'Courage Is Contagious': Additional NSA Employees Said to Be Following Snowden's Lead
Homeland Security logo reflected in the eyeglasses of a cybersecurity analyst at the agency’s secretive cyber defense facility in Idaho. The Government Accountability Project's Jesselyn Raddack says that Snowden's courage has become contagious among other NSA employee.(Mark J. Terrill/AP)The "courage" of Edward Snowden is "contagious," according to lawyer and transparency advocate Jesselyn Radack, who says that additional employees at the National Security Agency are now coming forward with what they consider objectionable practices by their employer. Jesselyn Raddack, Government Accountability Project. According to Radack, several more whistleblowers have approached the Government Accountability Project (GAP)—the nation's leading whistleblower protection and advocacy organization where she is the director of National Security and Human Rights—since Snowden's story broke earlier this year. The Obama administration's "war on whistleblowers" is backfiring, said Radack.
Reding: NSA, friends don't spy on friends. Europe, let's team up for our own SPOOK CLUB
EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding has re-floated the idea the European nations should team up to create their own intelligence service by 2020, as a counterbalance against overarching US spying. In an interview with Greek daily Naftemporiki on the ongoing controversy about the NSA's dragnet surveillance programme, Reding argued "we need is to strengthen Europe in this field, so we can level the playing field with our US partners." "I would therefore wish to use this occasion to negotiate an agreement on stronger secret service co-operation among the EU member states - so that we can speak with a strong common voice to the US. The comments follow recent Snowden revelations that the NSA routinely records call record and internet metadata of millions of Europeans in Germany, France and Spain. Reding, a Luxembourg politician who's a strong advocate of EU integration more generally, has gone out of her way to criticise US snooping on Europe's political leaders.
Survey says 77% of Americans reject NSA mass electronic surveillance, of Americans
[Update November 24: Added link to second part of "Snowden effect" survey results and a podcast: Is NSA Surveillance Affecting Online Behavior?] On October 26, the 12th anniversary of the signing of the USA Patriot Act, thousands of Americans joined the Stop Watching Us protest in Washington, D.C. The event garnered a lot of media attention and delivered 575,000 signatures on a petition demanding that the U.S. Congress reveal “the full extent of the NSA’s spying programs”. But do most Americans oppose the kind of mass electronic surveillance that has been revealed by “the Snowden papers”? The answer is a resounding Yes, according to recent survey commissioned by ESET 77% of American adults surveyed disagreed with the following statement: It is okay for my government secretly to monitor all of our communications. While one third said they simply disagreed, an impressive 44% said they strongly disagreed. The Terrorism Factor The Us v. The Economic Factor Author Stephen Cobb, ESET
NSA files: latest reaction and developments - live | World news
As Andrew Sparrow reports on his politics live blog, both Nick Clegg, Britain’s deputy prime minister, and Theresa May, the home secretary, have spoken out this morning about MI5 chief Sir Andrew Parker’s speech on Tuesday and whether the Guardian was right to publish Edward Snowden’s leaked documents. Clegg said the Guardian was right to launch a debate, but he felt the paper had gone too far in publishing “very technical information” that would only be understood by “technicians amongst the terrorists”. Here are the full quotes: Theresa May’s view was closer to that of Parker – and that expressed by David Cameron’s spokesman yesterday.
NSA and Wall Street: online activity shrinks, changes post-Snowden
Our recent survey about consumer opinion in the wake of the Snowden revelations about mass NSA electronic surveillance suggests that the economic implications could be deeper than experts have yet acknowledged, including negative impact on corporate profits and GDP. At the same time, like every economic challenge, the NSA revelations present some interesting opportunities for the enterprising. [Update November 15: A podcast on this topic is now online. Also, the first We Live Security article discussing these survey results is online here] The digital economy takes a hit How could the Snowden/NSA news damage GDP and profits? And retail banking is just one of many sectors of the economy that has been relying on ever-increasing levels of online activity to maintain profitability. Consumer spending drives the American economy and shifting that spending from brick-and-mortar stores to the digital realm has been a key strategy for retail firms. Giant feet of clay Ouch! Author Stephen Cobb, ESET
GAP's Jesselyn Radack reads Edward Snowden's Statement for EU Parliament Committee
Contagious Courage
Contagious Courage An interview with Sarah Harrison of Wikileaks: Julian Assange’s associate and Snowden’s guardian angel By John Goetz and Bastian Obermayer There she sits: the woman who has spent the past four months at Edward Snowden’s side. Sarah Harrison, 31, a journalist and Wikileaks staffer, wears black leggings, a dark grey blouse and a wool cardigan as she sits on an old office chair in a basement meeting place, between file folders, tangled cables, blank CDs and computers. Who is this woman, who has spent so much time by Snowden’s side, resisting the pressures of the world power, the United States? Sarah Harrison closes her eyes. A statement? And then just three words: “Courage is contagious.” The reason for Harrison’s departure from Moscow is simple: Snowden doesn’t need anyone at hand in Moscow anymore. Back onto the world stage For Wikileaks, Snowden’s request for assistance was a matter of principle: Whistleblowers should be protected. A heroine? Terrorism? And Germany?
Snowden Gives Testimony To European Parliament Inquiry Into Mass Surveillance, Asks For EU Asylum
A few weeks back, we reported that the European Parliament's Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) committee planned to send some questions to Edward Snowden as part of its inquiry on electronic mass surveillance of EU citizens. He's now replied to these, prefacing them with a short statement (pdf -- embedded below.) Although there are no major revelations -- he specifically states that he will not be disclosing anything not already published -- it does contain many important clarifications and interesting comments. For example, he confirms that: The NSA granted me the authority to monitor communications world-wide using its mass surveillance systems, including within the United States. Before moving on to the parliamentarian's questions, he concludes his opening statement as follows: For the record, I also repeat my willingness to provide testimony to the United States Congress, should they decide to consider the issue of unconstitutional mass surveillance. Of course.
