dagblog - Comments for "The Snowden Hype Campaign Begins"

What ocean-kat said. It's

erica20 — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 13:41:55 +0000

What ocean-kat said. It's just a free registration. I dragged my feet on doing it too, but then I got curious enough about an article posted by aa that I took the plunge. It's a pretty interesting publication, I'm enjoying reading the articles.

I might unsubscribe from the daily briefing emails, though, I can barely keep up with it all as is....

The Keystone Cops at NSA

rmrd0000 — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 12:23:31 +0000

In reply to The Snowden Hype Campaign Begins

The Keystone Cops at NSA thought that rubber cement would prevent someone from using a thumb drive to download "secure" data.

To dip a toe in this,

PeraclesPlease — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 06:35:08 +0000

In reply to The Snowden Hype Campaign Begins

To dip a toe in this, Greenwald is more of a pundit with a cause and a lawyer background than an investigative journalist. The Snowden bit got dropped in his lap - he didn't dig it out.

Releasing the letters from Humphrey is very much within Greenwald's usual tone and activity. Much of what Greenwald does is issue activism, like trying to point to Portugal's successful experiment with drug decriminalization.

From PCMag:

Microsoft did add HTTPS encryption to Outlook.com instant messaging to secure those messages as they travel across the Internet. But, according to Smith, "we do not provide any government with the ability to break the encryption, nor do we provide the government with the encryption keys. When we are legally obligated to comply with demands, we pull the specified content from our servers where it sits in an unencrypted state, and then we provide it to the government agency."

Otay, so I guess "encrypted" means "partially encrypted" - so how often does Microsoft receive and respond to these requests, does it ever refuse, how well are government requests reviewed and authroized (rather than their gold standard 99%+ FISA approval rubber stamp).

To Microsoft's credit, it wants to talk but can't. However, the drips of detail is uncomfortable:

CNET reported last Friday that the U.S. government has threatened Internet companies with installing surveillance devices on their networks if they do not help with surveillance requests.

The article disclosed that Microsoft had created a wiretap compliance system to respond to legal orders for surveillance directed at Hotmail accounts -- a process that prevented government surveillance devices from being installed. The government has previously installed surveillance devices on networks owned by Verizon Business and EarthLink.

Microsoft has asked the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court for permission to disclose "aggregate statistics" regarding the number of FISA orders it receives, including orders feeding into PRISM. That request (PDF) was filed on June 19. The Justice Department has been delaying the proceedings, initially saying it would respond by July 9 and then asking (PDF) for a deadline extension to July 23.

Congressman Spencer Bachus

PeraclesPlease — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 06:09:23 +0000

In reply to The Snowden Hype Campaign Begins

Congressman Spencer Bachus said he "was not aware at all" of the extent of the surveillance, since the NSA programs were primarily briefed to the intelligence committees of the House and Senate.

Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren revealed that an annual report provided to Congress by the government about the phone-records collection, something cited by intelligence officials as an example of their disclosures to Congress, is "less than a single page and not more than eight sentences".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/17/nsa-surveillance-house-hearing

I did have a "problem" in

ocean-kat — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 04:02:16 +0000

In reply to I can't get through the

I did have a "problem" in that FP insisted I subscribe and I wasn't sure I wanted to subscribe to another site. I took your advice, gave them my e-mail address, and have had no problems since. Its now one of my regular sites. Thanks for sharing it.

Here is Bob Cesca's take on

rmrd0000 — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 02:08:24 +0000

In reply to The Snowden Hype Campaign Begins

Here is Bob Cesca's take on the Microsoft "bombshell" followed by the "Dead Man Switch" threat.

Snowden was a fool to have

NCD — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 01:13:04 +0000

In reply to The Snowden Hype Campaign Begins

Snowden was a fool to have anything to do with Greenwald. I have said this since day 1.

Greenwald is all about Greenwald, he could care less if Snowden winds up with concrete boots at the bottom of the Volga. It would make for at least a month long $erie$ of articles attacking the US by the former porn lawyer.

I can't get through the

artappraiser — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 00:29:01 +0000

In reply to I can't get through the

I can't get through the firewall

Puzzling to me that you encounter that (someone else once mentioned it here at Dag, I think oceankat.) I have never paid them a cent (and never have to log in, either) and have full access to everything I click on there.

Must be that I registered and logged in long ago and never get logged out? Don't remember doing it, though. I am absolutely 100% sure I never paid them anything, and access is always full and free.

I do often get their pop-up ad to subscribe, but I just hit the x and it closes and I go on to read anything I want on the site, including anything from the dead tree issue. Maybe some people confuse that pop-up ad for a paywall?

I can't get through the

Donal — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 00:17:28 +0000

In reply to The Snowden Hype Campaign Begins

I can't get through the firewall, but looking at that paragraph, I've seen hardly anything about Lindsay Mills since the initial trove of photos. It mostly seems to split between discussions of the NSA's surveillance, speculation about where Snowden will end up, and critiques of Snowden, Greenwald and Assange.