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So, does anybody believe for a second that this Snowden guy has "valuable information" that he is just spilling recklessly?
We have technology that can surveil everybody and anybody at once...and pinpoint their exact location. Seriously, this government can track anything they WANT to track.
I refuse to believe this guy wouldn't be dead right now if it was that serious.
Personally I believe he is getting paid to spill it. Does he have valuable information? According to his own words he was able to listen in on even the presidents phone calls, and if he had information of the UK operations, then obviously he knows a lot, and he has teo laptops full of data which is is giving to the enemies of the US.
The point is that Snowden spills everything he has, and apparently he has a lot of damaging information about us and our allies.
He has nothing which hasn't already been released at one time or another. Most of the information he is sharing was discovered back in the Echelon days. The Prism program is merely a refinement of Echelon, which had been spying on emails, phone calls, over a decade ago. Snowden has merely reintroduced information which as been around for years and people are up in arms over it (albeit, he is a traitor).
I posted something in the History Forum, I still don't understand why no one cares and completely overlooks Project Venona. The government in this situation took information, which was decoded and completely ruined peoples lives. When it came to light, no one said a word. Not a single word. Now some information which has been around forever is causing the world to stop spinning. I just don't get it.
He has nothing which hasn't already been released at one time or another. Most of the information he is sharing was discovered back in the Echelon days. The Prism program is merely a refinement of Echelon, which had been spying on emails, phone calls, over a decade ago. Snowden has merely reintroduced information which as been around for years and people are up in arms over it (albeit, he is a traitor).
I posted something in the History Forum, I still don't understand why no one cares and completely overlooks Project Venona. The government in this situation took information, which was decoded and completely ruined peoples lives. When it came to light, no one said a word. Not a single word. Now some information which has been around forever is causing the world to stop spinning. I just don't get it.
People have been trying to down-play his actions, but how do you know what intel he does, and does not have? Did you know about the UK case? Did you know there were 62 000 operations worldwide, including those targets in China which Snowden identified? Based on the reaction of the UK officials, the UK thing was not known before. Based on Snowdens own words, true or not, he had the authority to listen even the presidents phone calls. Leaking ANY classified information is a serious crime.
Last edited by Finn_Jarber; 06-17-2013 at 06:53 AM..
People have been trying to down-play his actions, but how do you know what intel he does, and does not have? Did you know about the UK case? Did you know there were 62 000 operations worldwide, including those targets in China which Snowden identified? Based on the reaction of the UK officials, the UK thing was not known before. Based on Snowdens own words, true or not, he had the asuthority to listen even the presidents phone calls.
So far doesn't seem like anything he said is particularly damaging other than reputation. That is not a crime unless you are a political partisan.
Question:
Why did you just not fly direct to Iceland if that is your preferred country for asylum?
Snowden Answers
Leaving the US was an incredible risk, as NSA employees must declare their foreign travel 30 days in advance and are monitored. There was a distinct possibility I would be interdicted en route, so I had to travel with no advance booking to a country with the cultural and legal framework to allow me to work without being immediately detained. Hong Kong provided that. Iceland could be pushed harder, quicker, before the public could have a chance to make their feelings known, and I would not put that past the current US administration.
Question: Why did you choose Hong Kong to go to and then tell them about US hacking on their research facilities and universities?
Snowden
"1) First, the US Government, just as they did with other whistleblowers, immediately and predictably destroyed any possibility of a fair trial at home, openly declaring me guilty of treason and that the disclosure of secret, criminal, and even unconstitutional acts is an unforgivable crime. That's not justice, and it would be foolish to volunteer yourself to it if you can do more good outside of prison than in it.
Second, let's be clear: I did not reveal any US operations against legitimate military targets. I pointed out where the NSA has hacked civilian infrastructure such as universities, hospitals, and private businesses because it is dangerous. These nakedly, aggressively criminal acts are wrong no matter the target. Not only that, when NSA makes a technical mistake during an exploitation operation, critical systems crash. Congress hasn't declared war on the countries - the majority of them are our allies - but without asking for public permission, NSA is running network operations against them that affect millions of innocent people. And for what? So we can have secret access to a computer in a country we're not even fighting? So we can potentially reveal a potential terrorist with the potential to kill fewer Americans than our own Police? No, the public needs to know the kinds of things a government does in its name, or the "consent of the governed" is meaningless.
All I can say right now is the US Government is not going to be able to cover this up by jailing or murdering me. Truth is coming, and it cannot be stopped."
Snoden "1) More detail on how direct NSA's accesses are is coming, but in general, the reality is this: if an NSA, FBI, CIA, DIA, etc analyst has access to query raw SIGINT databases, they can enter and get results for anything they want. Phone number, email, user id, cell phone handset id (IMEI), and so on - it's all the same. The restrictions against this are policy based, not technically based, and can change at any time. Additionally, audits are cursory, incomplete, and easily fooled by fake justifications. For at least GCHQ, the number of audited queries is only 5% of those performed."
Snowden Asked: are things going the way you thought they would regarding a public debate?
Snowden's Answer:
Initially I was very encouraged. Unfortunately, the mainstream media now seems far more interested in what I said when I was 17 or what my girlfriend looks like rather than, say, the largest program of suspicionless surveillance in human history.
I suspect that this will be back page news in another few months, if it even takes that long. People will shrug their shoulders, accept the new reality, and go back to job hunting or whatever it is they're faced with right now.
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Snowden Q and A on NSA live chat
