BREAKING: Edward Snowden will appear today at the Guardian website, 11 am EST, for reader

[Warlord]

Don't forget the US government also funds all the social media with Trolls& BOTS to steer the public to their thought pattern reasoning.

And sooner or later RPF is going to get them. In fact I think they have already.

 

[green73]

And sooner or later RPF is going to get them. In fact I think they have already.

Randbots?

 

[Warlord]

Randbots?

There are plenty of trolls on here if you know how to spot them.

 

[Warlord]

He's quoting the Founders.

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Question:

Ed Snowden, I thank you for your brave service to our country.

Some skepticism exists about certain of your claims, including this:

I, sitting at my desk, certainly had the authorities to wiretap anyone, from you, or your accountant, to a federal judge, to even the President if I had a personal email.

Do you stand by that, and if so, could you elaborate?

Answer:

Yes, I stand by it. US Persons do enjoy limited policy protections (and again, it's important to understand that policy protection is no protection - policy is a one-way ratchet that only loosens) and one very weak technical protection - a near-the-front-end filter at our ingestion points. The filter is constantly out of date, is set at what is euphemistically referred to as the "widest allowable aperture," and can be stripped out at any time. Even with the filter, US comms get ingested, and even more so as soon as they leave the border. Your protected communications shouldn't stop being protected communications just because of the IP they're tagged with.

More fundamentally, the "US Persons" protection in general is a distraction from the power and danger of this system. Suspicionless surveillance does not become okay simply because it's only victimizing 95% of the world instead of 100%. Our founders did not write that "We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all US Persons are created equal."

 

[green73]

There are plenty of trolls on here if you know how to spot them.

I have a good idea. And they are not the ones overtly hostile to libertarianism.

 

[Warlord]

I have a good idea. And they are not the ones overtly hostile to libertarianism.

Look in the economics forum.

 

[enhanced_deficit]

This guy is a real deal.

More fundamentally, the "US Persons" protection in general is a distraction from the power and danger of this system. Suspicionless surveillance does not become okay simply because it's only victimizing 95% of the world instead of 100%. Our founders did not write that "We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all US Persons are created equal."

 

[Warlord]

Question:

Edward, there is rampant speculation, outpacing facts, that you have or will provide classified US information to the Chinese or other governments in exchange for asylum. Have/will you?

Answer:

This is a predictable smear that I anticipated before going public, as the US media has a knee-jerk "RED CHINA!" reaction to anything involving HK or the PRC, and is intended to distract from the issue of US government misconduct. Ask yourself: if I were a Chinese spy, why wouldn't I have flown directly into Beijing? I could be living in a palace petting a phoenix by now.

 

[EBounding]

This guy is awesome.

 

[Warlord]

Here's a little contradiction: He said he couldn't fly to Iceland because NSA employees are monitored and have to submit travel trips 30 days in advance so how did he get a flight to HK? Surely that would pop up on the "system".

 

[green73]

Look in the economics forum.

Nobody cares about those ones. It's the ones who pretend to be libertarians who are the problem.

 

[freejack]

Ask yourself: if I were a Chinese spy, why wouldn't I have flown directly into Beijing? I could be living in a palace petting a phoenix by now.

LOLS

 

[Warlord]

Question:

US officials say terrorists already altering TTPs because of your leaks, & calling you traitor. Respond?

Answer:

US officials say this every time there's a public discussion that could limit their authority. US officials also provide misleading or directly false assertions about the value of these programs, as they did just recently with the Zazi case, which court documents clearly show was not unveiled by PRISM.

Journalists should ask a specific question: since these programs began operation shortly after September 11th, how many terrorist attacks were prevented SOLELY by information derived from this suspicionless surveillance that could not be gained via any other source? Then ask how many individual communications were ingested to acheive that, and ask yourself if it was worth it. Bathtub falls and police officers kill more Americans than terrorism, yet we've been asked to sacrifice our most sacred rights for fear of falling victim to it.

 

[amy31416]

Here's a little contradiction: He said he couldn't fly to Iceland because NSA employees are monitored and have to submit travel trips 30 days in advance so how did he get a flight to HK? Surely that would pop up on the "system".

You'd think. But he and his gf had vacationed there before, so perhaps it wouldn't raise flags like a trip to Iceland, which is a known haven.

 

[Warlord]

Question:

Is encrypting my email any good at defeating the NSA survelielance? Id my data protected by standard encryption?

Answer:

Encryption works. Properly implemented strong crypto systems are one of the few things that you can rely on. Unfortunately, endpoint security is so terrifically weak that NSA can frequently find ways around it.
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Warlord recommends GPG4USB for encrypting messages/mail. It's very easy even for a dumb Afghan.

 

[freejack]

Question:

Is encrypting my email any good at defeating the NSA survelielance? Id my data protected by standard encryption?

Answer:

Encryption works. Properly implemented strong crypto systems are one of the few things that you can rely on. Unfortunately, endpoint security is so terrifically weak that NSA can frequently find ways around it.
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Warlord recommends GPG4USB for encrypting messages/mail. It's very easy even for a dumb Afghan.

Right but if your OS is compromised everything else means jack.

 

[FrankRep]

I wonder how many software encryption programs have special NSA backdoor keys built in.

 

[ZENemy]

Right but if your OS is compromised everything else means jack.

Ubuntu is a good START


Anyone who is not familiar with it or has not looked at Ubuntu in a long time should take a look its improved a lot.

http://www.ubuntu.com/

 

[Warlord]

Question:


Do you believe that the treatment of Binney, Drake and others influenced your path? Do you feel the "system works" so to speak? #AskSnowden


Answer:

Binney, Drake, Kiriakou, and Manning are all examples of how overly-harsh responses to public-interest whistle-blowing only escalate the scale, scope, and skill involved in future disclosures. Citizens with a conscience are not going to ignore wrong-doing simply because they'll be destroyed for it: the conscience forbids it. Instead, these draconian responses simply build better whistleblowers. If the Obama administration responds with an even harsher hand against me, they can be assured that they'll soon find themselves facing an equally harsh public response.

This disclosure provides Obama an opportunity to appeal for a return to sanity, constitutional policy, and the rule of law rather than men. He still has plenty of time to go down in history as the President who looked into the abyss and stepped back, rather than leaping forward into it. I would advise he personally call for a special committee to review these interception programs, repudiate the dangerous "State Secrets" privilege, and, upon preparing to leave office, begin a tradition for all Presidents forthwith to demonstrate their respect for the law by appointing a special investigator to review the policies of their years in office for any wrongdoing. There can be no faith in government if our highest offices are excused from scrutiny - they should be setting the example of transparency.

 

[CPUd]

I wonder how many software encryption programs have special NSA backdoor keys built in.

None of the open source ones.