http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/flooding-in-western-canada/2013/06/21/0e7578ea-da91-11e2-a9f2-42ee3912ae0e_gallery.html?hpid=z6#photo=16

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/06/19/should-brazil-s-dilma-rousseff-be-worried-about-the-protests.html

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/us-fugitive-snowden-flies-to-moscow/482095.html

Meanwhile as Nelson Mandela is seriously sick in hospital, our thoughts are with him, his family and his country...

On the other hand:

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/ak-47-investor-airlifted-to-moscow/482092.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/the-three-things-that-always-accompany-occupation-8670097.html

Apparently, Albert Ho helped Snowden to leave Hong Kong...

National Security Agency director Keith Alexander said on Sunday that whistleblower Edward Snowden betrayed the trust of Americans and defended the broad surveillance programs as necessary to prevent another terrorist attack.

As Snowden evaded an attempt on Sunday by Washington to have him arrested in Hong Kong, General Alexander told ABC's This Week: "This is an individual who is not acting, in my opinion, with noble intent ... What Snowden has revealed has caused irreversible and significant damage to our country and to our allies."

Alexander said the NSA surveillance programs Snowden had disclosed to the Guardian were tightly overseen and disputed statements from members of the Senate intelligence committee that they had not played a unique role in preventing terrorist attacks.

He read from a 2012 intelligence committee report about a law that broadened the NSA's authority to perform surveillance even when US communications are involved that said after "four years of oversight, the committee has not identified a single case in which a government official engaged in wilful effort to circumvent or violate the law".

Yet last year, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence conceded publicly that the surveillance had violated the fourth amendment on at least one occasion. The circumstances behind that violation remain classified.

Senators Ron Wyden and Mark Udall have disputed that the NSA's collection of phone records on millions of Americans was key to preventing any terrorist attack. Alexander said that in "a little over 10" cases, the phone records databases helped the US government find individuals inside the US connected to terrorists.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/23/nsa-director-snowden-hong-kong

--------------------------------

Gus: Let me see, people didnot know they were being spied upon? Especially after a few years' warning for the telcos to keep their data for so long?... If one is going to commit a bad deed, one is not going to make waves, including communicate via the mass electronic networks, is one? There are still old-fashioned ways to network without being noticed... Including good old fashioned encoding and speed air-wave transmissions in short bursts at irregular intervals...

Meanwhile the spying on the American public as well as spying upon other countries by tapping into their networks — including that of a scientific university in Hong Kong with probably the ulterior motive of stealing scientific information — is rather duplicitous... Mind you as I have mentioned in the comments above, all countries do it, including for industrial espionage... In all this I have a feeling that "spying against terrorism" has become a lowly ranked purpose... And this is most likely why the Yanks hate being in the open...

Meanwhile, the NSA makes Uncle Rupe smell like roses (with thorns, of course)...

from Crikey ….

National security inquiry declines to endorse data retention

Parliament's joint committee on intelligence and security has failed to endorse a data retention regime as part of its response to a slate of proposed national security reforms, instead laying the groundwork for a limited scheme if a government should decide to implement one.

The committee - headed by Labor MP Anthony Byrne and including senior figures such as John Faulkner, George Brandis and Phillip Ruddock, as well as independent MP and former intelligence analyst Andrew Wilkie - was asked to consider 44 national security reforms by then-attorney-general Nicola Roxon in May last year, initially with a tight deadline that was later extended to the end of 2012 to reflect the extent and range of the proposals under consideration. After repeated criticisms of the Attorney-General's Department about the lack of detail in the proposals, particularly around data retention, by committee members, the committee missed its end-of-year deadline as it grappled with a long list of complex technical, legal, national security and privacy issues.

Data retention occupied most of the committee's time in its hearings, even though there were 43 other, often significant, proposals before it, such as giving intelligence and law enforcement agencies the power to wiretap social media, infect or alter information on people's computers, or give intelligence officials immunity from all but the most serious crimes.

With revelations about the massive extent of US and UK internet and telephone surveillance from Edward Snowden, the committee's view on expanding national security powers to address the challenges of online communication emerges at a critical time.

On data retention, the committee was unable to resolve internal disputes over whether a data retention regime was required. It concluded:

"There is a diversity of views within the Committee as to whether there should be a mandatory data retention regime. This is ultimately a decision for Government."

The committee's inability to resolve this highly controversial issue was exacerbated, it says, by the Attorney-General's Department. In a remarkable statement for such a powerful committee, the report begins with direct criticism of A-GD, complaining that "one of the most controversial topics canvassed in the discussion paper - data retention - was only accorded just over two lines of text" by the department in its discussion paper, which was approved by Roxon:

"This lack of information from the Attorney-General and her Department had two major consequences. First, it meant that submitters to the Inquiry could not be sure as to what they were being asked to comment on. Second, as the Committee was not sure of the exact nature of what the Attorney-General and her Department was proposing it was seriously hampered in the conduct of the inquiry and the process of obtaining evidence from witnesses.

"Importantly the Committee was very disconcerted to find, once it commenced its Inquiry, that the Attorney-General’s Department (AGD) had much more detailed information on the topic of data retention. Departmental work, including discussions with stakeholders, had been undertaken previously. Details of this work had to be drawn from witnesses representing the AGD.

"In fact, it took until the 7th November 2012 for the Committee to be provided with a formal complete definition of which data was to be retained under the data retention regime proposed by the AGD."

Unable to resolve its concerns about a data retention regime, the committee declined to recommend it. It accepted that data retention would be of "significant utility" to national security agencies. However: 

"... a mandatory data retention regime raises fundamental privacy issues, and is arguably a significant extension of the power of the state over the citizen. No such regime should be enacted unless those privacy and civil liberties concerns are sufficiently addressed."

Instead, the committee chose to lay out a possible limited scheme if a government decides to pursue one. The scheme would involve: 

·                  Telecommunications or meta-data data only (i.e. no content; where meta-data cannot be separated from content, it must be regarded as content and not retained)

·                  No internet browsing data of any kind to be stored

·                  All retained data to be encrypted

·                  Data retained for a maximum of two years (no minimum was specified)

·                  The (potentially significant) costs borne by government

·                  Independent audits to check no content data is being stored

·                  Agency access to be overseen by the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security and ombudsmen

·                  Any legislation establishing a scheme be the subject of public consultation and oversight by JCIS as well, with annual report and triennial review requirements.

Coupled with a review to curb the number of entities that have access to meta-data (including, currently, organisations like the RSPCA), the data retention scheme outlined by the committee - but not recommended - would be highly limited, particularly given the limitation on internet browsing data, assuming any bill survived the process of scrutiny to which it would be subject

Among the other recommendations by the committee in what is a long and detailed report, the committee rejected a proposal to allow ASIO officers to stop and search individuals as well as premises, recommended the number of agencies with access to telecommunication data be reviewed with the aim of reducing them; a comprehensive public process of revision of the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act to address privacy, technology and industry concerns; the committee did not endorse a proposal to allowed ASIO to "disrupt" computers but merely recommended further consideration to it, but did recommend ASIO be permitted to access target computers via third-party computers; that proposals to protect ASIO officers from criminal liability match the current scheme applying to the Australian Federal Police.

The attempt by Edward Snowden to escape the clutches of US authorities descended into farce when the 30-year-old surveillance whistleblower outpaced the world's biggest intelligence apparatus in a round-the-world chase that was still under way on Monday.

Washington could barely disguise its fury at the manner in which Snowden was hustled out of Hong Kong, despite the US having revoked his passport and demanded his detention. The White House made it clear that China-US relations had been placed under great strain.

The whereabouts of Snowden were unclear on Monday night. Journalists who boarded a flight from Moscow to Havana, a suspected lay-over stop a journey to Ecuador, reported that they could not see the former National Security Agency contractor on the plane, despite reports that he had checked in.

Jay Carney, the White House spokesman, was sharply critical of Hong Kong's decision to allow Snowden to leave. He said the administration did not believe the explanation that it was a "technical" decision by Hong Kong immigration authorities. "The Hong Kong authorities were advised of the status of Mr Snowden's travel documents in plenty of time to have prohibited his travel as appropriate. We do not buy the suggestion that China could not have taken action."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/24/us-urges-russia-edward-snowden-pursuit

Gus: my belief is that Snowden is arriving in Caracas by now... (Hey... I have no clue as to his whereabouts, but the information I get from Yourp is often far more reliable than the CIA's)

U.S. Rebukes China, Russia and Ecuador Over Snowden

WASHINGTON — An increasingly frustrated Obama administration escalated its criticism on Monday of Russia, China and Ecuador, the countries that appeared to be protecting Edward J. Snowden, the fugitive former government contractor wanted for leaking classified documents, who has eluded what has become a global American manhunt.

The White House spokesman, Jay Carney, told reporters that relations with China had suffered a setback over its apparent role in approving a decision on Sunday by Hong Kong to let Mr. Snowden board a flight to Moscow and avoid arrest — even though his passport had been revoked. Mr. Carney also warned the Russian authorities that they should expel Mr. Snowden into American custody.

Mr. Snowden, 30, a former National Security Agency contractor whose leaks about American surveillance activities have captivated world attention, had apparently been set to board a flight from Moscow to Havana on Monday as part of an effort to seek political asylum in Ecuador, which has provided him with special travel papers.

But in a deepening intrigue over his whereabouts, Mr. Snowden appeared to have never boarded that flight, raising the possibility that the Russian government had detained him, either to consider Washington’s demands or perhaps to question him for Russia’s own purposes.

When Aeroflot 150 touched down in Havana, the first person to emerge, one of two captains on the 16-hour flight, was surrounded by reporters shouting the same question, “Was Snowden on board?”

“No Snowden,” replied the captain, who would not give his name. “No special people. Only journalists.” He said about 30 journalists had made the flight in a futile effort to folloiw Mr. Snowden.

Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy organization that has said it is helping Mr. Snowden, told reporters earlier Monday that Mr. Snowden was in a safe and secure place. The government of Ecuador, which is also protecting Mr. Assange, said it was still considering Mr. Snowden’s asylum request. But there was no direct word from Mr. Snowden himself.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/25/world/edward-snowden-nsa-surveillance-...      

Gus: let me repeat here. My belief is that Snowden is now in Caracas, Venezuela... (Hey... I have no clue as to his whereabouts, but the information I get from Yourp is often far more reliable than the CIA's)

Russia says it has had no involvement in the travel plans of fugitive US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden.

The exact whereabouts of Mr Snowden, who flew to Moscow from Hong Kong on Sunday, are unclear.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov insisted he had not crossed the Russian border.

He criticised what he termed US attempts to blame Russia for his disappearance, saying they were "groundless and unacceptable".

Correspondents say Mr Lavrov's comments suggest that Mr Snowden remained air-side after landing at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, and so has technically never entered Russian territory.

"We are in no way involved with either Mr Snowden, his relations with US justice, nor to his movements around the world," Mr Lavrov said.

"He chose his itinerary on his own. We learnt about it... from the media. He has not crossed the Russian border.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-23045790

Gus: let me repeat here ONCE MORE... My belief is that Snowden is now in Caracas, Venezuela... (Hey... I have no clue as to his whereabouts, but the information I got from Yourp is often far more reliable than the CIA's)

Just when the Snowden spy saga needs comic relief to counter Washington’s bad-tempered diplomacy, in walks Russian president Vladimir Putin with his own way of describing what might be in the whole deal for Moscow – “it’s like shearing a pig – lots of screams, but little wool.”

Clearly the Russian leader thought he could indulge in such colourful language because for the benefit of the international throngs following the story, he had just answered the ‘where’s Wally’ question – indeed, Mr Snowden was still at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport; though in the transit area which, technically, meant he was not in the country.

If only in the eyes of US officials who think otherwise, Mr Putin veered towards the disingenuous, insisting that his security agencies had not interrogated Mr Snowden or been through his four laptops. 

Some 48 hours have passed since Snowden's Aeroflot flight from Hong Kong landed in Moscow on Sunday. Journalists say that not a single passenger on that flight can remember seeing him. There are no photos of Snowden in Russia. There are also no known images of him taken at the airport by surveillance cameras -- and there are a lot of cameras there.

"Was Snowden even in Moscow?" asks the Russian tabloid daily Komsomolskaya Pravda. Reader comments go one step further, asking: "Does Snowden even exist?" The information vacuum is being filled by conspiracy theories.

Putin's statements haven't ended speculation, either. If Snowden really is free, why would he stay in the airport terminal so long? Putin also claimed that Russian intelligence officials have had no contact with Snowden. But many observers refuse to believe Moscow is capable of such selfless restraint -- particularly given the fact that Ilya Kostunov, a member of Russia's parliament, said the country's intelligence apparatus must review "whether Snowden has documents that offer insights into cyber-espionage."

The Speculation Game

And wouldn't snagging Snowden be a feat for Russian intelligence, which just this May detained and expelled an American diplomat on accusations of spying? Snowden's presence in Moscow is like a "king salmon jumping into the lap of a grizzly bear," according to website of the US magazineTime.

The only thing that seems clear is that Snowden traveled to Russia. But, even if that is the case, the transit zone of the Moscow airport is a strange choice of refuge. The length of his stay could mean that his fate -- and his travel route -- are no longer under his control.

Of course, like much surrounding Snowden's case, this is only speculation. Despite the dearth of facts, there are a few possible scenarios. For example, it's likely that Snowden is having problems with his invalidated passport, which makes traveling the world virtually impossible. He could be forced to seek asylum in Russia, an option the Kremlin already floated days ago. But, in return for asylum, Snowden would probably have to share some of his secrets.

This would surely be an unprecedented propaganda coup for Putin, particularly after he scolded Washington and America's powerful intelligence agencies and portrayed himself as the potential protector of a dissident. Snowden's reputation among the Western public would suffer serious damage if he provided valuable information to the Kremlin, whose intelligence services are known for cracking down on both the opposition and human rights activists.

...

And, lastly, Moscow might also want offer to hand Snowden over in return for Viktor Bout, a notorious Russian arms trafficker serving a 25-year sentence in the US.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/edward-snowden-whistleblower-still-missing-at-moscow-airport-a-908023.html

I don't think Putin would be dumb enough and try to do a swap here... The value is in the now currency, not in what someone did ten years ago.... And the whole affair shows that if one wants to hide — and has a few friends who know how to, including those at Wikileaks — you could find yourself already in Caracas, Venezuela when everyone is looking for you in Moscow...

...

In the run-up to the 2008 election, he described President Obama’s opponent, Sen. John McCain, as an “excellent leader” and “a guy with real values.” Speaking of Obama, he said that “we need an idealist first and foremost.”

He dismissed Hillary Rodham Clinton, Obama’s opponent in the Democratic primaries, as “a pox on the country.”

Snowden wondered how the anonymous sources for the New York Times article could have disclosed classified information. “Those people should be shot in the balls,” he wrote.

There was only the faintest hint that Snowden was becoming disillusioned with the U.S. surveillance programs he would later reveal. “WE LOVE THAT TECHNOLOGY [EXPLETIVE],” he wrote in March 2009. “HELPS US SPY ON OUR CITIZENS BETTER.”

Indeed, as he told the Guardian in a videotaped interview this month, his disillusionment with his work as a systems analyst in the U.S intelligence community was gradual. “Over time that awareness of wrongdoing sort of builds up and you feel compelled to talk about,” he said. “And the more you talk about, the more you’re ignored, the more you’re told it’s not a problem, until eventually you realize that these things need to be determined by the public and not by somebody who was simply hired by the government.”

Changing jobs

In 2009, Snowden left the CIA to work for a private contractor and was based at an NSA facility in Japan. Three years later, he moved to Hawaii, where he again worked at an NSA facility.

In January, Snowden, without identifying himself, contacted the documentarian Laura Poitras, who has covered surveillance and counterterrorism issues, and told her that he wanted to get her encryption key and use a secure channel to communicate. In February, he also contacted Guardian columnist Glenn Greenwald. Poitras also spoke to reporter Barton Gellman about some of the correspondence she had with Snowden, according to an interview she gave to Salon, the news Web site.

In March, Snowden took a position with the contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, apparently to maximize his access to classified material at the NSA.

“My position with Booz Allen Hamilton granted me access to lists of machines all over the world the NSA hacked,” Snowden told the South China Morning Post in an interview in Hong Kong this month. “That is why I accepted that position about three months ago.”

On May 20, after telling his supervisor that he needed treatment for epilepsy, Snowden flew into Hong Kong carrying four laptops. He met with Guardian journalists there on June 1. The first Guardian article based on NSA documents appeared June 5, followed the next day by articles in The Washington Post and the Guardian on another surveillance program.

On the run

Snowden said he chose the semiautonomous Chinese territory because it had the “cultural and legal framework to allow me to work without being immediately detained.” He stressed in interviews that he had no interest in aiding foreign powers.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/snowden-voiced-contempt-for-leakers-in-newly-disclosed-chat-logs-from-2009/2013/06/26/e88f7412-de8e-11e2-963a-72d740e88c12_print.html

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has offered to give "humanitarian asylum" to US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden, who is thought to be waiting in a Moscow airport for a country to give him sanctuary.

"As head of state of the Boliviarian republic of Venezuela, I have decided to offer humanitarian asylum to the young Snowden ... to protect this young man from the persecution launched by the most powerful empire in the world," Mr Maduro said at an independence day event.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/venezuela-nicaragua-offer-asylum-to-snowden-20130706-2pia5.html#ixzz2YFIDkNxf

Gus had the feeling that could be the place where Snowden would end up... Read from top...

WASHINGTON — The director of national intelligence acknowledged Tuesday that nearly a year after the contractor Edward J. Snowden “scraped” highly classified documents from the National Security Agency’s networks, the technology was not yet fully in place to prevent another insider from stealing top-secret data on a similarly large scale.

The director, James R. Clapper Jr., testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Mr. Snowden had taken advantage of a “perfect storm” of security lapses. He also suggested that as a highly trained systems administrator working for Booz Allen Hamilton, which provides computer services to the agency, Mr. Snowden knew how to evade the protections in place.

“He knew exactly what he was doing,” Mr. Clapper said. “And he was pretty skilled at staying below the radar, so what he was doing wasn’t visible.”

But Mr. Clapper confirmed the outlines of a New York Times report that the former N.S.A. contractor had used a web crawler, a commonly available piece of software, to sweep up a huge trove of documents.

Mr. Clapper also said, for the first time, that some of the information Mr. Snowden is believed to possess could expose the identities of undercover American operatives as well as foreigners who have been recruited by United States spy agencies. The information Mr. Snowden has released so far through several newspapers and a new digital news organization that began publishing on Monday has not revealed the names of agents or operatives, and it is unclear how much of that information he took with him when he fled the United States. He is now in Russia.

Under questioning, Mr. Clapper made clear that while the N.S.A. has installed security upgrades, not all locations have the software and warning systems that could detect mass downloads of information. He did not address why the agency was not able to detect the web crawler, which indexed and copied all the data in its path.

He said it was likely Mr. Snowden would have been caught if he had been taking the information from inside N.S.A. headquarters at Fort Meade, Md., instead of at an outpost in Hawaii.

read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/12/us/politics/spy-chief-says-snowden-took-advantage-of-perfect-storm-of-security-lapses.html?hp&_r=0 

Supporters of Edward Snowden are raising funds to try to help refugees who helped hide him when he went on the run in Hong Kong in 2013.

Until now, the whereabouts of Snowden in the weeks after he leaked secret intelligence documents had remained a mystery. But it has now been revealed he was staying with refugees in cramped and impoverished flats in some of the poorer parts of the city.

One of the whistleblower’s lawyers in Hong Kong, Robert Tibbo, disclosed the details in an interview with Canada’s National Post. Tibbo said Snowden had sent $1,000 to each of the people who had helped him. Other supporters of Snowden are also sending donations.

The fear is that now those who helped him have been identified, they might face reprisals. The money is to try to help them.

After Snowden leaked tens of thousands of secret documents from America’s National Security Agency and Britain’s GCHQ to journalists in the Mira Hotel in Hong Kong, he fled, under the protection of two lawyers, Tibbo and Jonathan Man.

Snowden went to an office of the United Nations to apply for refugee status in an attempt to avoid extradition and then stayed with various refugee families.

Both Tibbo and Man had helped the asylum seekers in the past and felt they would not betray Snowden.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/sep/07/reviled-hong-kong-refugees-who-hid-edward-snowden-identified

Read from top... The title of this comment is of course made up... What is :

Lawyers working with Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency whistleblower who received sanctuary in Russia after fleeing the US, have vowed to step up pressure on Barack Obama’s administration for a presidential pardon.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/26/edward-snowden-lawyer-pardon-obama

Knowing Obama, he will pardon the Snowbot (Edward Snowden is interviewed by TED curator Chris Anderson, via his ‘Snowbot’ BeamPro machine.)  instead...

In a rare bit of good news for privacy activists in the United States, a federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday that a legal challenge to the massive global surveillance architecture of the NSA may proceed, amid claims that the agency routinely invades the privacy rights of citizens while trampling on the laws of the US Constitution.The 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, in a unanimous 3-0 vote, will allow the Wikipedia online encyclopedia parent organization, Wikimedia Foundation, to proceed with a legal challenge to the NSA's "Upstream" global surveillance arm.

NSA's Upstream, whose existence was made public following leaks by whistleblower Edward Snowden in 2013, is a US global spy program that accesses the cables, switches and routers comprising the principal data routes of the internet to conduct universal international communications surveillance.

At least nine organizations, including Wikimedia Foundation, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch previously argued that, as their representatives source or receive over one trillion international communications every year, Upstream presented a violation of the right to privacy, free expression and association.

In 2013 a US District Judge in Baltimore had dismissed the lawsuit, citing a lack of evidence that the NSA conducted global surveillance "at full throttle."

But in the new appeal to allow the lawsuit to proceed, Circuit Judge Albert Diaz suggested that there was "nothing speculative" about the claims made by Wikimedia Foundation and the other plaintiffs.

Diaz, Reuters reported, stated that the NSA interception and copying of international internet communications revealed "an invasion of a legally protected interest — the Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures."

Rights organizations across the US hailed the move.

"This is a wonderful example of how transparency creates a more just society," said Garland Nixon, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) board member and host of Radio Sputnik's "Fault Lines."

"The Snowden leaks created the dynamic in which these public information and social justice organizations, who were made aware of otherwise unknowable government programs, are able to petition the judicial system and fight for the privacy protections that they have a right to expect."

ACLU lawyer Patrick Toomey, representing the plaintiffs in the case, observed that Upstream "will finally face badly needed scrutiny."

Read more:

https://sputniknews.com/military/201705231053913202-rights-groups-challe...

Read from top... It's along time between drinks.

Meanwhile see also:

https://audioboom.com/posts/5913760-glenn-greenwald-on-barrett-brown-press-freedom-the-failings-of-the-corporate-media