Orwellian

Glenn Greenwald Rebuttal To Washington Post’s Walter Pincus

"That you decided to write an entire column grounded solely in baseless innuendo is between you and your editors. But your assertion of several factually false claims about me, Laura Poitras, and others is not. [...] Our NSA stories have been published and discussed in countless countries around the world, where they have sparked shock, indignation and demands for investigation. So revealingly, it is only American journalists who have decided to focus their intrepid journalistic attention not on the extremist and legally dubious surveillance behavior of the US government and serial deceit by its top officials, but on those who revealed all of that to the world." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGlenn Greenwald Rebuttal To Washington Post’s Walter Pincus

Russian lawmaker: Snowden agrees to Venezuela offer of asylum

"NSA leaker Edward Snowden has accepted Venezuela's offer of asylum, a key Russian lawmaker tweeted Tuesday. Alexei Pushkov, the chairman of Russian Duma's international affairs panel, tweeted that Snowden had accepted the offer from Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. 'Predictably, Snowden has agreed to Maduro’s offer of political asylum,' Pushkov tweeted in Russian, according to Russia Today. 'Apparently, this option appeared most reliable to Snowden.' Pushkov later tweeted that his information came from a Russian newcast. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki warned Monday of consequences after Maduro made his offer." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRussian lawmaker: Snowden agrees to Venezuela offer of asylum

Kim Dotcom: All Megaupload servers ‘wiped out without warning in data massacre’

"Kim Dotcom has accused the US government and Leaseweb, one of the hosting providers of former file-sharing site Megaupload, of deleting millions of personal files 'without warning.' The information stored on the dormant servers – 'petabytes of pictures, backups, personal & business property' – was what Dotcom called evidence in the case US authorities launched against him in January 2012. Dotcom is wanted in the US on criminal charges for facilitating copyright fraud on a massive scale. 'This is the largest data massacre in the history of the Internet,' Dotcom wrote on Twitter." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingKim Dotcom: All Megaupload servers ‘wiped out without warning in data massacre’

Germany defends ‘strictly legal’ cooperation with NSA

"Angela Merkel's government said on Monday that its cooperation with American intelligence was fully regulated by strict legal guidelines after a magazine reported that the U.S. National Security Agency was in close cahoots with German spies. Germany's opposition demanded that her government explain how much it knew about U.S. surveillance tactics ahead of talks with Washington about the NSA. Der Spiegel's report that the NSA works with Germany and other Western states on a 'no questions asked'-basis undermines the chancellor's indignant talk of 'Cold War' tactics revealed by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGermany defends ‘strictly legal’ cooperation with NSA

Somali American caught up in a shadowy Pentagon counterpropaganda campaign

"With the Iraq war over and U.S. combat operations scheduled to finish in Afghanistan by the end of next year, the Pentagon has begun shifting psy-ops missions to other parts of the world to influence popular opinion. In the past, psychological operations usually meant dropping leaflets or broadcasting propaganda on the battlefield. Today, the military is more focused on manipulating news and commentary on the Internet, especially social media, by posting material and images without necessarily claiming ownership. Much of the work is carried out by military information support teams that the Special Operations Command has deployed to 22 countries." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSomali American caught up in a shadowy Pentagon counterpropaganda campaign

World Service Authority Issues World Passport to Edward Snowden

"Edward Snowden is an alleged National Security Agency whistleblower who exposed the mass monitoring of U.S. citizens. Deprived of his United States Passport, he is currently immobilized in a Moscow Airport Transit Lounge with no ongoing ticket to any nation. This is a flagrant violation of Article 13 (2) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states the following: (Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.) The World Service Authority (WSA), a Washington D.C. corporation and executive branch of the World Government of World Citizens, has issued Mr. Snowden a World Passport so he can travel without limitation." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWorld Service Authority Issues World Passport to Edward Snowden

Supreme Court asked to suspend NSA and FBI’s blanket collection of phone data

"The US supreme court will be asked to suspend the blanket collection of US telephone records by the FBI under an emergency petition due to be filed on Monday by civil rights campaigners at the Electronic Privacy Information Center (Epic). Previous attempts to appeal against the rulings of these courts have floundered due to a lack of public information about who might be caught up in the surveillance net, but the disclosure of specific orders by National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden has opened the door to a flurry of new challenges. It comes as a similar legal challenge was filed in Britain on Monday." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSupreme Court asked to suspend NSA and FBI’s blanket collection of phone data

Brazil confirms investigation into reports of NSA spying

"Brazil is to investigate reports of US electronic spying on its citizens, with President Dilma Rousseff saying that, if proven, such action would constitute a violation of sovereignty. Her comments came after the daily O Globo reported Sunday that the US National Security Agency spied on Brazilian residents and companies as well as people traveling in the country. The newspaper cited documents leaked by the fugitive former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. Rousseff confirmed that the National Telecommunications Agency and federal police have been ordered to probe the reports." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBrazil confirms investigation into reports of NSA spying

The State: Always the Accuser, Never the Defendant

"As Harvey Silverglate points out, each of us commits at least three acts each day that could be described as felonies by any reasonably ambitious prosecutor. By using NSA-provided metadata to conduct a 'pattern of life' analysis of a targeted individual, law enforcement agencies could probably contrive an excuse to arrest practically anybody at any time. This capacity will dramatically expand opportunities for official retaliation against Mundanes who seek redress for abuses committed by police – including family members of deceased victims." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe State: Always the Accuser, Never the Defendant

US – Sri Lankans “Asked” to Register with their Banks — What if they don’t do so voluntarily?

"This newspaper notice was placed in a Sri Lankan newspaper last month by the Sri Lanka Banker’s Association, requesting the voluntary ‘registration’ of U.S. Persons with their banks to facilitate the identification of U.S. Persons under FATCA. The voluntary registration was, apparently, not required by the Sri Lanka Central Bank, and Sri Lanka has not (yet) publicly signed an IGA or waived Sri Lankan banking secrecy to allow banks to directly enter into agreements with the IRS. Certainly, the notice for voluntarily registering oneself harkens back to 1939 for some of us, and exemplifies the positive discrimination that FATCA requires." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingUS – Sri Lankans “Asked” to Register with their Banks — What if they don’t do so voluntarily?