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Sign Of The Times: Snowden Story Betrays UK Gov’t’s Agenda

June 22, 2015 By Simon Wood Leave a Comment

Earlier this month, Sunday Times published a controversial story on NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. The article claims that the NSA documents leaked by Snowden have been hacked by Russia and China, putting the lives of agents in the field at risk. It is also a mixture of serious errors, outright falsehoods and unfounded claims made by anonymous sources. One source is quoted as saying that Snowden has “blood on his hands,” not the first time that such a claim has been mendaciously deployed for dramatic effect.

Many of the claims in the article have already been debunked by serious critics here, here, and most powerfully here by Glenn Greenwald, one of the journalists Snowden chose to give his documents to.

One also needs to ask why, if it is true that UK intelligence knew that there was a possibility that the files could be hacked — and momentarily putting aside Craig Murray’s note that names of agents would never be written down — potentially compromised agents were not withdrawn immediately and replaced where possible. If they really were so concerned about the threat to the lives of their agents, why wait until after the documents were hacked (if they were as claimed). The obvious course of action in such a scenario would be to withdraw any such agents from the field as soon as possible in order to minimize the damage.

Filed Under: Foreign Affairs, Media & Culture Tagged With: Edward Snowden, NSA, surveillance, The Sunday Times, United Kingdom

VIDEO: Protesting George Friedman, CEO Of Stratfor, in Austin & San Francisco

February 13, 2015 By Kit O'Connell 15 Comments

On January 22, journalist and political prisoner Barrett Brown was convicted in a Texas court of controversial charges. In addition to a 63-month sentence, Brown is expected to pay $890,250 in restitution to the private spy agency, Strategic Forecasting (a.k.a. “Stratfor”). This monumental fine, which turns a theoretically free citizen into an indentured servant of a corporation, is meant to hold Brown responsible for a hack by the Anonymous group LulzSec — even though the government admitted it didn’t have any concrete evidence to show he’d taken any material part in the hack.

Jeremy Hammond, a member of LulzSec, pled guilty in May of 2013 and was sentenced to ten years in prison. The hack, carried out under the instruction of the FBI’s agent saboteur and snitch Sabu, revealed millions of emails that showed the complex interrelationship between the private intelligence firm, multinational corporations, and the surveillance state. The emails also revealed how Stratfor had infiltrated activist groups from Texas to India.

On February 2, 2015, George Friedman, Stratfor’s CEO, was scheduled to sign his book “Flashpoints: The Emerging Crisis in Europe,” at Book People, an independent bookstore in Austin, Texas. It would be Hammond’s 1,065th day in prison; Brown had been incarcerated for 874.

George Friedman, you should have expected us.

Filed Under: Civil Liberties, National News Tagged With: activism, Anonymous, Anonymous Solidarity Network, Austin, Azzurra Crispino, Barrett Brown, Bhopal, Book Passage, Book People, California, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Dick Cheney, Flashpoints: The Emerging Crisis in Europe, FreeAnons, FreeBB, George Friedman, GI Files, Global Intelligence Files, hacking, hacktivism, Hector Monsegur, Hector Xavier Monsegur, India, Jeremy Hammond, journalism, Lulz, Lulzsec, NSA, Occupy Austin, Occupy Wall Street, OWS, PAPS, political prisoners, prison, prison abolition, Prison Abolition & Prisoner Solidarity, protest, Sabu, San Francisco, San Francisco Occupy Action Council, Strategic Forecasting, Sue Crabtree, surveillance, Texas, Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas State Troopers, Union Carbide, War, Wikileaks

After Snowden: Freedom Of Speech In A Surveillance State

January 21, 2015 By Samantha Mahool 2 Comments

In June of 2013, the global public latched its eyes onto America as we dug up our old copies of “1984” and surreptitiously eyed our computers’ webcams. We learned what many had long suspected — the National Security Agency collects and stores troves of data on international and domestic targets alike without warrant or, seemingly, discretion.

Since the initial leaks, we have learned much about the ever-watchful eye of Big Brother. The constitutional argument against this surveillance typically focuses on the Fourth Amendment right to protection against unlawful search and seizure. However, it is at least as important to consider the toll on our right to express and associate freely, without any government agency peering over our shoulders or, worse, digging through our belongings.

Supporters of the NSA’s dragnet surveillance argue that no harm can come from these tactics provided that you have “nothing to hide.” In order to address this nonchalant or blindly trusting population, perhaps the conversation should shift focus from the data collected to the collecting itself. Is there an intrinsic harm solely in the act of surveillance?

Filed Under: Civil Liberties, National News Tagged With: 1st amendment, 4th amendment, Australia, Edward Snowden, Fourth Amendment, free speech, freedom, freedom of speech, historyt, journalism, National Security Agency, NSA, oppression, PEN American Center, Press Freedom, Privacy, propaganda, psychology, racism, surveillance, Sydney, terrorism, United States Bill of Rights, United States Constitution, University of Sydney

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