US spy chief Clapper defends Prism and phone surveillance

[Magda Hassan]

Okay for the Americans to spy on Germans but not for the Germans to spy on the Germans with Staasi apparently...Why do they need Merkel again? Why not just direct rule from Washington?

Merkel justifies NSA eavesdropping surveillance


Published time: July 11, 2013 09:56

Merkel has made her first detailed comment into the unraveling diplomatic scandal with the America's National Security Agency (NSA) global telecommunication eavesdropping, including those of its European allies, Germany foremost among them.
Despite "justified questions" to the American intelligence community regarding eavesdropping on German networks, the US remains Berlin's "most loyal ally", announced Chancellor Angela Merkel in interview to Die Zeit weekly.
It emerged recently that Germany happens to be the most-snooped-on EU country by the American National Security Agency (NSA). The NSA's real-time online surveillance PRISM program allows US intelligence agencies to intercept virtually any communications over the internet, phone calls and makes possible direct access to files stored on the servers of major internet companies.
Merkel declared that she herself has learnt about the US surveillance programs, such as the NSA's PRISM spy program, "through the current reporting" in the media.
In early July spokesman Steffen Seibert announced on the behalf of Chancellor Merkel that "The monitoring of friends - this is unacceptable. It can't be tolerated," adding that Merkel had already delivered her concerns to the US. "We are no longer in the Cold War," Seibert added.
The German government subsequently summoned US Ambassador Philip Murphy to Berlin to explain the incendiary reports.

At the same time according to new revelations made by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden to Germany's Spiegel magazine, the American NSA and Germany's intelligence agencies are "in bed together."
Seibert told Reuters this week that German's Federal Intelligence Agency's (BND) cooperation with the NSA "took place within strict legal and judicial guidelines and is controlled by the competent parliamentary committee."
Intelligence is essential for democracies'

Merkel stressed that intelligence "has always been and will in future be essential for the security of citizens" of democratic countries. "A country without intelligence work would be too vulnerable," Merkel said.
At the same time, she observed that there must be a "balance between maximum freedom and what the state needs to give its citizens the greatest possible security."
Merkel emphasized that German-American special relationship should not be endangered by the incident.
"America has been, and is, our most loyal ally over all the decades," Merkel said, but pointed out that Washington should clear up the situation with the US allegedly bugging the embassies of the European countries and the EU facilities, noting that "the Cold War is over."
Stasi and NSA are not comparable

In acknowledgment of the Germany's contemporary history, Merkel, who grew up in East Germany, refused to make any parallels between the methods of work of DDR's secret police Stasi and America's NSA.
"For me, there is absolutely no comparison between the Stasi and the work of intelligence agencies in democratic states," she was quoted as saying. "They are two completely different things and such comparisons only lead to a trivialization of what the Stasi did to [East Germany's] people," said Merkel.
Rhetoric shift

In the face of the national elections in September, Angela Merkel has come under fierce criticism in connection with the NSA spying scandal for not protesting unequivocally enough, while various German politicians demanded to stop spying immediately.

Germany's center-left opposition insists on questioning country's officials with a view to find out what exactly they knew about the American surveillance of German communications before the eavesdropping scandal emerged.

Earlier Germany's Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich and Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger both declined any knowledge of the eavesdropping performed by the American US in German networks.
In the interview to Die Zeit Chancellor Merkel revealed that reports from German intelligence agencies are being delivered to her chief of staff, Ronald Pofalla who coordinates their work from the chancellery.
The head of the center-left opposition Social Democratic Party (SPD) Sigmar Gabriel told Spiegel Online that "Ms. Merkel is now trying to shift political responsibility to her chief of staff."
"That's an old game: [pretending] not knowing anything at first, trying to play down the problem and then finally pointing the finger at a staff member. But it's not going to work because it's clear that the dimensions of this scandal are so great that no person other than the chancellor can ensure that basic rights are defended in Germany," the SPD leader claimed.
Today battling terrorism is impossible "without the possibility of telecommunications monitoring," Merkel told the weekly. "The work of intelligence agencies in democratic states was always vital to the safety of citizens and will remain so in the future."
In the meantime, Friedrich is meeting US Attorney General Eric Holder and White House counterterrorism adviser Lisa Monaco in Washington on Friday for talks dedicated to the NSA scandal. Though Merkel's government is not likely to pedal the spying issue, Berlin surely expects explanation from Washington in regards of the Snowdengate' "for all the more-than-justified questions", Merkel was quoted as telling Die Zeit.

http://rt.com/news/merkel-nsa-scandal-ze...ts/page-1/

[Jan Klimkowski]

Silicon Valley in cahoots with the NSA.

We had no choice, they bleat.

Well, I'm stunned, just stunned....

Not.

Revealed: how Microsoft handed the NSA access to encrypted messages

Secret files show scale of Silicon Valley co-operation on Prism
Outlook.com encryption unlocked even before official launch
Skype worked to enable Prism collection of video calls
Company says it is legally compelled to comply


Glenn Greenwald, Ewen MacAskill, Laura Poitras, Spencer Ackerman and Dominic Rushe
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 11 July 2013 18.53 BST
Jump to comments (1129)

Skype worked with intelligence agencies last year to allow Prism to collect video and audio conversations. Photograph: Patrick Sinkel/AP

Microsoft has collaborated closely with US intelligence services to allow users' communications to be intercepted, including helping the National Security Agency to circumvent the company's own encryption, according to top-secret documents obtained by the Guardian.

The files provided by Edward Snowden illustrate the scale of co-operation between Silicon Valley and the intelligence agencies over the last three years. They also shed new light on the workings of the top-secret Prism program, which was disclosed by the Guardian and the Washington Post last month.

The documents show that:

Microsoft helped the NSA to circumvent its encryption to address concerns that the agency would be unable to intercept web chats on the new Outlook.com portal;

The agency already had pre-encryption stage access to email on Outlook.com, including Hotmail;

The company worked with the FBI this year to allow the NSA easier access via Prism to its cloud storage service SkyDrive, which now has more than 250 million users worldwide;

Microsoft also worked with the FBI's Data Intercept Unit to "understand" potential issues with a feature in Outlook.com that allows users to create email aliases;

In July last year, nine months after Microsoft bought Skype, the NSA boasted that a new capability had tripled the amount of Skype video calls being collected through Prism;

Material collected through Prism is routinely shared with the FBI and CIA, with one NSA document describing the program as a "team sport".

The latest NSA revelations further expose the tensions between Silicon Valley and the Obama administration. All the major tech firms are lobbying the government to allow them to disclose more fully the extent and nature of their co-operation with the NSA to meet their customers' privacy concerns. Privately, tech executives are at pains to distance themselves from claims of collaboration and teamwork given by the NSA documents, and insist the process is driven by legal compulsion.

In a statement, Microsoft said: "When we upgrade or update products we aren't absolved from the need to comply with existing or future lawful demands." The company reiterated its argument that it provides customer data "only in response to government demands and we only ever comply with orders for requests about specific accounts or identifiers".

In June, the Guardian revealed that the NSA claimed to have "direct access" through the Prism program to the systems of many major internet companies, including Microsoft, Skype, Apple, Google, Facebook and Yahoo.

Blanket orders from the secret surveillance court allow these communications to be collected without an individual warrant if the NSA operative has a 51% belief that the target is not a US citizen and is not on US soil at the time. Targeting US citizens does require an individual warrant, but the NSA is able to collect Americans' communications without a warrant if the target is a foreign national located overseas.

Since Prism's existence became public, Microsoft and the other companies listed on the NSA documents as providers have denied all knowledge of the program and insisted that the intelligence agencies do not have back doors into their systems.

Microsoft's latest marketing campaign, launched in April, emphasizes its commitment to privacy with the slogan: "Your privacy is our priority."

Similarly, Skype's privacy policy states: "Skype is committed to respecting your privacy and the confidentiality of your personal data, traffic data and communications content."

But internal NSA newsletters, marked top secret, suggest the co-operation between the intelligence community and the companies is deep and ongoing.

The latest documents come from the NSA's Special Source Operations (SSO) division, described by Snowden as the "crown jewel" of the agency. It is responsible for all programs aimed at US communications systems through corporate partnerships such as Prism.

The files show that the NSA became concerned about the interception of encrypted chats on Microsoft's Outlook.com portal from the moment the company began testing the service in July last year.

Within five months, the documents explain, Microsoft and the FBI had come up with a solution that allowed the NSA to circumvent encryption on Outlook.com chats

A newsletter entry dated 26 December 2012 states: "MS [Microsoft], working with the FBI, developed a surveillance capability to deal" with the issue. "These solutions were successfully tested and went live 12 Dec 2012."

Two months later, in February this year, Microsoft officially launched the Outlook.com portal.

Another newsletter entry stated that NSA already had pre-encryption access to Outlook email. "For Prism collection against Hotmail, Live, and Outlook.com emails will be unaffected because Prism collects this data prior to encryption."

Microsoft's co-operation was not limited to Outlook.com. An entry dated 8 April 2013 describes how the company worked "for many months" with the FBI which acts as the liaison between the intelligence agencies and Silicon Valley on Prism to allow Prism access without separate authorization to its cloud storage service SkyDrive.

The document describes how this access "means that analysts will no longer have to make a special request to SSO for this a process step that many analysts may not have known about".

The NSA explained that "this new capability will result in a much more complete and timely collection response". It continued: "This success is the result of the FBI working for many months with Microsoft to get this tasking and collection solution established."

A separate entry identified another area for collaboration. "The FBI Data Intercept Technology Unit (DITU) team is working with Microsoft to understand an additional feature in Outlook.com which allows users to create email aliases, which may affect our tasking processes."

The NSA has devoted substantial efforts in the last two years to work with Microsoft to ensure increased access to Skype, which has an estimated 663 million global users.

One document boasts that Prism monitoring of Skype video production has roughly tripled since a new capability was added on 14 July 2012. "The audio portions of these sessions have been processed correctly all along, but without the accompanying video. Now, analysts will have the complete 'picture'," it says.

Eight months before being bought by Microsoft, Skype joined the Prism program in February 2011.

According to the NSA documents, work had begun on smoothly integrating Skype into Prism in November 2010, but it was not until 4 February 2011 that the company was served with a directive to comply signed by the attorney general.

The NSA was able to start tasking Skype communications the following day, and collection began on 6 February. "Feedback indicated that a collected Skype call was very clear and the metadata looked complete," the document stated, praising the co-operation between NSA teams and the FBI. "Collaborative teamwork was the key to the successful addition of another provider to the Prism system."

ACLU technology expert Chris Soghoian said the revelations would surprise many Skype users. "In the past, Skype made affirmative promises to users about their inability to perform wiretaps," he said. "It's hard to square Microsoft's secret collaboration with the NSA with its high-profile efforts to compete on privacy with Google."

The information the NSA collects from Prism is routinely shared with both the FBI and CIA. A 3 August 2012 newsletter describes how the NSA has recently expanded sharing with the other two agencies.

The NSA, the entry reveals, has even automated the sharing of aspects of Prism, using software that "enables our partners to see which selectors [search terms] the National Security Agency has tasked to Prism".

The document continues: "The FBI and CIA then can request a copy of Prism collection of any selector…" As a result, the author notes: "these two activities underscore the point that Prism is a team sport!"

In its statement to the Guardian, Microsoft said:

We have clear principles which guide the response across our entire company to government demands for customer information for both law enforcement and national security issues. First, we take our commitments to our customers and to compliance with applicable law very seriously, so we provide customer data only in response to legal processes.

Second, our compliance team examines all demands very closely, and we reject them if we believe they aren't valid. Third, we only ever comply with orders about specific accounts or identifiers, and we would not respond to the kind of blanket orders discussed in the press over the past few weeks, as the volumes documented in our most recent disclosure clearly illustrate.

Finally when we upgrade or update products legal obligations may in some circumstances require that we maintain the ability to provide information in response to a law enforcement or national security request. There are aspects of this debate that we wish we were able to discuss more freely. That's why we've argued for additional transparency that would help everyone understand and debate these important issues.

In a joint statement, Shawn Turner, spokesman for the director of National Intelligence, and Judith Emmel, spokeswoman for the NSA, said:

The articles describe court-ordered surveillance and a US company's efforts to comply with these legally mandated requirements. The US operates its programs under a strict oversight regime, with careful monitoring by the courts, Congress and the Director of National Intelligence. Not all countries have equivalent oversight requirements to protect civil liberties and privacy.

They added: "In practice, US companies put energy, focus and commitment into consistently protecting the privacy of their customers around the world, while meeting their obligations under the laws of the US and other countries in which they operate."



This article was amended on 11 July 2013 to reflect information from Microsoft that it did not make any changes to Skype to allow Prism collection on or around July 2012.

[Magda Hassan]

Snowden seeks help | NSA revelations turn into deluge

Posted on July 12, 2013 by [URL="http://darkernet.in/author/admin/"]admin
[/URL]

The US Government is piling on the pressure i.e. making threats, as befits the greatest bully on the planet to ensure no country offers NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden asylum. Consequently Mr. Snowden has invited representatives of human rights organisations, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, to meet with him today at 5pm, Moscow time, in the main Transit Lounge at Sheremetyevo Airport, so that he can discuss how to move on.
In the invitation, in the form of a letter, Mr. Snowden stated, "The scale of threatening behaviour is without precedent: never before in history have states conspired to force to the ground a sovereign president's plane to effect a search for a political refugee. This dangerous escalation represents a threat not just to the dignity of Latin America or my own personal security, but to the basic right shared by every living person to live free from persecution."
For more on this, click here . A copy of Mr. Snowden's letter is given below. We will provide updates once more is know..
Meanwhile, revelations about the surveillance systems organised by the NSA and its partners (governments and commercial internet businesses and communications firms) and which are targeting not just US citizens but people everywhere are turning into a deluge. Already there are legal challenges taking place in the USA, Britain, France and Germany (and elsewhere) and coders are frantically working on new ways for non-geeks to encrypt their internet communications. Below, are just some of the many stories that have been published over the last 48 hours on the criminal activities of the NSA and its collaborators…
Or as Wikileaks tweeted…
P.S. To give all your data to the NSA, just click here .
Microsoft collaboration with NSA
In a Guardian article, Revealed: how Microsoft handed the NSA access to encrypted messages , it was shown that Microsoft has been actively collaborating with the NSA for some years to allow the NSA to capture data. The key points are the article are… Microsoft helped the NSA to circumvent its encryption to address concerns that the agency would be unable to intercept web chats on the new Outlook.com portal; The agency already had pre-encryption stage access to email on Outlook.com, including Hotmail; The company worked with the FBI this year to allow the NSA easier access via Prism to its cloud storage service SkyDrive, which now has more than 250 million users worldwide; Microsoft also worked with the FBI's Data Intercept Unit to "understand" potential issues with a feature in Outlook.com that allows users to create email aliases; In July last year, nine months after Microsoft bought Skype, the NSA boasted that a new capability had tripled the amount of Skype video calls being collected through Prism.
Lawsuits against NSA-managed surveillance
1. France
In another Guardian article, NSA surveillance: French human rights groups seek judicial investigation , it was reported that the "France-based International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the Human Rights League based the complaint on disclosures by the NSA leaker Edward Snowden which indicated that the US government amassed phone and internet usage data on people around the world for security reasons. Lawyers for the two groups said that such surveillance, if confirmed, would violate up to five French privacy laws, including illicit collection of personal data and the infringement of the right to a private life." The article added, "The legal complaint against persons unknown aims to prompt a judicial investigation that would also look at the alleged role of tech companies including Facebook, Apple, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and Skype in data-gathering by the NSA".
2. Britain
In a Guardian article NSA and GCHQ spy programmes face legal challenge' , it is reported that papers filed on last Monday "call for an immediate suspension of Britain's use of material from the Prism programme, which is run by America's National Security Agency. They also demand a temporary injunction to the Tempora programme, which allows Britain's spy centre GCHQ to harvest millions of emails, phone calls and Skype conversations from the undersea cables that carry internet traffic in and out of the country. Lawyers acting for the UK charity Privacy International say the programme is not necessary or proportionate. They say the laws being used to justify mass data trawling are being abused by intelligence officials and ministers, and need to be urgently reviewed. Privacy International has submitted a claim to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT), which is supposed to review all complaints about the conduct of Britain's spy agencies. The organisation hopes for a public hearing and early rulings because of the seriousness of the situation.
NSA logging Google maps activities
Slate reports on an article in the Brazilian paper, O Globo, that reveals how a handful of new top-secret NSA PowerPoint slides, one of which revealed the existence of an NSA program called "XKEYSCORE," which involves the mass storage of international Internet metadataincluding information about emails, phone calls, log-ins, and other user activitythat can later be mined, or "queried," by an NSA analyst from a computer. One of the slides suggests that the NSA can monitor a person's Google Maps activityand use this as a basis to follow up any activity deemed suspicious with further investigation. The slide notes: "My target uses Google maps to scope target locationscan I use this information to determine his email address? What about the Web searchesdo any look suspicious?" It adds: "XKEYSCORE extracts and databases these events, including all web-based searches, which can be retrospectively queried." To see how how IXMaps works, click here.
Profits made from snooping
In an article, Verizon, AT&T get most bucks from feds for wiretaps' , CBS News reports on how much companies charge the NSA for each set of wiretaps and other surveillance measures. "AT&T, for example, imposes a $325 "activation fee" for each wiretap and $10 a day to maintain it. Smaller carriers Cricket and U.S. Cellular charge only about $250 per wiretap. But snoop on a Verizon customer? That costs the government $775 for the first month and $500 each month after that, according to industry disclosures made last year to Congressman Edward Markey. Meanwhile, email records like those amassed by the National Security Agency through a program revealed by former NSA systems analyst Edward Snowden probably were collected for free or very cheaply. Facebook says it doesn't charge the government for access. And while Microsoft, Yahoo and Google won't say how much they charge, the American Civil Liberties Union found that email records can be turned over for as little as $25."
Smart phones/tablets incorporate NSA monitoring code
Zero Hedge reports that Google smart phones as well as Sony's Xperia Z, HTC's One, and Samsung Electronics' Galaxy S4 have NSA code embedded to monitor activity and that eventually "all new phones, tablets, televisions, cars, and other devices that rely on Android will include NSA code".
NSA behind industrial espionage in South America
USA Today in an article, U.S. spying eyes energy info in Latin America', reports on O Globo revelations "indicating the U.S. effort is gathering information on energy in Mexico and oil in Venezuela. There was no information released about what information was obtained, nor any companies that were targeted. The report also said that Colombia, the strongest U.S. military ally in South America, along with Mexico and Brazil, were the countries where the U.S. program intercepted the biggest chunks of information on emails and telephone calls during the last five years. Similar activities took place in Argentina and Ecuador, among others…" Also, that "O Globo also reported that the documents it's seen indicate the U.S. had data collection centers in 2002 for material intercepted from satellites in Bogota, Caracas, Mexico City and Panama City, along with Brasilia. There was no information published about the existence of these centers after 2002."
Australia's role in NSA data gathering
ZDNet, in an article, Snowden leak reaffirms Australia's four spy installations' , commented on O Globo revelations about Australia's pivotal role, as one of the '5 Eyes' in the Echelon network, in gathering data for the NSA. "The Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald revealed that a number of slides allegedly leaked by Edward Snowden to Brazilian newspaper O Globo show Australia's connection with US signals intelligence operations. The slides themselves indicate four signals intelligence collection points in Australia, and although they aren't named, Fairfax has made the claim that these facilities are the Pine Gap, Northern Territory, US/Australian Joint Defence Facility; the Shoal Bay, NT, Receiving Station; the Geraldton, Western Australia, Australian Defence Satellite Communications Facility; and the Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, naval communications station HMAS Harman. These facilities have long been suspected of being used for signals interception and intelligence purposes, but the new document further builds confirmation of existing surveillance networks that have existed for years." See alsofurther analysis on this by Jaraparilla. The Sydney Morning Herald also ran an article on how the main Australian Telco, Telstra, has been cooperating, together with telecos from other countries in the region, in the capture of data for the USA for more than a decade.
http://darkernet.in/snowden-seeks-help-n...to-deluge/

[Tracy Riddle]

Ahh, the relatively low-tech early 70s. I bet the politicians miss it.

[Kara Dellacioppa]

I would fast forward first half an hour.. .I could only find this on conspiracyscope blog was taken down at youtube...

Wayne Madsen is on at 1:25 for 15, i think its a great interview... Pinkney stuff on Travon Martin is before (its pretty interesting)

http://conspiracyscope.tumblr.com/

[Magda Hassan]

Statement by Edward Snowden to human rights groups at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, posted by WikiLeaks:
Friday July 12, 15:00 UTC
Hello. My name is Ed Snowden. A little over one month ago, I had family, a home in paradise, and I lived in great comfort. I also had the capability without any warrant to search for, seize, and read your communications. Anyone's communications at any time. That is the power to change people's fates.
It is also a serious violation of the law. The 4th and 5th Amendments to the Constitution of my country, Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and numerous statutes and treaties forbid such systems of massive, pervasive surveillance. While the US Constitution marks these programs as illegal, my government argues that secret court rulings, which the world is not permitted to see, somehow legitimize an illegal affair. These rulings simply corrupt the most basic notion of justice that it must be seen to be done. The immoral cannot be made moral through the use of secret law.
I believe in the principle declared at Nuremberg in 1945: "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."
Accordingly, I did what I believed right and began a campaign to correct this wrongdoing. I did not seek to enrich myself. I did not seek to sell US secrets. I did not partner with any foreign government to guarantee my safety. Instead, I took what I knew to the public, so what affects all of us can be discussed by all of us in the light of day, and I asked the world for justice.
That moral decision to tell the public about spying that affects all of us has been costly, but it was the right thing to do and I have no regrets.
Since that time, the government and intelligence services of the United States of America have attempted to make an example of me, a warning to all others who might speak out as I have. I have been made stateless and hounded for my act of political expression. The United States Government has placed me on no-fly lists. It demanded Hong Kong return me outside of the framework of its laws, in direct violation of the principle of non-refoulement the Law of Nations. It has threatened with sanctions countries who would stand up for my human rights and the UN asylum system. It has even taken the unprecedented step of ordering military allies to ground a Latin American president's plane in search for a political refugee. These dangerous escalations represent a threat not just to the dignity of Latin America, but to the basic rights shared by every person, every nation, to live free from persecution, and to seek and enjoy asylum.
Yet even in the face of this historically disproportionate aggression, countries around the world have offered support and asylum. These nations, including Russia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua, and Ecuador have my gratitude and respect for being the first to stand against human rights violations carried out by the powerful rather than the powerless. By refusing to compromise their principles in the face of intimidation, they have earned the respect of the world. It is my intention to travel to each of these countries to extend my personal thanks to their people and leaders.
I announce today my formal acceptance of all offers of support or asylum I have been extended and all others that may be offered in the future. With, for example, the grant of asylum provided by Venezuela's President Maduro, my asylee status is now formal, and no state has a basis by which to limit or interfere with my right to enjoy that asylum. As we have seen, however, some governments in Western European and North American states have demonstrated a willingness to act outside the law, and this behavior persists today. This unlawful threat makes it impossible for me to travel to Latin America and enjoy the asylum granted there in accordance with our shared rights.
This willingness by powerful states to act extra-legally represents a threat to all of us, and must not be allowed to succeed. Accordingly, I ask for your assistance in requesting guarantees of safe passage from the relevant nations in securing my travel to Latin America, as well as requesting asylum in Russia until such time as these states accede to law and my legal travel is permitted. I will be submitting my request to Russia today, and hope it will be accepted favorably.
If you have any questions, I will answer what I can.
Thank you.

[Peter Lemkin]

Silicon Valley in cahoots with the NSA.

We had no choice, they bleat.

Well, I'm stunned, just stunned....

Not.

Revealed: how Microsoft handed the NSA access to encrypted messages

Secret files show scale of Silicon Valley co-operation on Prism
Outlook.com encryption unlocked even before official launch
Skype worked to enable Prism collection of video calls
Company says it is legally compelled to comply

Spineless prostitutes who will do ANYTHING for money and keep silent - although many of them were tapped to become IT billionaires BECAUSE they were Intel Agencies/NSS approved! Those who 'wouldn't play ball', had their proprietary secrets given to others, etc.

Use Linux Ubuntu....it is everything that Microsuck is and better! And it is free and open source - and has every type of program MS does - in fact more! Only the conversion takes a little doing....I've done it.

[Peter Lemkin]

Statement by Edward Snowden to human rights groups at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, posted by WikiLeaks:
Friday July 12, 15:00 UTC
Hello. My name is Ed Snowden. A little over one month ago, I had family, a home in paradise, and I lived in great comfort. I also had the capability without any warrant to search for, seize, and read your communications. Anyone's communications at any time. That is the power to change people's fates.
It is also a serious violation of the law. The 4th and 5th Amendments to the Constitution of my country, Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and numerous statutes and treaties forbid such systems of massive, pervasive surveillance. While the US Constitution marks these programs as illegal, my government argues that secret court rulings, which the world is not permitted to see, somehow legitimize an illegal affair. These rulings simply corrupt the most basic notion of justice that it must be seen to be done. The immoral cannot be made moral through the use of secret law.
I believe in the principle declared at Nuremberg in 1945: "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."
Accordingly, I did what I believed right and began a campaign to correct this wrongdoing. I did not seek to enrich myself. I did not seek to sell US secrets. I did not partner with any foreign government to guarantee my safety. Instead, I took what I knew to the public, so what affects all of us can be discussed by all of us in the light of day, and I asked the world for justice.
That moral decision to tell the public about spying that affects all of us has been costly, but it was the right thing to do and I have no regrets.
Since that time, the government and intelligence services of the United States of America have attempted to make an example of me, a warning to all others who might speak out as I have. I have been made stateless and hounded for my act of political expression. The United States Government has placed me on no-fly lists. It demanded Hong Kong return me outside of the framework of its laws, in direct violation of the principle of non-refoulement the Law of Nations. It has threatened with sanctions countries who would stand up for my human rights and the UN asylum system. It has even taken the unprecedented step of ordering military allies to ground a Latin American president's plane in search for a political refugee. These dangerous escalations represent a threat not just to the dignity of Latin America, but to the basic rights shared by every person, every nation, to live free from persecution, and to seek and enjoy asylum.
Yet even in the face of this historically disproportionate aggression, countries around the world have offered support and asylum. These nations, including Russia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua, and Ecuador have my gratitude and respect for being the first to stand against human rights violations carried out by the powerful rather than the powerless. By refusing to compromise their principles in the face of intimidation, they have earned the respect of the world. It is my intention to travel to each of these countries to extend my personal thanks to their people and leaders.
I announce today my formal acceptance of all offers of support or asylum I have been extended and all others that may be offered in the future. With, for example, the grant of asylum provided by Venezuela's President Maduro, my asylee status is now formal, and no state has a basis by which to limit or interfere with my right to enjoy that asylum. As we have seen, however, some governments in Western European and North American states have demonstrated a willingness to act outside the law, and this behavior persists today. This unlawful threat makes it impossible for me to travel to Latin America and enjoy the asylum granted there in accordance with our shared rights.
This willingness by powerful states to act extra-legally represents a threat to all of us, and must not be allowed to succeed. Accordingly, I ask for your assistance in requesting guarantees of safe passage from the relevant nations in securing my travel to Latin America, as well as requesting asylum in Russia until such time as these states accede to law and my legal travel is permitted. I will be submitting my request to Russia today, and hope it will be accepted favorably.
If you have any questions, I will answer what I can.
Thank you.

Good statement. So, it was the no-fly listing that has made it impossible thus far, not the lifting of his passport! They want him trapped like Assange and Manning and many others. Obama is such a fake on transparency [which he campaigned on] - and all else. My, were the American People fooled by Obama! After they murdered JFK they won't even let anyone run [let alone win] who isn't a puppet of the Empire!

[Magda Hassan]

You have to wonder what they have on Obama (and plenty of others) too. Not that he couldn't be a completely willing tool either.

[Magda Hassan]

Silicon Valley in cahoots with the NSA.

We had no choice, they bleat.

Well, I'm stunned, just stunned....

Not.

Revealed: how Microsoft handed the NSA access to encrypted messages

Secret files show scale of Silicon Valley co-operation on Prism
Outlook.com encryption unlocked even before official launch
Skype worked to enable Prism collection of video calls
Company says it is legally compelled to comply

Spineless prostitutes who will do ANYTHING for money and keep silent - although many of them were tapped to become IT billionaires BECAUSE they were Intel Agencies/NSS approved! Those who 'wouldn't play ball', had their proprietary secrets given to others, etc.

Use Linux Ubuntu....it is everything that Microsuck is and better! And it is free and open source - and has every type of program MS does - in fact more! Only the conversion takes a little doing....I've done it.

Not only co-operating with them but training them.

Report: Microsoft taught NSA how to crack encrypted emails

By Jennifer Martinez - 07/11/13 02:39 PM ET


Microsoft helped American intelligence officials gain easier access to their users' electronic communications, The Guardian reported on Thursday.

Documents leaked by former government contractor Edward Snowden show that Microsoft helped the National Security Agency (NSA) work around the encrypted code on its new Outlook portal after the spy agency expressed concern that it wouldn't be able to intercept Web chats, according to The Guardian.








Microsoft also gave the FBI easier access to its cloud storage service SkyDrive and let the NSA have access to email on Outlook and Hotmail before it was encrypted, according to the paper.

The video service Skype, which is owned by Microsoft, also allowed the NSA to cull video and audio conversations, the newspaper reported. The accusations are just the latest to surface about the NSA working with top tech companies to conduct surveillance. The Guardian and The Washington Post reported last month that Google, Microsoft, Facebook and other tech companies had allegedly given the NSA "direct access" to their servers that store user data.



[B][B][B]Microsoft told The Guardian that it only hands over customer data "in response to government demands and we only ever comply with orders for requests about specific accounts or identifiers."

"When we upgrade or update products we aren't absolved from the need to comply with existing or future lawful demands," the company added.

The Guardian report runs counter to Microsoft's claims that it did not give the NSA access to its servers. All of the tech companies linked to the Prism surveillance program have denied prior knowledge about it and have attempted to distance themselves from it.

In addition to releasing figures on the number of government requests it receives for user data, Microsoft joined Google in filing a [B]petition with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to ask for permission to publish the aggregate number of national security requests they receive for user information. Google and Microsoft want to publish that figure separately from the number of criminal requests for user information they receive.

The aim is to quell users' concerns about how the companies handle and protect user data.
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Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley...z2Yu772ds0
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