For the most part it seems that most of the American public supports Snowden in exposing government breaches of our civil liberties.

Does the government have their head that fucking far in the sand that they are still condemning the leak, taking no action to reel in this constitutional breach, attempting to actively bring Snowden in to bring charges, and cancelling meetings/denying airspace/etc like a sulky kid not getting their way to any country attempting to assist Snowden.



[Edited on August 2, 2013 at 8:33 AM. Reason : a]

8/2/2013 8:31:32 AM

I can only imagine the outrage there would be over this situation if it had occurred during Bush's presidency. Probably a huge protest out on the National Mall.

8/2/2013 8:38:30 AM

Quote :

"most of the American public supports Snowden"

the CNN comments section is a small sample size.

8/2/2013 10:45:19 AM

Quote :

"I can only imagine the outrage there would be over this situation if it had occurred during Bush's presidency. Probably a huge protest out on the National Mall."

8/2/2013 10:47:30 AM

Well, Libby got his sentence commuted, but only because he was BFF with Dick Cheney. That's really Snowden's biggest problem, he doesn't have enough friends in high places.




[Edited on August 2, 2013 at 11:28 AM. Reason : You have to know enough people high up so you get treated under their set of laws/rules]

8/2/2013 11:27:28 AM

Quote :

"Does the government have their head that fucking far in the sand that they are still condemning the leak, taking no action to reel in this constitutional breach, attempting to actively bring Snowden in to bring charges, and cancelling meetings/denying airspace/etc like a sulky kid not getting their way to any country attempting to assist Snowden."

It's not that difficult to understand. Representatives only care about getting elected. Your vote doesn't get them elected, their donors get them elected. Those donors then give them cushy jobs as consultants when they leave congress. Those donors represent the defense and surveillance industries, so they have a financial incentive to corrupt politicians and perpetuate stupid wars and assaults on civil liberties in order to fight "terrorism."

So they don't care about your opinion, because your opinion doesn't bankroll their campaign.


People often wonder why politicians are "tone deaf." They're not. They're just cheap whores.

[Edited on August 2, 2013 at 12:46 PM. Reason : ]

8/2/2013 12:39:49 PM

FREE SNOWDEN!!!

You got the skittles, we got the acquittals!

8/2/2013 12:54:58 PM

I'm just jealous as fuck that this guy has a GED, no college degree, and was making 6 figures.

8/2/2013 1:20:03 PM

developing useful skills helps with stuff like that.

8/2/2013 2:36:12 PM

Yeah, friend of mine has the same background and he just hit 100k

8/2/2013 2:45:02 PM

U.S. Issues Worldwide Travel Alert

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/02/us-worldwide-travel-alert_n_3695836.html

First off, the timing of this just wreaks of damage control. In the wake of these NSA spying revelations I am just not buying this. It's a bold move to scare honest naive Americans into propping up the recently unveiled surveillance state. Whoever approved this press release is a bonafide asshole. But I'm just not falling for it. I'd love to hear others thoughts on this.

8/2/2013 11:30:41 PM

That's probably the general consensus. Though, given the abilities the gov apparently has, it isn't unreasonable to believe they can determine there to be credible threats.

8/2/2013 11:42:23 PM

Did you link the correct article? Because your comments don't seem to align with the article at all.

8/2/2013 11:43:37 PM

It is to make everyone shut up about the bBenghazi thing.

8/3/2013 1:21:41 AM

Quote :

"developing useful skills helps with stuff like that."

consider me skeptical. You don't go from security guard to working in cia it security without some sort of proof of education.

8/3/2013 2:21:34 PM

Quote :

"According to the New York Daily News, Snowden’s lawyer Anatoly Kucherena said that the soft-spoken, mild-mannered whistleblower has become an object of intense fascination for the Russian media. Kucherena said that queries don’t limit to jobs and interviews and even Russian girls call for him but Snowden said that he still misses his girlfriend."

This is one way for nerds to get chicks

8/3/2013 2:44:39 PM

Snowden fallout claims second email service

Silent Circle shuts after Lavabit amid reports US government is attempting to access whistleblower's messages.

Quote :

"A second United States email service has shut down amid reports that the US government was attempting to gain access to encrypted messages sent by whistleblower Edward Snowden. A company named Silent Circle on Friday said it would close its secure email service, hours after Lavabit said it would shut down rather than "become complicit in crimes against the American people". "We see the writing on the wall, and we have decided that it is best for us to shut down Silent Mail," the statement said on Friday, citing the Lavabit decision. "We have not received subpoenas, warrants, security letters, or anything else by any government, and this is why we are acting now." Snowden is reported to have used the Lavabit service to communicate with journalists and share information about the National Security Agency's huge spying programme targeting American citizens and millions of foreigners. The owner of Lavabit, Ladar Levison, said in a statement on Thursday: "I have been forced to make a difficult decision. As things currently stand, I cannot share my experiences over the last six weeks, even though I have twice made the appropriate requests." ..."

more:
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2013/08/201389134257869696.html

[Edited on August 9, 2013 at 11:52 AM. Reason : ]

8/9/2013 11:51:26 AM

It would be pretty neat if one of these companies said fuck it and gave out the information anyways. Maybe they "accidentally" forward an email to someone else. Or drop a letter on the street.

[Edited on August 9, 2013 at 12:00 PM. Reason : .]

8/9/2013 11:59:30 AM

^ Are you referring the mysterious national security letters or fisa court orders? From what I've read even disclosing the fact that you received one of those letters is punishable by 5 years in prison. And you aren't even allowed to inform legal counsel of the letter unless you are challenging it in court. And finally, anyone who you disclose information of the letter to, including its existence, is immediately bound by its gag order and harsh penalties.

Amazing how you can trample on the first amendment like that with a simple letter and a single fb eye signature.

8/13/2013 11:01:09 PM

^
Sounds like it's a national security letter, and the Lavabit guy may already be in trouble. Insanity.

http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/08/13/20008036-lavabitcom-owner-i-could-be-arrested-for-resisting-surveillance-order?lite

Quote :

"Levison said he has been "threatened with arrest multiple times over the past six weeks,""

Quote :

"Lavabit said he was barred by federal law from elaborating on the order or any of his communications with federal prosecutors. But a source familiar with the matter told NBC News that James Trump, a senior litigation counsel in the U.S. attorney’s office in Alexandria, Va., sent an email to Levison's lawyer last Thursday – the day Lavabit was shuttered -- stating that Levison may have "violated the court order," a statement that was interpreted as a possible threat to charge Levison with contempt of court."

8/14/2013 8:03:48 AM

1. Force shutdown of US based communications companies for non-compliance with PRISM.
2. Suddenly, all communication is "foreign".
3. All communications are now collectible without any oversight.

Already done. The NSA gave GCHQ 150 million bucks. There are no rules in the UK about spying on foreigners (Americans). And there are no rules that say you can't get intel on "home" from foreign agencies.

Finally, I wonder if the US government considers communications traffic that originates in US and ends in US but happens to take a transatlantic route to reach its destination, foreign correspondence. I wouldn't put it past them...

8/14/2013 10:24:00 AM

Quote :

"1. Force shutdown of US based communications companies for non-compliance with PRISM. 2. Suddenly, all communication is "foreign". 3. All communications are now collectible without any oversight."

Use foreign encrypted email services. Until using encrypted email becomes illegal.

8/14/2013 10:54:44 AM

The Lavabit guy gave an interview that's worth a listen and spoke about his decision to shut down:

http://www.democracynow.org/2013/8/13/exclusive_owner_of_snowdens_email_service

8/15/2013 1:59:09 PM

JesusHChrist that's frightening

8/15/2013 4:52:12 PM

could someone explain why he would not be allowed to tell his lawyer some things? how does that make sense?

8/15/2013 6:12:19 PM

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nsa-broke-privacy-rules-thousands-of-times-per-year-audit-finds/2013/08/15/3310e554-05ca-11e3-a07f-49ddc7417125_story.html

8/16/2013 12:55:48 AM

^
Haha, and that's just what they found. I wonder how many went under the table.

8/16/2013 7:58:57 AM

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/court-ability-to-police-us-spying-program-limited/2013/08/15/4a8c8c44-05cd-11e3-a07f-49ddc7417125_story.html

The leader of the secret court that is supposed to provide critical oversight of the government’s vast spying programs said that its ability to do so is limited and that it must trust the government to report when it improperly spies on Americans.

Quote :

"“The FISC is forced to rely upon the accuracy of the information that is provided to the Court,” its chief, U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton, said in a written statement to The Washington Post. “The FISC does not have the capacity to investigate issues of noncompliance, and in that respect the FISC is in the same position as any other court when it comes to enforcing [government] compliance with its orders.”"

That is straight from the Chief Judge of the FISC. Must be feeling a bit of pressure to be willing to deflect blame back on the NSA.

8/16/2013 1:31:15 PM

Turns out that Julian Assange hates gays, evolution, women's rights, and poor people:

Quote :

"“The Republican Party in so far as how it has coupled together with the war industry is not a conservative party at all and the Libertarian aspect of the Republican Party is presently the only useful political voice in the US Congress,” he said. That point of view may well set the Wikileaks founder at odds with many of his progressive supporters here in the United States, who while opposing large-scale surveillance like the kind exposed by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden (now a political refugee in Russia), nonetheless hold social views that are antithetical to hard right Paulist positions on issues like immigration, labor, reproductive rights, and social welfare programs. Libertarians on the right, claimed Assange, “will be the driver that shifts the United States around.” “It’s not going to come from the Democrats, it’s not going to come from Ralph Nader, it’s not going to come from the co-opted parts of the Republican Party. The only hope as far as electoral politics… presently, is the libertarian section of the Republican Party.”"

http://www.forbes.com/sites/tomwatson/2013/08/17/assanges-politics-rand-paul-and-libertarian-wing-of-gop-represent-only-hope-in-u-s/

8/18/2013 1:52:32 PM

That's not so much an endorsement of Libertarians as much as it is an indictment on Democrats.

8/18/2013 2:38:55 PM

Half the Assange quotes could be mistaken for d357r0y3r posts. Also, Drudge is the best American journalist.

8/18/2013 2:53:45 PM

http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/08/18/20079507-partner-of-journalist-who-revealed-nsa-documents-detained-by-british-security

Democracy? I don't think so!


The partner of Glenn Greenwald — the journalist who first revealed classified documents provided by ex-National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden — was detained by British security officials and questioned for nearly nine hours at Heathrow Airport outside London Sunday.

Greenwald, who writes for the U.K.-based Guardian newspaper, told NBC News that he was called early Sunday morning by a British security official and informed that authorities had detained David Miranda, with whom he lives in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, under a provision of a British anti-terrorism law that permits authorities to stop, search, question and detain individuals at airports, ports and border areas....


....Greenwald said the incident showed the U.S. government and its allies haven’t figured out exactly what Snowden took with him when he left Hawaii for Hong Kong in May.

"They definitely don’t know what Snowden took," he said.

The Brazilian government condemned Miranda’s detention and questioning in a statement published on the website of its foreign ministry.

8/18/2013 10:05:25 PM

I didn't read all of that quote but I read the last sentence. I have been giving a lot of thought to my own political views and how they align with our crazy political spectrum. Silly as it sounds, this was all prompted from observations I made by viewing the huffington post comments section during recent days. For a site that everyone calls left wing and one that I usually align with, I began to notice a deluge of negative comments surrounding snowden, manning and greenwald that I did not agree with. Comments that would otherwise be familiar coming from a neocon like Lindsay Graham or Peter King--traitor, treason, execute them, they have irreparably damaged US interests, etc. BS. All coming from the left wing Huffpost comments section. In fact I had neglected to acknowledge the diverging views of the establishment left and the obama loyalists. Non critical thinkers. Not me.

If those comments represent mainstream democrats I must be extreme left, I suppose. I prefer to call it anti-establishment liberal though. I guess I have more in common with the tea party now on the issue of snowden and privacy rights, then I do the democratic party.

^ There is no defense of what they did to Greenwald's partner under the UK Terror detainment act. I won't ramble on about how terrible it is.

8/19/2013 9:50:56 AM

^
Why place yourself on a 1 or 2 dimensional spectrum at all? Labels subject you to pre-judgement.

Quote :

"For a site that everyone calls left wing and one that I usually align with, I began to notice a deluge of negative comments surrounding snowden, manning and greenwald that I did not agree with."

I wouldn't be surprised if the NSA/Obama administration was driving news article comments a certain direction.

8/19/2013 10:21:14 AM

It's not just left-wing/liberals who comment on HuffPo, its everyone

8/19/2013 10:47:10 AM

Quote :

"In fact I had neglected to acknowledge the diverging views of the establishment left and the obama loyalists."

This has been a growing trend of the Democratic party for about 5 years now. Issues that were once "radical right-wing" are now normalized and considered to be the new "centrist" position now that a D is in office.

Worth a read:

http://www.salon.com/2012/02/08/repulsive_progressive_hypocrisy/



Our "crazy political spectrum" has been drifting to the right for over a decade now. If you cemented most of your political views within the past 10 years or so, you've probably witnessed your own political party adopt more authoritarian positions than you are comfortable with, regardless of whether you are a Democrat or Republican. Republicans have become absolutely crazy, and they've successfully pulled Democrats to the right of center with them.

[Edited on August 19, 2013 at 1:25 PM. Reason : ]

8/19/2013 1:16:41 PM

Greenwald says he will only get more aggressive now: http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/19/world/europe/greenwald-partner-detained/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

8/19/2013 8:58:20 PM

Quote :

"If those comments represent mainstream democrats I must be extreme left, I suppose. I prefer to call it anti-establishment liberal though. I guess I have more in common with the tea party now on the issue of snowden and privacy rights, then I do the democratic party."

I don't mean to mislabel you, but perhaps you are leftist-libertarian.

From my experience, Democrats are typically leftist-authoritarians, Republicans are rightist-authoritarians and (I wouldn't necessarily group them with the tea party, but) there are rightist-libertarians.

[Edited on August 20, 2013 at 12:34 AM. Reason : ]

8/20/2013 12:33:40 AM

Looks like our boy Eddy Snowden is revealing more info about how the NSA is working with tech giants to intentionally release vulnerable software.


http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/05/nsa-gchq-encryption-codes-security

9/6/2013 5:17:38 PM

http://www.fbi.gov/news/news_blog/national-cyber-security-awareness-month-2013

Cyber Security Awareness Month?

So do they also teach you how to prevent being snooped on by the government?

10/1/2013 2:30:20 PM

Glenn Greenwald did AMA earlier today

10/1/2013 2:41:25 PM

Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

1/29/2014 8:53:04 PM

What happens when a Nobel Peace Prize winner throws another Nobel Peace Prize winner in jail?

1/30/2014 2:47:50 AM

Quote :

"What happens when a Nobel Peace Prize winner throws executes another Nobel Peace Prize winner in jail?"

[Edited on January 30, 2014 at 8:38 PM. Reason : the filthy traitor, snowden, will deserve his fate]

1/30/2014 8:37:10 PM

BTTT

http://www.ndr.de/ratgeber/netzwelt/snowden277_page-1.html

2/4/2014 8:50:00 PM

this is from march, was it discussed in the soap box?

NSA can record all of a country’s phone calls

Quote :

"WASHINGTON: The National Security Agency has developed a surveillance system that can record 100 percent of a foreign country’s telephone calls, The Washington Post reported. The system allows the agency to review conversations up to a month after they take place, the Post said. It quoted people with direct knowledge of the effort and documents supplied by former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden. The newspaper said that, at the request of US officials, it would not reveal details that could be used to identify the country where the system is currently being used or other countries where its use is envisioned. The voice interception program, called MYSTIC, began in 2009, the Post said. Its “retrospective retrieval” tool and related projects reached full capacity against the first target nation in 2011. Planning documents two years later anticipated similar operations elsewhere, the Post said. In the initial deployment, collection systems are recording “every single” conversation nationwide, storing billions in a 30-day rolling buffer that clears the oldest calls as new ones arrive, according to a classified summary the Post said it has seen. In the deluge of US intelligence monitoring methods disclosed so far by Snowden, no other NSA program has been known to monitor the entirety of a nation’s phone network. NSA collection of phone meta data — who is called and how long a conversation lasts, but not the content of the call — was among the first of the Snowden disclosures. In a statement, Caitlin Hayden, spokeswoman for the National Security Council, declined to comment on “specific alleged intelligence activities,” the Post said. Speaking generally, she said that “new or emerging threats are often hidden within the large and complex system of modern global communications, and the United States must consequently collect signals intelligence in bulk in certain circumstances in order to identify these threats.” Snowden is a now a fugitive who has been granted asylum in Russia. The United States has charged him with crimes including espionage."

4/20/2014 8:37:01 PM

lol, kerry to snowden: come home

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-27614001

5/29/2014 2:42:23 AM

Don't worry Snowden, your execution will be swift and painless. Less than an hour after injection, tops. We only had to fry Ethel Rosenberg a couple of times to get it right.

6/3/2014 1:03:56 AM

Hey, if you don't do anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about, right?

http://m.mic.com/articles/94372/edward-snowden-explains-what-the-nsa-does-when-it-comes-across-your-nude-photos

So, basically there are a lot of horny HS and college dudes who have never seen a naked girl working at NSA to keep the country safe. Awesome!

7/20/2014 7:30:25 PM

http://www.dailydot.com/lol/edward-snowden-2001-modeling-photos/

5/27/2015 12:28:32 PM