Building the Country’s Biggest Spy Center (Watch What You Say)

The Ultimate Net Monitoring Tool

NSA whistleblower reveals identity, exposes US government’s “architecture of oppression”

Obama ordered planning for cyberwarfare first strike

NSA whistleblower reveals identity, exposes US government’s “architecture of oppression”

National Security Agency Whistleblower William Binney on Growing State Surveillance

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E-mail sent to TDs this morning copied to NSA

by W. Finnerty

Tue Jun 18, 2013 18:48

An e-mail sent this morning to 70 or so of the Republic of Ireland's TDs (elected "representatives of the people" so called) was copied to the United States NSA Acquisition Resource Center. This was done mostly for the purpose of trying to ensure that none of the people the e-mail was sent to, and/or the NSA organisation, can sensibly try to claim at any later date that they "knew nothing" about any of the government wrongdoing referred to in the message-text of the e-mail in question.

A full copy of the e-mail referred to in the paragraph just above can be viewed at the following Human Rights Ireland www location:
http://www.humanrightsireland.com/Dail31TDs/Group1of2/1...l.htm

Related Link:
"Prime Minister Kenny TD, government crime, corruption, cover ups, IMPUNITY ..."
http://tinyurl.com/mkayugt

Sales of Orwell's '1984' up over 6,000 percent after NSA news

Wed Jun 19, 2013 11:46

It looks like the recent news about the NSA is waking some people up as it is reported that sales of George Orwells classic book 1984 about the Big Brother totalitarian state have surged over 6,000% !

"Kim Dotcom: All Megaupload servers 'wiped out without warning in data massacre'"

Thu Jun 20, 2013 09:31

“My goal is, within the next five years, I want to encrypt half of the Internet. Just re-establish a balance between a person – an individual – and the state,” Dotcom said in an interview with RT. “Because right now, we are living very close to this vision of George Orwell and I think it’s not the right way. It’s the wrong path that the government is on, thinking that they can spy on everybody.”

The above excerpts have come from the following www location:
http://rt.com/news/dotcom-megaupload-wipe-servers-940/

Related Link:
"Totalitarianism Versus Constitutionalism, Chief Justice Susan Denham, Human Rights Ireland ..."
http://tinyurl.com/ox2pgdg

Big Brother George Orwell is facing pressure ...

Thu Jun 20, 2013 10:29

Sorry, a "Freudian Slip" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freudian_slip) of some kind must have just occurred in my brain: the headline just above should have read "George Osborne" and not "George Orwell"; but, as it seems interesting in it's own way, I'm not correcting the error.

'George Osborne is facing pressure to radically overhaul Britain’s banks by introducing a new law to jail bankers for “reckless misconduct” and force bankers to wait up to 10 years to receive their bonuses.' (This excerpt is from www location http://inquiringminds.cc/lets-jail-the-bankers-well-dea...orbes)

I'd go much further if it was up to me: I'd also like to see the senior lawyers and politicians jailed -- and heavily fined -- who are responsible for producing and sustaining the unconstitutional legislation they have produced, and are keeping in place, for the purpose of facilitating all of the many massive bankster scams now in operation.

Related Links:
"Banksters, unconstitutional legislation, Chief Justice Susan Denham, Prime Minister Enda Kenny TD, President Michael D Higgins, Human Rights Ireland ..."
http://tinyurl.com/qgnp7eh

"Secret documents reveal rules allowing NSA warrantless use of US data"

Fri Jun 21, 2013 00:24

'The two new documents — including one-marked “top-secret” — were both authorized by Attorney General Eric Holder on July 29, 2009, and were leaked two weeks-to-the-day since The Guardian first began publishing NSA papers attributed to former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden. Earlier this month, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against Holder and other Obama administration officials for a number of constitutional rights they alleged to have been violated under the surveillance practices previously disclosed by the newspaper.'

Both of the above excerpts are from the following www location:
http://rt.com/usa/nsa-secret-fisa-documents-025/
(Published time: June 20, 2013 18:58)

Related Links:

1) "Unconstitutional activities, legislation, government corruption, crime, cover ups, IMPUNITY, TOTALITARIANISM, Human Rights Ireland ..."
http://tinyurl.com/njrwelo

2) "The Judicial Branch of the United States Government is an 'unelected oligarchy' ..."
http://tinyurl.com/o98oaf6

"Obama administration charges NSA whistleblower Snowden with espionage"

Sat Jun 22, 2013 07:55

"More detail on how direct NSA's accesses are is coming, but in general, the reality is this: if an NSA, FBI, CIA, DIA, etc analyst has access to query raw SIGINT databases, they can enter and get results for anything they want," he (Edward Snowden) said.

The above excerpts are from: http://rt.com/usa/snowden-charged-espionage-sealed-092/
(Published time: June 21, 2013 22:20)

Also, and as can be noted by watching the embedded video at the above RT www location, strong claims are being made which suggest that the UK's GCHQ ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_Communications...rters ) is working VERY closely with the United States NSA; and, that Edward Snowden has labelled the UK as an "Intelligence Superpower" it would appear.

Related Link:
"Prime Minister David Cameron, President Barack Obama, government corruption, crime, cover ups, IMPUNITY, TOTALITARIANISM, Human Rights Ireland ..."
http://tinyurl.com/kakpbse

flying to moscow, says Le Monde

by Pete Polyglot

Sun Jun 23, 2013 09:29

News flash just appeared on Le Monde website: [Sunday 09:53]

09:53
Edward Snowden quitte Hongkong pour Moscou
Réfugié depuis le 20 mai à Hongkong, l'ancien consultant Edward Snowden, responsable des fuites sur les programmes américains de cybersurveillance, a quitté la ville chinoise dimanche à destination de Moscou, selon le "South China Morning Post".

It briefly says that Snowden has flown from Hong Kong to Moscow, according to the HK daily paper South China Morning Post. That's sensational and should create interesting diplomatic exchanges between Washington and Moscow.

"It's looking good from here Moscow" ... Beep! ...

Sun Jun 23, 2013 11:17

"Pete Polyglot" at Sun Jun 23, 2013 09:29 appears to be correct ...

"La fuite de l'ancien consultant de la NSA ayant révélé le scandale Prism continue. Après avoir trouvé refuge à Hongkong le 20 mai, Edward Snowden a pris ce dimanche matin un vol régulier de la compagnie Aeroflot reliant le territoire chinois à Moscou."

The above excerpt is from "lefigaro" at: http://www.lefigaro.fr/actualites-a-la-une/

Rough translation of above "lefigaro" text (for people not in a position to translate for themselves):

"Former NSA consultant continues to leak 'Prism scandal' information. After finding refuge in Hong Kong on May 20th (2013), Edward Snowden took a scheduled Aeroflot flight this Sunday morning (June 23rd 2013) from mainland China to Moscow."

"God bless Russia" I'd say, and God bless China for making this possible: assuming of course this all really has actually happened in the way being claimed in the very recently published "lefigaro" text re-produced above.

Related Links:

1) "New Snowden leak reveals US hacked Chinese cell companies, accessed millions of sms - report"
http://rt.com/news/snowden-nsa-china-hack-120/
(Published time: June 23, 2013 06:35)

2) "Edward Snowden, whistleblower, totalitarianism, Human Rights Ireland, William Finnerty ..."
http://tinyurl.com/lf59bmd

safely entered russian airspace

Sun Jun 23, 2013 12:39

Le Monde has reported that WikiLeaks organized Snowden's flight to Moscow. His Aeroflot plane has entered Russian airspace, just north of Kazakhstan, and is proceeding to Moscow. There is a thrilling flight map showing where the plane flew after Hong Kong.

"Le site Internet WikiLeaks a affirmé dimanche 23 juin sur son compte Twitter "avoir aidé" Edward Snowden, l'informaticien à l'origine des fuites sur le programme de surveillance du renseignement américain et inculpé d'espionnage aux Etats-Unis, à quitter Hongkong et à trouver un asile politique "dans un pays démocratique".

FLASH: WikiLeaks has assisted Mr. Snowden's political asylum in a democratic country, travel papers ans safe exit from Hongkong. More soon.
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) June 23, 2013
"WikiLeaks a fourni une aide pour l'asile politique de M. Snowden dans un pays démocratique, pour ses documents de voyage et sa sortie sécurisée de Hong Kong", indique le site fondé par le cybermilitant Julian Assange, lui-même réfugié à l'ambassade de l'Equateur à Londres. A l'heure actuelle, M. Snowden serait encore dans l'espace aérien russe dans l'avion SU213 d'Aeroflot, dont on peut suivre le vol ici, en compagnie d'avocats de l'organisation.

FLASH: Mr. Snowden is currently over Russian airspace accompanied by WikiLeaks legal advisors.

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) June 23, 2013"

Link: lemonde.fr

direct link to running story

Mon Jun 24, 2013 01:53

Here is a better link to the Le Monde running story on Snowden's dramatic flight from Hong Kong.
Apparently he didn't enter the aircraft through the normal Gate departure check, but was brought onto the tarmac in a car and dashed up the steps from there.

http://www.lemonde.fr/technologies/article/2013/06/23/e....html

For visitors who don't read French there is also the coverage of the story in The Guardian newspaper.

"Sláinte Mhór a Deo dul" Ecuador!!

Mon Jun 24, 2013 10:17

"Ecuador analyzing Snowden asylum bid – Foreign Minister"

'“We always act in the name of principles not in our own interests. There are governments who make decisions more according to their own interests, we don’t do that. Our main focus is human rights,” said Patino, when asked how granting Snowden asylum could affect Ecuador’s relations with the US.'

The above excerpts are from the following www location:
http://rt.com/news/ecuador-asylum-request-snowden-135/

"Sláinte Mhór a Deo dul": "May the Nation of Ecuador Enjoy the Finest of Health Forever" (roughly translated).

Related Link:
"Edward Snowden, Indymedia, Human Rights Ireland, William Finnerty ..."
http://tinyurl.com/kyphwv2

"... to make sure the rule of law is observed ... "

Tue Jun 25, 2013 06:57

'Speaking to reporters (about Edward Snowden), President Barack Obama said: "What we know is that we're following all the appropriate legal channels and working with various other countries to make sure the rule of law is observed."'

The above excerpt is from an RTE report at:
http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/0624/458432-snowden-asylum/

I would go further than President Barack Obama.

I would say "to make sure the rule of law is observed by ALL world leaders in an open and CONSISTENT manner GLOBALLY, particularly in connection with the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (produced in 1948), and with all of the national and international legislation which has been produced since 1948 that is based on UDHR principles."

Related Links:

1) United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR):
http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/

2) "Impeach now or forever hold up peace" ...
http://www.humanrightsireland.com/NationalSecurityAgenc...PEACH

3) "President Barack Obama, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, government corruption, crime, cover-ups, IMPUNITY, TOTALITARIANISM ..."
http://tinyurl.com/qykpcnl

“The (new) world order isn’t only unjust, it’s immoral”

Thu Jun 27, 2013 12:38

And not only that, but red-rotten with government (executive, legislative, and judicial) corruption, crime, cover-ups, and impunity as well (I would add).

"Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa came up with scalding online remarks over criticism his country faced from the US press for potentially granting asylum to NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden."

'"Our government will not reward countries for bad behaviour," the influential US lawmaker (Senator Robert Menendez) said, as he was warning that he would target two trade programs with Ecuador for accepting the NSA leaker.'

The above excerpts have come from the following www location:
http://rt.com/news/ecuador-correa-us-snowden-306/
(Published time: June 27, 2013 07:49)

===

The excerpt just below comes from a much older (than the RT www location just above) United Nations www location:

"No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks." (For the origin of text itself, and the surrounding context of this piece of United Nations text, please click on the following www link: http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml#a12 )

Allowing for the fact that the "No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference" text in the paragraph just above forms part of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which the United States of the Republic of America played a LEAD-ROLE in creating, and in promoting, during and after the months leading up to it's completion on December 10th 1948, there still seems to be a lot of people in the United States of America who KNOW ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, and by implication -- CARE ABSOLUTELY NOTHING -- for the existence of the UN UDHR: including US Senator Robert Menendez perhaps?

The more "the people" of the world get to know and to learn about the UN UDHR, the more difficult it is for the supporters of totalitarianism -- and the deadly IMPUNITY which invariably and inseparably accompanies totalitarianism of the kind the Obama Administrating is at present very vigorously pursuing and promoting (as I see the situation) -- to make progress with their totalitarian advances: that's my belief at least!!

"Impunity: the ultimate weapon of mass corruption and destruction."

Related Link:
"President Obama, Chief Justice Susan Denham, Prime Minister Enda Kenny TD, IMPUNITY, the ultimate weapon of mass corruption and destruction, TOTALITARIANISM ..."
http://tinyurl.com/pqdq4b7

"PRISM just prep for something bigger"

Sat Jun 29, 2013 12:44

"Gerald Celente, publisher of The Trends Journal, thinks that Snowden's revelations have given weight to what many have already long suspected. "

The above excerpts are from:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ern0k1N2r_0&feature=play...edded
(Published on June 27th, 2013)

Why are you surprised?

by Computer Engineer.

Sat Jun 29, 2013 14:28

Big deal.
The silicon chip can analyse trillions of target data points per second.
Big Brother is real.

I'm not surprised

Sat Jun 29, 2013 15:09

Reply to Computer Engineer at Sat Jun 29, 2013 14:28 ...

Up until fairly recently many people seemed to think -- and sometimes insist even -- that reports on NSA type snooping were ALL "conspiracy theories".

I'm relieved (not surprised) that people like Edward Snowden are providing "the people" of the world with hard evidence that SOME reports of NSA type snooping are more than just "theories".

'NSA has a “brand new” technology'

Sun Jun 30, 2013 08:20

The excerpts in the section just below have come from the following www location:
http://rt.com/usa/nsa-greenwald-call-store-427/
(Edited time: June 30, 2013 03:23)

=== === ===

The NSA has a “brand new” technology that enables one billion cell phone calls to be redirected into its data hoards, according to the Guardian’s Glenn Greenwald, who told a Chicago conference that a new leak of Snowden's documents was ‘coming soon.’

Calling it part of a “globalized system to destroy all privacy,” and the enduring creation of a climate of fear, Greenwald outlined the capabilities of the NSA to store every single call while having “the capability to listen to them at any time,” while speaking via Skype to the Socialism Conference in Chicago, on Friday.

=== === ===

Related Link:
"Totalitarianism Versus Constitutionalism, Republic of Ireland, Human Rights ...
http://tinyurl.com/o9lh3nf

EU anger at NSA

Mon Jul 01, 2013 01:46

EU anger is building up at the massive snooping activities by the NSA-CIA axis on 'friendly' nations like France, Germany and Italy.

The French Greens/Europe-Ecology party has called on Presidentr Francois Holland to grant political asylum to whistleblower Edward Snowden. See the story, in French, in Le Monde:
http://www.lemonde.fr/technologies/article/2013/07/01/e....html

Snowden's latest statement from Moscow

by Sallyann

Tue Jul 02, 2013 08:24

He has applied for asylum in Russia and 21 other countries. Here is a link to his new statement -

http://www.dailydot.com/news/edward-snowden-statement-r...eaks/

Well said Russia: Sláinte

Tue Jul 02, 2013 11:58

"Peskov told press that Russia does not relinquish political asylum seekers to countries with the death penalty."

The above text has come from:
http://rt.com/news/snowden-peskov-russia-asylum-525/
Published time: July 02, 2013 08:23
Edited time: July 02, 2013 09:49

Related Link:
"Presidend Barack Obama, government corruption, crime, cover ups, impunity, fascism, totalitarianism, Human Rights Ireland ..."
http://tinyurl.com/qaa58lx

Etc.....

by Crazy Cat

Tue Jul 02, 2013 16:41

I think this Snowden story is a gas!

Oh, so many countries think the NSA is a ' scandal ' but who has come forward to give Snowden political asylum?

And how many other countries havent got their own systems of spying? After all the French have got Echelon .

Here is an article in French

http://www.legrandsoir.info/espionnage-le-systeme-echel....html

And I found this article from Wired very informative

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/06/general-keith-.../all/

‘Act of aggression’: Bolivia to file UN complaint over airspace blockade

Wed Jul 03, 2013 13:01

"Envoy Sacha Llorentty Soliz told press in New York that he had no doubt the decision to search the plane originated from the US."

The above excerpts are from:
http://rt.com/news/bolivia-un-complaint-plane-601/
(Published time: July 03, 2013 09:51 Edited time: July 03, 2013 11:33)

Related Link:
"President Barack Obama, government corruption, crime, cover ups, impunity, totalitarianism, fascism, Human Rights Ireland, constitutionalism ..."
http://tinyurl.com/pb4ffhp

Film-maker "Oliver Stone defends Edward Snowden over NSA revelations"

Fri Jul 05, 2013 17:58

"To me Snowden is a hero because he revealed secrets that we should all know, that the United States has repeatedly violated the fourth amendment (of United States Constitution)," Stone said. "He should be welcomed and offered asylum. But he has no place to hide because every country is intimidated by the United States."

The above excerpts are from:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2013/jul/05/oliver-stone...n-nsa
(Published Friday 5 July 2013 14.53 BST)

Related Link:
"President Barack Obama, unconstitutional activities, government corruption, crime, cover ups, impunity, totalitarianism, fascism ..."
http://tinyurl.com/qezyozb

A missing link....

Sat Jul 06, 2013 07:43

I hadn't quite understood why Snowden left Hong Kong,

so here is a video where Pepe Escobar, thoroughly enjoying himself, gives the explanation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORAW7ZYaXwk

Well said President Maduro. Sláinte!!

Sat Jul 06, 2013 09:33

=== === ===

Maduro said Venezuela was ready to offer him sanctuary, and that the details Snowden had revealed of a US spy program had exposed the nefarious schemes of the US "empire".

"He has told the truth, in the spirit of rebellion, about the US spying on the whole world," Maduro said.

"Who is the guilty one? A young man ... who denounces war plans, or the US government which launches bombs and arms the terrorist Syrian opposition against the people and legitimate president Bashar al-Assad?"

"Who is the terrorist? Who is the global delinquent?"

=== === ===

My own feelings exactly!! Couldn't have said it better myself.

The excerpts in the section above are all from:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/06/edward-snow...sylum

Related Link:
"Obama Administration, totalitarianism, fascism, impunity, constitutionalism, Human Rights Ireland, William Finnerty ..."
http://tinyurl.com/mz94g29

"International law says ..."

Sun Jul 07, 2013 16:43

"Interfering with the right to seek asylum is a serious problem in international law," Bochenek said. "It is further evidence that he [Snowden] has a well-founded fear of persecution. This will be relevant to any state when considering an application. International law says that somebody who fears persecution should not be returned to that country."

The above excerpt has come from:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/07/us-attempts...sylum

Related Link:
"Obama Administration, the BIG worry, totalitarianism, fascism, impunity, Human Rights Ireland, constitutionalism ..."
http://tinyurl.com/m8ukqzk

"Students DESTROY NSA Recruiters Over Illegal Spying and Lies" audio

by JoeMc

Sat Jul 13, 2013 13:28

Students confronted NSA recruiters at the University of Wisconsin two weeks ago over the agency’s mass spying on the US and world’s population . The students recorded audio of the exchange on an iPhone . Their challenge ,coming shortly after the Snowden revelations , left the recruiters "tongue- tied" , forcing them to claim, "in a seemingly desperate defense, that they were not actually there representing the NSA as an agency".

The language students ,according to the report below from activistpost.com , succeeded in turning the session into a trial of the agency’s illegal spying program .

Grad student Madiha Tahir told the recruiters :
"I'm surprised that for language analysts you're incredibly imprecise with your language," and asked them : "Given the fact that we have been lied to as Americans, given the fact that fact sheets have been pulled down because they clearly had untruths in them, given the fact that Clapper and Alexander lied to Congress...Is being a good liar a qualification to work for the NSA?"

Listen to the tape here:
http://www.activistpost.com/2013/07/students-destroy-ns....html

A VERY "bitter pill" for the Obama Administration to swallow ...

Sun Jul 14, 2013 10:56

"Individuals have international duties which transcend the national obligations of obedience. Therefore individual citizens have the duty to violate domestic laws to prevent crimes against peace and humanity from occurring."

The above statement was made by Edward Snowden during his recent meeting with human rights groups/people at Moscow Airport. More on the context and the earlier origin of this statement can be viewed at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/12/edward-snow...verag

Personally, I believe it's just what ALL "ruling elite" type governments of the world -- especially those who show a fondness for totalitarianism and fascism -- need to hear again and again: and AGAIN: until it registers properly in their brains, or, until "the people" of the world weed out the main offenders and replace them (by peaceful and lawful means) with "public servants" who genuinely respect all of the national and international legislation -- WHICH IS ALREADY IN PLACE -- for the purpose of protecting human rights in the manner outlined in the text of United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 at:
http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/

OUT with all of the glib "CORRUPTION and HYPOCRISY" talk (completely fraudulent bullshit in other words!!) about "upholding human rights through the rule of law", and, instead: IN with GENUINE RESPECT for HUMAN RIGHTS LAW on a UNIVERSAL -- and PRACTICAL -- basis.

Related Link #1:
"Individuals have international duties which transcend the national obligations of obedience, The Nuremberg Principles ..."
http://tinyurl.com/p3tk4he

Related Link #2:
"Obama Administration, totalitarianism, fascism, Human Rights Ireland, constitutionalism ..."
http://tinyurl.com/puayvon

"Obama administration drowning in lawsuits filed over NSA surveillance"

Tue Jul 16, 2013 20:32

"Day by day, new lawsuits waged against the United States government are being filed in federal court, and with the same regularity President Barack Obama and the preceding administration are being charged with vast constitutional violations alleged to have occurred through the NSA spy programs exposed by Mr. Snowden."

The above excerpts are from:
http://rt.com/usa/snowden-leaks-surveillance-suits-174/
(Published time: July 16, 2013 17:39)

Related Link:
"Obama administration, government corruption, crime, cover ups, totalitarianism, fascism, impunity ..."
http://tinyurl.com/o5uyysn

"violations of the US Constitution"

Thu Jul 18, 2013 09:54

"Yes. It was I who sent the email message to Edward Snowden, thanking him for exposing astonishing violations of the US Constitution and encouraging him to persevere in the search for asylum."

The above statement by Gordon J. Humphrey (Former United States Senator) has come from the following www location:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jul/16/gor...owden

" ... astonishing violations of the US Constitution ...":
which are being committed with IMPUNITY by the Obama Administration, and earlier during the several years of Bush Administration.

"Impunity: the ultimate weapon of mass corruption and destruction."

Small wonder the world's in the state it's in?

Related Link:
Obama Administration, government corruption, crime, cover ups, impunity, constitutionalism vs totalitarianism, Human Rights Ireland ...
http://tinyurl.com/qxvl3la

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