thenatureofmind

Glenn Greenwald's must-watch 30C3 keynote

Yesterday in Hamburg, Glenn Greenwald gave an astounding, must-watch keynote address to the gathered hackers at the 30th Chaos Communications Congress, or 30C3 (Greenwald starts at 4:36). Greenwald excoriated the press for failing to hold the world's leaders to account, describing what he did with the Snowden leaks as challenge to the journalistic status quo as well as the political status quo. This is a leaping-off point for an extended riff on the active cooperation between the press and the national security apparatus, an arrangement calculated to give the appearance of oversight on surveillance activities without any such oversight (for example, BBC reporter expressed shock when he said that the role of the press should be to root out lies from senior spies, saying that generals and senior officials would ever lie to the public).

 Glenn Greenwald's must-watch 30C3 keynote - Boing Boing.

Despite Releasing New NSA Information, Government Still Tries to Block Groundbreaking EFF Case

U.S. government intelligence officials late last night released some previously secret declarations submitted to the court in Jewel v. NSA — EFF's long-running case challenging the NSA's domestic surveillance program – plus a companion case, Shubert v. Obama.  The documents were released pursuant to the court’s order.

Surprisingly, in these documents and in the brief filed with them, the government continues to claim that plaintiffs cannot prove they were surveilled without state secrets and that therefore, a court cannot rule on the legality or constitutionality of the surveillance.  For example, despite the fact that these activities are discussed every day in news outlets around the world and even in the president’s recent press conference, the government states broadly that information that may relate to Plaintiffs' claims that the "NSA indiscriminately intercepts the content of communications, and their claims regarding the NSA's bulk collection of ... metadata" is still a state secret.

Despite Releasing New NSA Information, Government Still Tries to Block Groundbreaking EFF Case | Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Bob Dylan - Love Sick

Snowden: NSA’s indiscriminate spying ‘collapsing’

National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden wrote in a lengthy “open letter to the people of Brazil” that he’s been inspired by the global debate ignited by his release of thousands of NSA documents and that the agency’s culture of indiscriminate global espionage “is collapsing.”

In the letter, Snowden commended the Brazilian government for its strong stand against U.S. spying.

“There is a huge difference between legal programs, legitimate spying ... and these programs of dragnet mass surveillance that put entire populations under an all-seeing eye and save copies forever,” he wrote. “These programs were never about terrorism: they’re about economic spying, social control, and diplomatic manipulation. They’re about power.”

Snowden: NSA’s indiscriminate spying ‘collapsing’ - The Washington Post.

The Two Cases for Amnesty for Snowden

Why should Edward Snowden be given amnesty? The question keeps coming up, but it can be hard to hear the answers amid the outbursts it provokes. That is a shame, because there are really two separate cases for why Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor who passed a huge stash of secret documents to reporters, should be allowed to come back to America from Russia, where he has been since the summer, without facing time in jail. One case might be summed up as the good he has done for America, and the other as the benefits he can still offer the government. A problem is that those who support one may be put off, or even enraged, by the other. But, between them, they ought to be enough to get Snowden home safely.

The Two Cases for Amnesty for Snowden : The New Yorker.

'NSA and Obama administration got an F'

The US federal judge's ruling, calling NSA spying unconstitutional, is a game-changer, and even now the US administration doesn't really understand how disgusted most Americans are with the NSA programs and US politicians, columnist Ted Rall told RT.

'NSA and Obama administration got an F' — RT Op-Edge.

​'To respect and protect right to privacy': UN votes for end to excessive electronic spying

​The UN General Assembly has unanimously called on a curb of supernormal surveillance of communications. The resolution drafted by Brazil and Germany was in response to revelations over the eavesdropping conducted by the US on a global scale. 

All 193 UN member states agreed “to respect and protect the right to privacy, including in the context of digital communication.” 

The document maintains that internationally recognized human rights should be applied to a person online, specifically singling out the right of privacy. 

'To respect and protect right to privacy': UN votes for end to excessive electronic spying — RT News.

McGovern: Unconstitutionality of NSA Phone Call Collection is Indisputable

Are We Falling Off the Climate Precipice?

I grew up planning for my future, wondering which college I would attend, what to study, and later on, where to work, which articles to write, what my next book might be, how to pay a mortgage, and which mountaineering trip I might like to take next.

Now, I wonder about the future of our planet. During a recent visit with my eight-year-old niece and 10- and 12-year-old nephews, I stopped myself from asking them what they wanted to do when they grew up, or any of the future-oriented questions I used to ask myself. I did so because the reality of their generation may be that questions like where they will work could be replaced by: Where will they get their fresh water? What food will be available? And what parts of their country and the rest of the world will still be habitable?

Are We Falling Off the Climate Precipice? | NationofChange.

EFF Statement on President's Review Group's NSA Report

The President's Review Group today recognized the severe risks caused by the government's mass spying on Americans and people around the world, joining the global consensus that the NSA has gone too far.  The group's report included over 40 recommendations for promoting transparency, protecting online security tools, and making organizational reforms to the NSA, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and the civil liberties oversight bodies. However, the report left open the door for future mass surveillance and failed to address the constitutionality of the NSA's mass spying, recently questioned by the D.C. federal court and raised by EFF in its multiple lawsuits.

EFF Statement on President's Review Group's NSA Report | Electronic Frontier Foundation.