Edward Snowden has called on supporters at the HOPE hacking conference to develop easy-to-use technologies to subvert government surveillance programs.
Mr Snowden, who addressed conference attendees on Saturday via video link from Moscow, said he intends to devote much of his time to promoting such technologies, including ones that allow people to communicate anonymously and encrypt their messages.
"You in this room, right now, have both the means and the capability to improve the future by encoding our rights into programs and protocols by which we rely every day," he told the New York City conference, known as Hackers on Planet Earth, or HOPE. "That is what a lot of my future work is going to be involved in."
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Two articles have been received regarding the NSA and its activities:
NSA chief knew of Snowden file destruction by Guardian in UK
Surprising absolutely no one, the Guardian reports that Keith Alexander was fully briefed and supportive of the GCHQ's plan to destroy Snowden-related computers at the Guardian's offices in London.
The revelation that Alexander and Obama's director of national intelligence, James Clapper, were advised on the Guardian's destruction of several hard disks and laptops contrasts markedly with public White House statements that distanced the US from the decision.
White House and NSA emails obtained by Associated Press under freedom of information legislation demonstrate how pleased Alexander and his colleagues were with the developments. At times the correspondence takes a celebratory tone, with one official describing the anticipated destruction as "good news".
A Compromise with the NSA
"The NSA wants to know everything we do? Fine, but only if We the People see everything the NSA does. The real problem with the current mass surveillance is asymmetry."
Now we all know that the NSA is not going to open its doors and reveal its secrets - that would be foolhardy in the extreme and seriously endanger the US and its citizens. And despite the sincerely-held views of many of our members and others elsewhere, from the outside there doesn't appear to be anything like a groundswell of dissent in the US regarding Snowden's revelations about the NSA's activities.
However, perhaps by being a little more open it might begin to win back the trust of those who currently doubt that the NSA is working in their interests. What would it take for you to be convinced that the NSA was under control and acting in the best interests of every US citizen, and not just the interests of a small number who appear to use it to cling to power? What amount of spying on allies and partners would be acceptable while remembering that each time such activity is discovered it weakens the trust of the ally and can have serious repercussions for US business? Would clearly stating which terrorist plots had been thwarted by intelligence gathered, in part at least, by the NSA be enough? Or have we already passed the point of no return?
At least 80 percent of all audio calls are gathered and stored by the NSA, whistleblower William Binney has revealed. The former code-breaker says the spy agency's ultimate aim is no less than total population control.
"At least 80 percent of fiber-optic cables globally go via the US", Binney said. "This is no accident and allows the US to view all communication coming in. At least 80 percent of all audio calls, not just metadata, are recorded and stored in the US. The NSA lies about what it stores."
Binney has no evidence to substantiate his claims as he did not take any documents with him when he left the NSA. However, he insists the organization is untruthful about its intelligence gathering practices and their ultimate aim. He says that recent Supreme Court decisions have led him to believe the NSA won't stop until it has complete control over the population.
One of the more disturbing revelations to come out of the recent leaks by Edward Snowden is the fact that the the NSA and GCHQ specifically target social media and online forums using a variety of methods to sway domestic public opinion and manufacture false consensus for government actions. SN, being a relatively small and new website, probably isn't currently being targeted, but as a growing site it is almost guaranteed to be targeted at some point in the future. GCHQ programs have already been the subject of media reporting.
What methods, if any, could be deployed to spot these techniques and government agents? The tech-savvy, pro-privacy, niche that this website caters to probably makes it a particularly important potential target, and the threat will scale exponentially as SN's community expands in size and influence. I would like to see SN foster a culture of pro-active defense and vigilance. We know this sort of manipulation happens, being aware of it is the first step to neutralizing its pernicious effects. At the very least, I think we need keep the conversation going, so that it remains in the foreground of our collective consciousness.
One artist is using a modified form of "graffiti" to protest the NSA. Early this morning in Berlin, self-proclaimed "guerrilla marketing expert" Oliver Bienkowski used a powerful projector mounted in a cargo van to light up the side of the US Embassy. The projection emblazoned the Embassy with a silly illustration of President Obama and a warning for all to see: "NSA in da House."
(Score: 4, Funny) by prospectacle on Tuesday July 22 2014, @03:41AM
So working for the CIA and the NSA, stealing classified documents, fleeing the country and living in exile has all been one big marketing campaign for SnowSoft Enterprises(TM), specialising in data security and encryption.
Well played, sir.
I'll bet he gives the software away for free, too, just to maintain the charade.
If a plan isn't flexible it isn't realistic
(Score: 2, Insightful) by anubi on Tuesday July 22 2014, @05:13AM
When I see something I perceive as unjust, it gets my goat. Most of the time I am too obedient to follow through with being a loose cannon, but push hard enough and I will go off. He did. Its part of being human. A lot of us simply cannot tolerate seeing others misused, animals abused, children molested, or other injustices we see all the time around us.
We all seem to pray for a God to send a lightning bolt down to do the dirty work. However I have yet to see that happen. Somebody has to do something to stop it.
There are the folk who can watch a woman getting raped in the street and not lift a finger to even call the police. Not all of us are that callous and uncaring.
I will betcha if Snowden releases his stuff, it will be clean as a whistle and open source, and he will be literally asking anyone to find a hole in it so it can be fixed.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2) by davester666 on Tuesday July 22 2014, @06:27AM
...free...with ads served by Google!(tiny print: warning everything you do with this program may be tracked by Google)
(Score: 2, Informative) by kstox on Tuesday July 22 2014, @04:59AM
http://new.livestream.com/internetsociety/hopex1/videos/57007569 [livestream.com]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by tdk on Tuesday July 22 2014, @10:45AM
See the webertarian manifesto [squte.com]:
Take back your internet [squte.com]
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday July 22 2014, @01:48PM
Snowden has become a personal hero of mine, but he emphasizes purely defensive, reactive measures. As such they sound to me like, if we extend that approach to other areas, we can stop gun deaths if only we can get everyone to wear full body armor all the time, or to prevent burglaries we only need to dig moats around every house and cover every approach with motion tracking auto-cannon.
The reality is, the NSA, GCHQ, and the Five Eyes have declared war on us citizens and our freedom. We have by now abundant evidence that they consider us the primary threat (certainly they don't terrorists, because they catch none). They watch everything we do, steal all our secrets and private moments, run teams to undermine peaceable public discourse, conduct economic warfare against us, and generally subvert everything about our democracy and way of life.
It does not make sense to do nothing to fight back beyond better body armor. We need hackers and general citizens to make the NSA and their enablers experience real, personal consequences for their crimes and their attacks on our freedom. Let's set up cameras on the approaches to the NSA parking lot and capture license plate numbers. Let's track those cars back to their origin and de-anonymize the people who drive them. Publish a list on Tor of their names and addresses, and everything about them. Let's publish what their medical secrets are, what websites they visit, the naughty things they do. Let's upload captures of the lascivious things they say to *their* wives and partners in their phone conversations. Let's task drones to follow them around their neighborhoods and grocery stores. They deserve much, much worse, and perhaps they will require worse, but that's a good list for starters. Let's give them and those who are failing to prosecute them a taste of their own medicine as a warning of what will come next if they continue to fail to uphold our laws.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Tuesday July 22 2014, @04:06PM
> prevent burglaries we only need to dig moats around every house and cover every approach with motion tracking auto-cannon
Newsletter please.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 22 2014, @04:17PM
Not sure that's the way to go. I feel your frustration though. Anon does things similar to what you describe, and they sometimes get it wrong, and destroy innocent people's lives. I think if we go on the offensive by supporting eff.org, aclu, etc., in trying to hold liars before Congress accountable so they do jail time, holding people who violate the law accountable by throwing them in jail, etc., is effort better spent than technological vigilantism. I don't want more surveillance, I want less, even if we "think" we're surveilling the right people to "treat them a lesson".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 22 2014, @04:09PM
Why is he starting anew, instead of devoting his primary efforts to Tor, Tahoe-LAF, TAILs, debian, etc.? Surely his efforts are better spent improving existing stuff than starting over with yet another suite of security apps...? Maybe I missed him addressing this (if I did please let me know).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 22 2014, @10:42PM
It needs to run broader and deeper than that; where are our trustworthy electronics and fab plants?