The individual responsible for one of the most significant leaks in US political history is Edward Snowden, a 29-year-old former technical assistant for the CIA and current employee of the defence contractor Booz Allen Hamilton. Snowden has been working at the National Security Agency for the last four years as an employee of various outside contractors, including Booz Allen and Dell.
The Guardian, after several days of interviews, is revealing his identity at his request. From the moment he decided to disclose numerous top-secret documents to the public, he was determined not to opt for the protection of anonymity. “I have no intention of hiding who I am because I know I have done nothing wrong,” he said…
Once he reached the conclusion that the NSA’s surveillance net would soon be irrevocable, he said it was just a matter of time before he chose to act. “What they’re doing” poses “an existential threat to democracy”, he said.
“I carefully evaluated every single document I disclosed to ensure that each was legitimately in the public interest,” he said. “There are all sorts of documents that would have made a big impact that I didn’t turn over, because harming people isn’t my goal. Transparency is…”
…After the intense political controversy he has already created with just the first week’s haul of stories, “I feel satisfied that this was all worth it. I have no regrets.”
I suggest watching the video interview all the way through. Many questions you would expect – are answered.
Motives…?
The government needs to hire soulless people (willingly “living unfreely but comfortably”) if it doesn’t want whistle blowers calling Foul Plays!
6:50 into it “It’s going to get worse with next generations and next generation expanding the capability of this sort of Architecture of oppression” If that doesn’t scare you maybe your soulless!
Welcome the Cheney era of America!
And to think Americans only have the power to change this, to decide democratically if this is right or wrong; only if we are fully informed!
The Cheney age is right up there with
Age of Jackson
Cold War
Colonial America
Gilded Age
Great Depression
Industrial Revolution
Progressive Era
Prohibition Era
Reconstruction
Westward Expansion …
Ah cool! So the maximum level of thought you can have on this subject is troll the righties!
Awesome.
This is why I think our 2 party system blows, it creates that kind of brain-dead mindset of “sides” —- turning the brain off.
Not much of a mindset yourself: “Ah cool! So the maximum level of thought you can have on this subject is troll the righties!”
Stay on topic troll:
If you approve of it, say you do.
If you don’t approve of it, say you do.
Another political troll blowhard that has yet to say anything of added value!
I was making an observation. My observation was that your contribution sucks.
Don’t shoot the messenger. Or do. Your choice 8)
Yes, practice what you preach and you can start my not initiating troll attacks!
Americans are brave enough to have their own message instead of trolling others. Where is yours?
Stay on topic:
Still I ask:
If you approve of it, say you do.
If you don’t approve of it, say you do.
This doesn’t pass the smell test. This guy goes from renta-cop to high level spook and then flips? Distraction anybody?
Do you know how to calculate big-Oh on a red-black tree? I do, and if you can’t do it, then you are not qualified to use a computer.
That’s the equivalent to what you’re saying.
I used to work with (not for) BAH and I never met a single employee who wasn’t an obnoxious arrogant prick. Our jobsite was very informal but you never saw those guys wearing anything but a dark suit with white shirt and red striped tie, french cuffs, the whole poseur shebang. SAIC same, without the suits.
Change I can believe in!!
Change for the worse.
That was pretty much a worthless comment.
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lvjud2FDhT1qii6tmo1_500.gif
Yeah, that’s the truth about our every vigilant media watchdogs or the public for that matter!
If only people would stay focused and not turn away.
The public forgets very quickly.
Oh the irony!
Now DOJ/NSA is going to use the very PRISM, ECHELON, AT&T systems to listen in on every electronic communications he every made, track every movement his mobile phone made!
But, I am sure he knew that.
There is no such thing as privacy in this technocracy. Privacy is non-existent in the US and much of the world. Others have told of how the various intelligence agencies collected information on everyone in the past, so what this guy is saying is nothing new really. Its what is NOT being said about the capabilities of information technologies that should be of great concern, for the ability to cause people to think and do things, to manipulate and program them, is very real.
That scrawny teabagger is gonna disappear soon.
So, you approve of murdering whistleblowers?
Well good for you…It’s why you and your ilk are going down. Enjoy it while you can.
I don’t think Dallas said he approved.
It was more like a statement of reality, the President’s hit list likely grew by 1.
If this kid does defect to China, at least he won’t have to worry about death by American drones; however, America has many clandestine ways of killing its own with no human compunction!
And to be clear, I don’t approve.
However, Chinese intelligence service will surely welcome him with open arms then “debrief” or “interview” him extensively as the cost of admission!
If he compromised national security , he should be Bradley Manning’s roommate
Then I totally agree with CLawyer. I apologize to CLawyer for giving you the benefit of the doubt!
“Well good for you…It’s why you and your ilk are going down. Enjoy it while you can.”
And I will add, you have no idea of what it means to be an American!
An American is the central part of our government and is expected to be able to cast an informed Vote so it can run with integrity!
It looks like there are other forms of government you obviously prefer for yourself (and try to project on others) that don’t require their citizenry to be informed nor participate by voting and/or opinion!
Unlike you, I recognize there is a balance between complete freedom and complete privacy.
In this day and age, the argument should be about WHERE the balance needs to be instead of whether an encroachment on privacy needs to happen.
I’m ashamed of you for your stupidity and not knowing what it mean to be an American.
No one doubts Dallas feels sorry!
I’ve taken an oath to defend the constitution from foreign and domestic attack. I did not take an oath to a president, to an agency, to any department or officer. I did not take an oath to make some desk jockey bureaucrat’s life easy! In fact, I am required as is any military personal, to not follow an unlawful order!
You have no idea what balance is, especially when you are not informed of what the Government is really doing.
Without information, you have no leg to stand on. Obviously, you want to blindly and cowardly kowtow to government lies.
The reason why the Government lies to Americans is to keep them from demanding their constitutional rights!
You can believe most diehard terrorist already know not to leave any electronic tracks!
I’ll take my cues from someone who knows more than Dallas and understands what it means to be at war, under deadly attack on American soil and what Americans are fighting for!
“Those Who Sacrifice Liberty For Security Deserve Neither.”
I’ll let Dallas try and figure out the whom.
Hey, now we have a name to call the data mining.
Skynet would have been a good choice too.
Avoid small single engined airplanes, kid.
What is it with the name Snowden? Grant Snowden was the guy brought up on bogus pedophile charges by Janet Reno when she was still in Florida just like the Amiraults in Massachusetts.
Hong Kong? Hasn’t this guy watched 24?
Just a thought, but the Prez had a sit-down with the new Chinese leader this past week to discuss among other things, cyber attacks from China. Almost to the day, these leaks hit the press. And the leaker had scooted Hong Kong before letting his name go public.
Coincidence????
Hong Kong may have a separate administration from mainland China, but they are VERY mindful of how everything they do/say plays in Beijing.
Still think the tin foil hat crowd are crazy? Yep, “they” really ARE watching you!
http://ebay.com/itm/Proper-Folding-and-Wear-of-the-Tinfoil-Hat-/271219778136?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f25f56258
Base Line Question: Why should telephone calls be made with an expectation of privacy? Telephone Calls, Emails, Letters, Packages, Faxes, Billboard Displays, Open Blinds, etc…. all are done and thereafter the gubment can be allowed to observe, track, file them or Not. What are the Pros and Cons of the gubment doing this and not doing this. Weigh, evaluate, compare.
Personally, I don’t care. The “Public Safety” issue for me comes down to how cheap and helpful is it—-really. Too much of security theater is a rip off for the security contractor providing an income to them for equipment, personnel, training all for systems that often don’t even work.
What does it cost for the data mining that is assumedly possible? Cost of alternatives?
….. and so forth.
The concomitant reality of dismal security theater is comical privacy concerns.
Silly Hoomans.
He’s from a different era from pretty everyone here I bet. Which means he has a different view about privacy and surveillance by the government as well. If the NSA wants to play in this field they are going to have to hire or contract people from this age group with his skill set and attitudes.
Also the Pentagon has “declared war” on WikiLeaks twice now. The amount of leaked material keeps going up every year.
Expect it to keep coming.
You think privacy concerns/national security/data mining/etc correlate strongly to age huh?
Using that idea, I would guess you are about 8 years old.
Silly Hooman.
Ha, ha. Not much repose there. I just woke up and failed to put on my more relaxed nom de flame.
“Age related huh? That is “very interesting.” What nexus do you identify?
And I rest my case.
I bet this guy get two to the head in a back alley within the year.
Not quite but I bet his he’s on the recruitment list for the KGB and China Ministry of National Security.
My guess is he will have a nice villa in the outskirts of Moscow.
There are a lot of people who would like to “interview” him.
He’s Jason Bourne with no survival skill set.
And lest you think this is an open blog, it isn’t. My comments and another person’s comments have been stripped when mentioning certain words.
Sexual words or political words?
I’ve never noticed that with any of my posts.
Give us a hint?
1. O*erThr*w
2. Re*olt
etc.
aka….. I doubt it. Probably hit the advance key rather than the Cap Key and your draft is still in your History (if you act fast).
The words had to do with things that go booom. Materials that make things that go booom.
A certain date in the eleventh month that had to do with a guy named guy.
Two posts were removed, mine and some else’s.
How is this any kind of a revelation?
They had the means and the necessary lack of scruples.
And it has been illegal in this country to install telephone systems that can’t be tapped for years.
And this is just another case of modified limited hang out.
Imagine what you could do with access to the long distance trunk lines, voice recognition software, Google’s technology, a few tens of millions of dollars and an utter lack of respect for civil rights.
“Consider who you have called or emailed in the last month. The government can learn a great deal about you from just the people you call and subjects of your emails. Your “metadata” can reveal peculiar tastes and associations that you may consider hidden from all but your closest friends – and now a few thousand government monitors. The government will now know not only who you are calling but how long you are speaking, how often you call people or groups, where you call from, and even attachments like photos that you send. Ironically, the actual content of your calls or emails are usually not needed to determine the reason and subject of such communications. When you call an abortion clinic repeatedly or a medical marijuana resource line, the likely purpose of the call is self-evident. For citizens with unpopular political or religious views, repeated calls or emails to certain churches or groups indicate an obvious interest. From intimate affairs to political associations, the purpose of most communications are self-evident, particularly when they are placed within a mosaic of all of your contacts and calls.”
http://usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/06/09/obama-nsa-spying-column/2405417/
I hope they have a good book cause they are gonna be really bored.
Let’s start at square one.
Raise your hand now: does anyone here think that cyber security and terrorist tracking can be done without any activity that touches on privacy rights at all???
If Not, then do we all agree there is a “balance” somewhere between tyranny and protection???
Raise your hands again: does anyone here recognize any difference at all between the CONTENT of a phone call or email compared to the simple fact of such communication having been made???
Two simple questions unless you want to present your safety concerns to the world with your pants down around your ankles and your bacsides stretched over a barrel.
The FACT THAT our Gubment has been collecting the content of everything we utter for the past 5 years….. is a separate issue.
Amusing??—Or NOT Amusing the way the Corporate Types all denied the they gave access to the Gubment?
I think it is HIGH Larious!!!!
CORPORATE = RICH = CORRUPT = CRIMINAL.
Its still math. Four terms: NO Variables.
H
a, ha.
See that interlineation just above re Ha, ha?===Firefixed just started slowing down like that about two weeks ago. I think its the tracking software slowing things down.
I said this before and will say it again. This form of data collection or privacy is based upon a war on WHAT. This is my objection. A enemy we are supposedly at war with is an ideology. Terror is a state of mind, an emotion. Nine eleven was the perfect solution to ramp up the already in place unconstitutional electronic snooping. We as citizens have rights. If you want to give up yours fine, but others are more concerned how our future lives will be changed
He voted for Ron Paul in 2008. Har.
Famous Third Party Candidate??? The would be saving fantasy as reality vote all the witless recommend?
Say it ain’t so!
Every sane and decent voter did.
CNN has been reporting about the treasonous Snowdon, their words not mine, every fifteen minutes or so. The meme seems to be the man is a treasonous defector who could have brought his spying concerns to Congress. Ha, what a bunch of horse shit.
CONGRESS = HORSE SHIT.
I see no error in your math.
Excuse my spelling of our current patriot. My smart handheld device offered the misspelled name and I stupidly touched it.
He is a criminal treasonous defector scumbag teabagger.
He compromised national security and violated his oath to secrecy in return for a job that he wanted at the NSA.
A lier, a traitor and a federal criminal. What is being waited for is to see if he is a defecting spy. Seems like just the guy your “ilk” celebrates. (ilk is the word of the week)
I purport that you’re the traitor. I’ve not seen a person defend the actions of a group of peeping Toms since Watergate and Nixon.
Damn that Ron Paul…its all his fault!
jpfitz says:
6/10/2013 at 9:53 am
I said this before and will say it again. This form of data collection or privacy is based upon a war on WHAT. /// On any and all who are plotting terrorist attacks on the USA. I think that is so clear that your question must be misformed for some purpose? WHAT is that purpose?
This is my objection. A enemy we are supposedly at war with is an ideology. /// What a silly person you express yourself as. We are NOT at war with an ideology. Look at Pedro. NO BODY GIVES A SHIT ABOUT PEDRO. But let him buy some chickenshit and some SEMTREX and contact bomb making experts in Yemen…. now what? I am GODSMACKED at how stupidly you CONFLATE related but different ideas/terms/idea/realities.
Terror is a state of mind, an emotion. // Yea… and nobody care about that until PEDRO can be tracked by Satelite or Email or phone loading up his Donkey with 300 pounds of Chickenshit. Tell us via a post in response if you can tell the DIFFERENCE between chickenshit and terror?
Nine eleven was the perfect solution to ramp up the already in place unconstitutional electronic snooping. We as citizens have rights. If you want to give up yours fine, but others are more concerned how our future lives will be changed /// Changed by WHAT???? Who you phone call and email being tracked, or PEDRO having his chickenshit loaded Donkey parked in your front yard munching on the co2 stoked greenery you have on open display?
STOP THROWING A VAGUE AND CONCLUSIONARY HISSEY FIT. As you say: WHAT elements of the current news event have you upset? WHY? and what would your alternatives be???
THING FOR A F*CKING CHANGE.
Ha, ha… Change I don’t think is coming.
Prove me wrong.
You and Dallas are the true meaning of ” All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” True obomabots, both of you. You’re foolish to think the nsa has your best interest at hand. Yes, I’m actually shaken by this news which I always new may have been taking place. My index finger is having a difficult time not shaking while tapping on my galaxy, that’s how pissed off and frightened I am having my worst fears realized. The future does not look bright. I don’t trust the nsa to do good with their data. Listen again to the video, all the way to the end.
I get paid to think about security. Inference, look it up.
Inference: you are constantly back doored?
Funny, but as it pertains to metadata.
Not funny about past metadata. That’s my major issue that Dallas and bobbo don’t understand. Think. Think twenty years ahead. I’ve a daughter that will have to live in this Orwellian future. Not happy, why aren’t the same amount of resources used to implement new technologies in renewable energies.
Because Obomba is already pissing away money for “green” energy boondoggles.
This gets him control of his subjects.
HAH!!!!! I was thinking the same thing.
But we don’t live in this world alone.
We suffer the company of our fellow creatures. What ya gonna do?
I see you posted something more on general point above, and I’ll go read it. Till then…. seems to me “most” objections are comparing current news to some unstated state of perfection devoid of all the corrupting realities?
Yea, verily….. c’mon children…. let’s all get real.
jpfitz says:
6/10/2013 at 10:50 am
Not funny about past metadata. That’s my major issue that Dallas and bobbo don’t understand. Think. Think twenty years ahead. I’ve a daughter that will have to live in this Orwellian future. /// Ok, yes it is Orwellian with Big Bros “seeing all.” But so what? Whats “important” gets lost in the sea of irrelevant hits. You have not stated what your actual concern is. NOT HYPO BUT REALITY: the gubment tracks that I respond all too much to DVORAK UNCENSORED. Over 10 times per day. I say: So What…. I don’t care. Now===you tell me what it is that I or your daughter should be afraid of now or 20 years hence.
Not happy, why aren’t the same amount of resources used to implement new technologies in renewable energies. // I do agree with that. Red Hering/straw man though.
Unscrupulous agencies in the future will have all your typed or phone spoken words and all your financial info, everything.. With this everyone will be labeled and put into groups of a specific mindset. Precrime is very close to being real.
If this nsa was a working security force for good, why did the Boston pressure cookers explode? Weren’t they listening? No, their too busy watching some of the world and all of us, and collecting data for future use. Huey Lewis was wrong.
jpfitz says:
6/10/2013 at 10:41 am
You and Dallas are the true meaning of ” All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” /// I have not seen any “evil” yet. NAME THE EVIL.
True obomabots, both of you. /// Meaningless partisan CRAP. Everyone in power, D & R and the imagined Third Party Beaureaucrat==ALL WANT POWER.
You’re foolish to think the nsa has your best interest at hand. /// I think they do. They can still be wrong. But WHAT DO YOU OBJECT TO….. you know—specifically. Why do you care the government has a record that you called the YMCA? How about if they recorded the fact you asked them if the swim lanes were open to Adults Only on Wednesdays? Whats the big concern?
Yes, I’m actually shaken by this news which I always new may have been taking place. My index finger is having a difficult time not shaking while tapping on my galaxy, that’s how pissed off and frightened I am having my worst fears realized. /// Why—you sound like a terrorist!!! I am happy your fingers are shaking. If you have any RATIONAL (do you know what rational means????—In context?===Ha, ha.) reason to be so afeared. Why you so Afeard?
The future does not look bright. I don’t trust the nsa to do good with their data. Listen again to the video, all the way to the end. /// What is your worst case scenario?
I call stupid Bull Shit.
You and I think similarly. We’re both for the just and proper treatment of the poor and sick. You really didn’t mean that terrorist comment. You want a concrete answer to what I’m afeared of. I can’t predict the future, or the concrete is still setting. That’s my answer and why I’m angry. Liberty is dying in America.
Hey, just cause my last name is Irish Catholic, don’t lump me as a terrorist. Boom. Ha
First Reread of my comment re “you sound like a terrorist” did not make any sense to me.
Second Reread–I think I was equating your emotional intensity of being so upset your fingers were shaking. While I assume that is hyperbole, it is still the kind of “anger” that a terrorist might feel?
Certainly, terrorists don’t care about the governments they attack in the same way that I don’t care? No–to attack a government, a people, to be angered, afraid, suspicious requires a whole different set of ideas than my existential clan of non-believers.
Ha, ha.
To the point: do I think you are a terrorist?==No. But you are closer to that end of the continuum than I am or anyone else who doesn’t involve their emotions in the various issues of life and its challenges.
Bobbo is there a way you and I can email each other? How dose one get in contact to continue a more detailed conversation, if your ok with that.
dose sb does. Ah, I may have dyslexia.
Need to take all the apologists (Lindsey Graham, Peter King, John McSame, Dianne what’sherfuckin’name, Mark Potok) and stick them in a room together. Done, and done — Lemonparty.org
“I was under the impression, Herr Zeller. . .
. . .that the contents of telegrams in Austria are private!”
Captain Von Trapp
Off topic, anyone else notice the google doodle for today?