Federal Government Tell Web Firms to TURN OVER ALL USER ACCOUNT PASSWORDS

Newsflash from your Hollywood Attorney:

Secret demands mark escalation in Internet surveillance by the federal government through gaining access to user passwords, which are typically stored in encrypted form.

The U.S. government has demanded that major Internet companies divulge users' stored passwords, according to two industry sources familiar with these orders, which represent an escalation in surveillance techniques that has not previously been disclosed.

If the government is able to determine a person's password, which is typically stored in encrypted form, the credential could be used to log in to an account to peruse confidential correspondence or even impersonate the user. Obtaining it also would aid in deciphering encrypted devices in situations where passwords are reused.

"I've certainly seen them ask for passwords," said one Internet industry source who spoke on condition of anonymity. "We push back."

A second person who has worked at a large Silicon Valley company confirmed that it received legal requests from the federal government for stored passwords. Companies "really heavily scrutinize" these requests, the person said. "There's a lot of 'over my dead body.'"

Some of the government orders demand not only a user's password but also the encryption algorithm and the so-called salt, according to a person familiar with the requests. A salt is a random string of letters or numbers used to make it more difficult to reverse the encryption process and determine the original password. Other orders demand the secret question codes often associated with user accounts.

A Microsoft spokesperson would not say whether the company has received such requests from the government. But when asked whether Microsoft would divulge passwords, salts, or algorithms, the spokesperson replied: "No, we don't, and we can't see a circumstance in which we would provide it."

Google also declined to disclose whether it had received requests for those types of data. But a spokesperson said the company has "never" turned over a user's encrypted password, and that it has a legal team that frequently pushes back against requests that are fishing expeditions or are otherwise problematic. "We take the privacy and security of our users very seriously," the spokesperson said.

Apple, Yahoo, Facebook, AOL, Verizon, AT&T, Time Warner Cable, and Comcast did not respond to queries about whether they have received requests for users' passwords and how they would respond to them.

Richard Lovejoy, a director of the Opera Software subsidiary that operates FastMail, said he doesn't recall receiving any such requests but that the company still has a relatively small number of users compared with its larger rivals. Because of that, he said, "we don't get a high volume" of U.S. government demands.

The FBI declined to comment.

Some details remain unclear, including when the requests began and whether the government demands are always targeted at individuals or seek entire password database dumps. The Patriot Act has been used to demand entire database dumps of phone call logs, and critics have suggested its use is broader. "The authority of the government is essentially limitless" under that law, Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat who serves on the Senate Intelligence committee, said at a Washington event this week.
Large Internet companies have resisted the government's requests by arguing that "you don't have the right to operate the account as a person," according to a person familiar with the issue. "I don't know what happens when the government goes to smaller providers and demands user passwords," the person said.

An attorney who represents Internet companies said he has not fielded government password requests, but "we've certainly had reset requests -- if you have the device in your possession, than a password reset is the easier way."

Cracking the codes
Even if the National Security Agency or the FBI successfully obtains an encrypted password, salt, and details about the algorithm used, unearthing a user's original password is hardly guaranteed. The odds of success depend in large part on two factors: the type of algorithm and the complexity of the password.

Algorithms, known as hash functions, that are viewed as suitable for scrambling stored passwords are designed to be difficult to reverse. One popular hash function called MD5, for instance, transforms the phrase "National Security Agency" into this string of seemingly random characters: 84bd1c27b26f7be85b2742817bb8d43b. Computer scientists believe that, if a hash function is well-designed, the original phrase cannot be derived from the output.

But modern computers, especially ones equipped with high-performance video cards, can test passwords scrambled with MD5 and other well-known hash algorithms at the rate of billions a second. One system using 25 Radeon-powered GPUs that was demonstrated at a conference last December tested 348 billion hashes per second, meaning it would crack a 14-character Windows XP password in six minutes.

Sen. Ron Wyden, who warned this week that "the authority of the government is essentially limitless" under the Patriot Act's business records provision.

Read More... http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57595529-38/feds-tell-web-firms-to-turn-over-user-account-passwords/

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NSA Damaged the Credibility of U.S. Tech Companies, it also Hurt Their Bottom Lines.

Newsflash from your Hollywood Attorney:

There has been a lot of speculation that the revelations about NSA surveillance program PRISM damaged the credibility of U.S. tech companies, especially with international clients who were the primary targets of the snooping operation. But now it’s starting to look like the snooping is hitting U.S.-based cloud providers where it really hurts: Their pocketbooks.

Computer World UK reports a recent Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) survey found 10 percent of 207 officials at non-U.S. companies canceled contracts with U.S. providers after the leaks, and 56 percent of non-U.S. respondents are now hesitant to work with U.S.-based cloud operators.

This is bad news for U.S. tech companies because cloud computing and storage is a huge, expanding market. Research firm Gartner forecasts the public cloud services market will grow 18.5 percent in 2013 to a total of $131 billion worldwide.

Naturally, European cloud service providers were quick to recognize the opportunity represented by the leaks. Shortly after the news broke in June, Robert Jenkins, CEO at Swiss company CloudSigma, told IDG News Service the leaks would be “really damaging for U.S. companies in terms of competing abroad” while Johan Christenson, CEO of City Network from Sweden, noted ”[t]here are a lot of customers that come to us because they want to store their data in Sweden.”

European government officials also hopped on the bandwagon, with German Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich telling reporters “whoever fears their communication is being intercepted in any way should use services that don’t go through American servers” earlier this month.



Read More.... http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/07/25/nsa-snooping-is-hurting-u-s-tech-companies-bottom-line/ …

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NSA Holds Emergency Hearing to Fight off Anti-Surveillance Amendment in Congress

Newsflash from your Hollywood Attorney:

National Security Agency Director General Keith Alexander

The National Security Agency has invited certain members of Congress to a top secret, invitation only meeting to discuss a proposed amendment that could end the NSA’s ability to conduct dragnet surveillance on millions of Americans.

A letter circulated only to select lawmakers early Tuesday announced that NSA Director General Keith B. Alexander would host a question and answer session with members of Congress in preparation of a Thursday vote on Capitol Hill expected to involve an amendment introduced last month by Rep. Justin Amash (R-Michigan).

That amendment, a provision tacked along to a Department of Defense Appropriations Act along with nearly 100 others, aims to greatly diminish the NSA’s domestic spying powers in the wake of disclosures attributed to Edward Snowden, a 30-year-old former employee of Booz Allen Hamilton currently fighting extradition to the US where he faces charges of espionage for his role in leaking state secrets.

One of the leaked files released by Snowden to the UK’s Guardian newspaper details how the government’s interpretation of the PATRIOT Act’s Section 215 has allowed the NSA to collect call logs and other so-called “telephony metadata” pertaining to millions of Americans on a regular basis. If the Amash amendment is approved, it would end that authority.

The amendment, as it appears on the House of Representatives Committee on Rules website, “Bars the NSA and other agencies from using Section 215 of the Patriot Act to collect records, including telephone call records, that pertain to persons who are not subject to an investigation under Section 215.”

“It’s not a partisan issue. It’s something that cuts across the entire political spectrum,” Amash told the Rules panel. “In order for funds to be used by the NSA, the court order would have to have a statement limiting the collection of records to those records that pertain to a person under investigation,” Amash said, according to Politico. “If the court order doesn’t have that statement, the NSA doesn’t receive the funding to collect those records.”

Amash’s suggestion isn't unheard of in the wake of a massive public backlash caused by Mr. Snowden’s disclosures, but it certainly isn't sitting pretty with the NSA. According to Huffington Post, a letter circulated on Tuesday only hours after the Amash amendment was confirmed to be in order and expected to go up for vote this Thursday.

"In advance of anticipated action on amendments to the DoD Appropriations bill, Ranking Member C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger of the House Intelligence Committee invites your Member to attend a question and answer session with General Keith B. Alexander of the National Security Agency," HuffPo quoted from the invitation.

The meeting, added journalist Ryan Grim, was scheduled to be held at a security level of top secret/SCI and was only open to certain lawmakers, echoing the secrecy involved in the very programs Amash aims to shut down.

In preparation for Amash’s amendment going up for vote, the activism group Demand Progress has http://act.demandprogress.org/letter/nsa_amash/a campaign in hopes it will encourage Americans to ask their representatives to vote in favor of the bill.

“As the NSA spying revelations continue to unfold, we increasingly find ourselves facing the reality that -- at any moment -- the federal government could be listening to our phone calls, watching our email traffic, keeping tabs on our Internet browsing, or worse,” the website reads. “But now we have our first real chance to fight back.”

Speaking to Huffington Post, Demand Progress executive director David Segal said, “To invoke that expert on surveillance George W. Bush: After this vote we'll finally know who is with us in the cause to protect civil rights -- and who is against us."

A spokesperson for Rep. Amash told TIME Magazine on Tuesday afternoon that debate over the amendment is scheduled for Wednesday evening, with lawmakers expected to move for a vote the following morning. The amendment is being cosponsored by Rep. John Conyers, a Democrat from Amash’s home state of Michigan.

Source..... http://worldtruth.tv/nsa-holds-emergency-hearing-to-fight-off-anti-surveillance-amendment-in-congress/

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Cell Phones Turned Off - NSA Can Still Locate You!

Newsflash from your Hollywood Attorney:

Never mind the non-stop collection of metadata and other sneaky surveillance tools being implemented by the US: a new report has revealed the National Security Agency’s spy powers allow the government to grab location data on just about anyone.

The technology was allegedly developed by the NSA in 2004 as part of the agency’s cooperation with the military, the CIA and the clandestine Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). By the time NSA analysts and data collectors have been helping them for three years to track down and kill “high value targets” among terrorist and militant groups in Afghanistan and later Iraq, according to a Washington Post report.

The newspaper provides few further details on the technology, only saying that JSOC troops called it “The Find” and that it gave them thousands of new targets to track and attack. The article further describes how post-September 2001 the NSA made “a gigantic leap from using the nation’s most sophisticated spy technology to record the words of presidents, kings and dictators to using it to kill a single man in a terrorist group.”

The fact that a mobile phone doubles as a tracking device, which identifies the owner’s location in real time through a mobile network’s communication with the device, through spy software operating on the phone, or by some other means, is hardly secret. But it is widely considered that a phone that is turned off cannot emit signals and is thus untraceable.

Some privacy-cautious people suggest removing a battery as an extra precaution. More hardline privacy activists, like software freedom activist and founder of the Free Software Foundation Richard Stallman, don’t use cellphones at all, saying that they can be not only used for tracking, but also converted remotely into listening devices with specific spyware.

The NSA is currently the focus of much criticism after former contractor Edward Snowden leaked secret documents revealing that the agency is involved in massive worldwide collection of personal data. The agency is accused of trawling phone communications, emails, financial transactions and other records concerning hundreds of millions of people who are not suspected of any crimes or considered a threat to any country’s national security. Critics call it a gross violation of privacy.

The targeted killings of militants by US military and the CIA is another controversial practice of the Bush and the Obama administrations. It expanded greatly with the wide introduction of drone aircraft, which made such killings more affordable. Critics question it on many accounts, from dubious legal grounds to murky process for selection of targets to civilian casualties and public outcries that such killings prompt.

Source.... RT

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CIA Backs $630,000 Scientific Study on Controlling Global Climate

Newsflash from your Hollywood Attorney:

The Central Intelligence Agency is funding a scientific study that will investigate whether humans could use geoengineering to alter Earth's environment and stop climate change. The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) will run the 21-month project, which is the first NAS geoengineering study financially supported by an intelligence agency. With the spooks' money, scientists will study how humans might influence weather patterns, assess the potential dangers of messing with the climate, and investigate possible national security implications of geoengineering attempts.

The total cost of the project is $630,000, which NAS is splitting with the CIA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and NASA. The NAS website says that "the US intelligence community" is funding the project, and William Kearney, a spokesman for NAS, told Mother Jones that phrase refers to the CIA. Edward Price, a spokesman for the CIA, refused to confirm the agency's role in the study, but said, "It's natural that on a subject like climate change the Agency would work with scientists to better understand the phenomenon and its implications on national security." The CIA reportedly closed its research center on climate change and national security last year, after GOP members of Congress argued that the CIA shouldn't be looking at climate change.

The goal of the CIA-backed NAS study is to conduct a "technical evaluation of a limited number of proposed geoengineering techniques," according to the NAS website. Scientists will attempt to determine which geoengineering techniques are feasible and try to evaluate the impacts and risks of each (including "national security concerns"). One proposed geoengineering method the study will look at is solar radiation management—a fancy term for pumping particles into the stratosphere to reflect incoming sunlight away from the planet. In theory, solar radiation management could lead to a global cooling trend that might reverse, or at least slow down, global warming. The study will also investigate proposals for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

The National Academies has held two previous workshops on geoengineering, but neither was funded by the intelligence community, says Edward Dunlea, the study director for the latest project. The CIA would not say why it had decided to fund the project at this time, but the US government's apparent interest in altering the climate isn't new. The first big use of weather modification as a military tactic came during the Vietnam War, when the Air Force engaged in a cloud seeding program to try to create rainfall and turn the Ho Chi Minh Trail into muck, and thereby gain tactical advantage. Between 1962 and 1983, other would-be weather engineers tried to change the behavior of hurricanes using silver iodide. That effort, dubbed Project Stormfury, was spearheaded by the Navy and the Commerce Department. China's "Weather Modification Office" also controversially seeded clouds in advance of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, hoping to ensure rain would fall in the Beijing suburbs instead of over the Olympic stadiums.

Although previous efforts to manipulate weather and climate have often been met with mockery, many geoengineering proposals "are fundamentally doable, relatively cheap, and do appear to be able to reduce climate risk significantly, but with risks," explains David Keith, a Harvard researcher and top geoengineering proponent.

But if geoengineering is cheap and "fundamentally doable," as Keith claims, that suggests foreign countries, or even wealthy individuals, could mess with the climate to advance their own ends. "This whole issue of lone actors: Do we need to be concerned about China acting unilaterally? Is that just idle chatter, or is that something the US government should prepare for?" asks Ken Caldeira, a geoengineering researcher at the Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology and a member of the current National Academy of Sciences panel.

At least one individual has already tried modifying the climate. Russ George, the former head of Planktos, a company that works to develop technology to deal with global warming, seeded the Pacific Ocean off western Canada with iron to generate a plankton bloom that, in turn, was supposed to suck up carbon dioxide from the air. George's effort was widely condemned, but at present there's little to stop other individuals or countries from trying it or something similar. That's part of what has the US intelligence community interested.

The CIA's decision to fund scientific work on geoengineering will no doubt excite conspiracy theorists. The last time the government tried to do cutting-edge research related to the atmosphere—with the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP), which aimed to protect satellites from nuclear blasts—people speculated that it might be a death ray, a mind control weapon, or, worst of all…a way to control the weather.

Source.... http://worldtruth.tv/cia-backs-630000-scientific-study-on-controlling-global-climate/

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Lawsuit Against the NSA Will Continue per Judge

Newsflash from your Hollywood Attorney:

The Obama administration will NOT be allowed to terminate a lawsuit by asserting that a civil argument would risk exposing national secrets, a federal judge ruled Monday in what has already been called an important advance for civil liberties advocates.

The suit, known as Jewel vs. National Security Agency, was originally filed in 2008 by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and a group of AT&T customers who claimed Bush administration officials had conducted an “illegal and unconstitutional program of dragnet communications surveillance” by operating warrantless surveillance on US citizens.

Attention has re-focused on the case in recent weeks after fugitive whistleblower Edward Snowden leaked NSA documents revealing the government’s widespread domestic and foreign monitoring of telephone and Internet activity.

US District Judge Jeffrey White in San Francisco, California refused to allow the Obama administration to end the lawsuit by citing the ‘state secrets’ privilege. By invoking that privilege, the EFF argued, the federal government hoped to prove widespread warrantless surveillance is not subject to judicial review.

“The government has unlawfully solicited and obtained from telecommunications companies such as AT&T the complete and ongoing disclosure of the private telephone and Internet transactional records of those companies’ millions of customers, communications records indicating who the customers communicated with, when and for long, among other sensitive information,” the technology and civil rights group wrote on its website.

“ This transactional information is analyzed by computers in conjunction with the vast quantity of communications content acquired by government’s network of surveillance devices, in what has been described as a vast data-mining operation.”

While Judge White did not explicitly discontinue the lawsuit, Reuters noted, he may have introduced limitations strict enough to only delay the end of the case or tie it up in court indefinitely. He ordered the NSA to provide more data on how the “recent disclosure of the government’s continuing surveillance activities” could impact national security.

White requested “further briefing” from both sides, writing that certain information from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which authorizes the NSA requests, “should be declassified and immediately released to the public.”

White’s decision is regarded as the first step in what could be a long process, but one Cindy Cohn, the legal director of the EFF, said was “a huge victory and a very courageous decision.”

Source...  RT & http://worldtruth.tv/judge-throws-out-state-secrets-claim-allowing-lawsuit-against-nsa-to-continue/
 

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With NSA Spying France Temporarily Suspends Trade Talks

France wants to delay the ‘biggest bilateral trade deal in history' by 2 weeks after learning the USA was allegedly tracking economic communications of EU member states.

"It would seem wise to us to suspend them for a couple of weeks to avoid any controversy and have the time to obtain the information we've asked for,"  French government spokeswoman Najat Vallaud-Belkacem said Wednesday.

The trade agreement negotiations, which could potentially be a key factor in reversing the slow economic climate, are set to commence Monday in Washington DC.

"It's not a question of halting the negotiations,"  Vallaud-Belkacem said, adding that espionage and trade are two 'closely related' issues.

French President Hollande said Monday there could be no negotiations unless the US could guarantee they would halt their spying operations on EU allies.

Despite surveillance claims, Germany wants the talks to go on as planned, Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman said shortly after France raised a 2-week delay proposal.

"The Commission wants to start negotiations on July 8, and in this it has the support of the German government," said state spokesman Steffen Seibert.

"We want this free trade agreement and we want to start the talks now," he said.

After the news broke Monday, EU leaders demanded answers. French Prime Minister Hollande said the spying must stop 'immediately' and Chancellor Merkel said if allegations prove to be true, it would be“unacceptable Cold War-style behavior.”

US Secretary of State John Kerry said he couldn't confirm the authenticity of the spying claims, and Obama tried to defend the actions, insinuating all world intelligence services preform similar surveillance.

"That's how intelligence services operate," Obama said Monday.

The agreement would be a “once in a generation prize,” which could add as much as $157 billion to the EU economy, over $125 billion to the US economy and as much as around $133 billion to the rest of the word, British Prime Minister David Cameron said at the summit, adding it could add two million extra jobs, more choices and lower consumer prices.

Source.... http://worldtruth.tv/france-wants-to-temporarily-suspend-trade-talks-with-us-over-nsa-spying/

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Should You Hide Your Data From Internet Snoops - How to Do It...

Having concerns about NSA cybersnooping doesn't mean we must surrender all privacy -- what's left of it -- in our day-to-day online activities.

It's easy to forget that we're volunteering basic information about ourselves in return for free e-mail, social networking and other digital services. And let's remember that third parties -- from government agencies to cyber criminals -- can get their hands on even more personal stuff if they're actively trying.

So, whether it's due to a vague fear of Big Brother or a more specific desire to keep your bank information out of the hands of thieves, you might be considering ways to keep your communication more secure.

"So much that's geo-political, so much cyber crime, so many struggles of various types are being played out in terms of information security today," said Wade Williamson, a senior security analyst at Palo Alto Networks. "It's not just that people decided to get interested in encryption all of a sudden."

Specifically, encryption has come up a lot in recent days. For one, NSA whistleblower (some would say "traitor") Edward Snowden said Mondayin an online question-and-answer session that e-mail encryption is an effective way of foiling government surveillance.

"Encryption works," he wrote. "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."

Encryption is a method of securing your files, including e-mail, by encoding it so that the intended recipient can read it, but anyone who may intercept the message along the way cannot.

An encryption tool turns your original message (called "plaintext") into a garbled mess (or "ciphertext") while it's flying from Point A to Point B. The system gives the approved recipient a decryption tool which makes the text readable once it arrives at its destination.

With all of the renewed interest in online privacy, we talked with Williamson about ways to help keep your data secure -- before, during and after sending it.

 Before

First things first. There are ways to make your contact with every website you visit more secure.

A "secure sockets layer" (SSL) provides a layer of security during everything from Web browsing to text messaging. Many major websites offer the option of using a secure connection all the time. Williamson and other security experts suggest doing this when given the option.

If not -- sometimes it can be as easy as tweaking "http" to "https" in your browser's address bar.

"By and large, you can just throw an 'S' into the URL and go to town," Williamson said.

There are also tools like HTTPS Everywhere, a free extension for Chrome and Firefox browsers, that encrypt your connection with most major websites.

 During

Most major e-mail services, like Outlook and Gmail, offer some form of encryption. Check your e-mail's security settings for options.

But for people who are really worried about their e-mails being intercepted -- and that's always just an unsecured network and an eager hacker away -- Williamson suggests buying encryption software. (Note: His company focuses on network security and does not sell encryption software to individuals).

With many of the systems, customers will get digital "certificates" for themselves called private keys. Everyone with whom they want to share encrypted messages will receive public keys.

Using such a system, only someone with one of a user's public certificates could descramble a message's content.

 After

So, your data may be secure while it's hurtling through cyberspace. But what if somebody breaks into your car, where you stupidly left your laptop, and makes off with it?

That's where disk encryption comes in.

There's some free disk encryption software floating around in the open-source community, but for most folks this, too, will cost some cash.

In effect, disk encryption scrambles everything stored to your computer, requiring a password or other approved recovery tool to decode it. So, if your computer falls into the wrong hands, all won't be lost.

To summarize, there are lots of encryption and other security options out there. Some are quick, easy and free. Others are going to cost money for specialized software, hardware or both.

To find a level of security you're comfortable with, start by poking around with security settings on your browser, e-mail client and favorite websites. Then consider whether you want professional help to get to the next level.

SEE VIDEO from CNN   ... http://youtu.be/omx_yQqTj-g

Source & see Video.... http://worldtruth.tv/how-to-hide-your-data-from-internet-snoops/

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NSA Explain's the Mechanics of US Surveillance - See Charts

In the latest revelations of the NSA leaks scandal, new slides have emerged thoroughly explaining the targeting process of the US government top-secret PRISM program deployed to spy on communication data of targets operating abroad.

The screenshots published by the Washington Post, detail how PRISM tasks are issued by analysts and describes the approval process of an individual requests. To begin with, an NSA analyst "tasks" PRISM to gather information about a surveillance target.  The system then temporarily freezes that request and automatically ask for an approval from a supervisor.  If the superior decides that the request possesses a "reasonable belief" of perceived threat, then PRISM goes to work.

NSA slide published by the Washington Post

In the surveillance process, NSA often obtains its live data from the FBI that retrieves matching information, using government equipment from companies such as Google, Microsoft and Yahoo.

With the participation of those companies, PRISM – and therefore Washington intelligence workers – "incidentally" have access to the bulk of Americans’ email, video and voice chat, videos, photos, voice-over-IP (Skype) chats, file transfers and social networking details.

For stored data, the FBI deploys its own databases that review the selects request, before it is forwarded to the NSA.

Depending on the access to private firm’s information, the NSA begins to monitor  live notifications of the target’s mobile logs. On the April 5 slide some 117,675 users were targeted in PRISM database.

Saturday’s revelations expand the slides that were revealed earlier in June, revealing the existence of the PRISM program, which mines data from the nine leading US Internet companies. Earlier information also revealed the world’s electronic communications flow and Washington’s control over providers.

The NSA venture does not require individual warrants. It is also court approved and is administered through federal judges who rule on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

Source.... http://worldtruth.tv/newly-released-nsa-slides-explain-mechanics-of-us-surveillance/

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European Parliament has Demanded an Explanation over NSA Spying on European Diplomats

The president of the European parliament has demanded an explanation from US authorities over the latest revelation that EU diplomatic missions in Washington, New York and Brussels were under electronic surveillance from the NSA.

“I am deeply worried and shocked about the allegations of US authorities spying on EU offices,” said the President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz. “If the allegations prove to be true, it would be an extremely serious matter which will have a severe impact on EU-US relations.”

“On behalf of the European Parliament, I demand full clarification and require further information speedily from the US authorities with regard to these allegations," he added.

EU commissioner for justice, Viviane Reding, said the Union has contacted the US authorities in Washington and Brussels about a report in Der Spiegel magazine.

"We have immediately been in contact with the US authorities in Washington DC and in Brussels and have confronted them with the press reports," she said in a statement. "They have told us they are checking on the accuracy of the information released yesterday and will come back to us."

"Partners do not spy on each other,” Reding, suggesting that talks for a free trade agreement between the EU and the US should be halted until Washington provides explanations.

"We cannot negotiate over a big transatlantic market if there is the slightest doubt that our partners are carrying out spying activities on the offices of our negotiators,"she said.

Reding’s stance was backed by the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee head, Elmar Brok.

"The spying has taken on dimensions that I would never have thought possible from a democratic state,"he told Der Spiegel. "How should we still negotiate if we must fear that our negotiating position is being listened to beforehand?"

Germany and France want answers
Meanwhile, Germany's justice minister also called for an immediate explanation from the United States saying the news that Washington bugged European Union offices was "reminiscent of the Cold War."

"It must ultimately be immediately and extensively explained by the American side whether media reports about completely disproportionate tapping measures by the US in the EU are accurate or not," Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger said in a statement.

It was also revealed on Sunday that the extent of NSA’s spying on Germany was bigger that previously thought as the US combed through half a billion German phone calls, emails and text messages every month.

France also wants Washington to clarify their intentions after the news that the NSA put EU offices under electronic surveillance.

"France has today asked the American authorities for an explanation," Laurent Fabius, French foreign minister, said in a statement. "These acts, if confirmed, would be completely unacceptable."

"We expect the American authorities to answer the legitimate concerns raised by these press revelations as quickly as possible," he added.

The US has refused to comment publicly on the Der Spiegel story, saying it will discuss EU spying charges through diplomatic channels.

"We will also discuss these issues bilaterally with EU member states," a spokesperson from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said. "While we are not going to comment publicly on specific alleged intelligence activities, as a matter of policy we have made clear that the United States gathers foreign intelligence of the type gathered by all nations."

Der Spiegel, quoting from a September 2010 "top secret" US National Security Agency (NSA) document leaked by former CIA employee Edward Snowden, reported on Saturday the NSA was eavesdropping on the EU’s internal computer networks in Washington, as well as at the 28-member bloc UN office in New York.

The German magazine also reported that five years ago, the NSA also targeted telecommunications at the Justus Lipsius building in Brussels, home to the European Council, where all EU member states have their offices.

Snowden, 30, fled the US for Hong Kong in May, just weeks before The Guardian and Washington Post published details he provided about a top-secret US government surveillance program that accumulated internet and telephone traffic both at home and abroad.

The whistleblower is presently in the transit zone of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport, where it is believed he is attempting to gain political asylum in Ecuador.

Lode Vanoost, former deputy speaker of the Belgian parliament, believes that the main purpose of the US surveillance program was “economic spying” on the EU.

“At the moment, the EU is negotiating a new free trade agreement with the United States,” the former deputy speaker noted. “Well, [now the US can gather] what their opponent is already discussing internally of strategy. That is one of the possibilities.”

Read More.... http://worldtruth.tv/eu-demands-full-clarification-over-nsa-spying-on-european-diplomats/

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US Taps German Phone and Internet Activities a Month by the Billions

( A general view of the large former monitoring base of the U.S. intelligence organization National Security Agency (NSA) in Bad Aibling south of Munich.)

US combs through half a billion of German phone calls, emails and text messages on a monthly basis and has classified its European ally on the same target level as China, a German news magazine revealed.

The NSA document leaked by whistle-blower Edward Snowden and published by Der Spiegel classified Germany as a “third-class” partner, on the same level as China, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, meaning that the US surveillance in Germany was stronger than in any other EU country.

"We can attack the signals of most foreign third-class partners, and we do it too," the document states.

It revealed that NSA monitors phone calls, text messages, emails and Internet chat contributions and has saved the meta-data (connections and not the content) at its headquarters.

NSA snooped through 20-60 million German phone connections and 10 million Internet data sets a day, Der Spiegel claims.

In comparison, US tapped around 2 million connection data a day in France.

The only countries exempt from the surveillance attacks were Canada, Australia, Britain and New Zealand.

Snowden’s documents already revealed that NSA had spied on EU, including Germany, but the extent of surveillance was not known.

Spiegel’s earlier report, which revealed that European citizens, employees of the EU diplomatic missions in Washington and the UN were under electronic surveillance from the NSA, was met with anger from EU policymakers.

Germany demanded an “immediate” US response over bugging allegations, adding that this kind of surveillance was reminiscent of the Cold War.

"It must ultimately be immediately and extensively explained by the American side whether media reports about completely disproportionate tapping measures by the US in the EU are accurate or not," Minister of Justice Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger said in a statement.

The president of the European parliament has also demanded an explanation from US authorities over the latest revelation.

“I am deeply worried and shocked about the allegations of US authorities spying on EU offices,” said Martin Schulz. “If the allegations prove to be true, it would be an extremely serious matter which will have a severe impact on EU-US relations.”

The whistleblower behind the leaked documents, Snowden, has left US for Hong Kong in May and currently remains in the transit area of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport while Ecuador reviews his asylum request.

Read More.... http://worldtruth.tv/us-taps-half-billion-german-phone-and-internet-activities-a-month/

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In the UK, GCHQ is a Greater Problem than American Spies, Claims Intelligence Whistleblower

GCHQ, Britain’s electronic eavesdropping agency, is tapping into vast numbers of emails and internet messages and is “worse” than US spy agencies, a former American intelligence worker has said.

Edward Snowden said Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters had gained access to the network of cables that transmitted international phone and internet traffic.

Mr Snowden, who worked for the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency, has passed a number of documents to the Guardian newspaper in recent weeks. Among those are papers suggesting that GCHQ has programmes named Mastering the Internet and Global Telecoms Exploitation, which are focused on online and telephone communications.

The documents refer to information derived from global communications networks as “special source exploitation”. They are said to show that last year GCHQ handled 600 million “telephone events” each day, had tapped into more than 200 fibre-optic cables and was able to process data from at least 46 of them at any one time.

Mr Snowden, who has accused US intelligence agencies of violating privacy, was quoted as saying: “It’s not just a US problem. The UK has a huge dog in this fight. They [GCHQ] are worse than the US.”

Whitehall sources said that it was “hardly a secret” that GCHQ sought access to electronic communications, since that was “precisely what it is there to do”.

Source... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/10135919/GCHQ-is-a-greater-problem-than-American-spies-claims-intelligence-whistleblower.html

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NSA Surveillance: Firefox "plug-in" Warns Users

The government is likely logging even the most mundane day-to-day computer habits of millions of Americans, but there’s a way to stand up against surveillance while also rocking out.

According to leaked NSA documents published by The Guardian last week, the United States National Security Agency is conducting dragnet surveillance of the communications of Americans, regularly receiving phone records for millions of Verizon customers while also being capable of accessing the conversations that occur over Facebook, Google and several other major Internet names through a program called PRISM. Now a 28-year-old artist and developer from Brooklyn, New York has found a fun way of warning computer users about potential government surveillance, and he’s incorporated one of the best-selling rock albums ever in the process.

Justin Blinder released a plugin for the Web browser Firefox this week, and he’s already seeing a positive response in the press if not just based off of the idea alone. His “The Dark Side of the Prism” browser extension alerts Web surfers of possible surveillance by starting up a different song from Pink Floyd’s 1973 classic “The Dark Side of the Moon” each time a questionable site is crossed.

Blinder told the Guardian that he built the program over the course of four hours with the hopes he could "create some sort of ambient notification that you are on a site that is being surveiled by the NSA."

"I was really interested in the fact that, although the PRISM leaks were a shock to many of us, we pretty much already kind of know we're being surveiled a lot of the time and giving away so much data," he said.

Upon news of the phone tracking program, even members of Congress said they couldn’t get over how much information was being shared between the telecoms and the government. Walking out of a briefing this Wednesday, Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-California) said, "What we learned in there is significantly more than what is out in the media today,” and described her reaction as “astounded.” Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) said the program “represents an outrageous abuse of power and a violation of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution,” and the American Civil Liberties Union has sued the government with a similar complaint filed in federal court.

Separate from leaking a document about the NSA’s access to phone records, former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden also gave The Guardian evidence of Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Yahoo, AOL and others sharing private communications of customers with the government. When “The Dark Side of the Prism” is installed, users of those sites will be reminded with one of the most iconic albums of the twentieth century.

"I just Googled 'Prism' and the cover came up," Blinder said. It just so happened that the long-time best-seller also fits the mood for exactly what the programmer was looking for.

"I didn’t want it to be too jarring because a lot of us seem to be giving in to being surveiled on a daily basis. I feel like people already know that. I didn't want it to be alarming,” he said.

“The Dark Side of the Moon” was Pink Floyd’s eighth studio album and most commercially successfully, selling roughly 50 million copies and landing on the Billboard charts for 741 consecutive weeks. Surveillance, on the other hand, isn’t quite as popular: according to a Post/Washington Post poll released this week, 52 percent of Americans oppose the PRISM program.

With regards to Snowden, the American public is largely polarized on the issue. He’s been labeled as both a traitor and whistleblower and is currently the target of a Department of Justice investigation.

“He’s not a whistleblower, by the way, because a whistleblower actually wants the rule of law to be enforced,” Jeremy Bash, the former chief of staff for then-CIA Director Leon Panetta, told Politics Confidential this week. “He copied documents and he made a run for it. He may be actually aiding our enemies.”

On his part, Snowden said he leaked the documents because, “I can't in good conscience allow the US government to destroy privacy, Internet freedom and basic liberties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine they're secretly building.”

Earlier this year, Pink Floyd lyricist Roger Waters lent his support to Army Private first class Bradley Manning, who is currently on trial for the largest intelligence leak in US history.

Read More... http://worldtruth.tv/firefox-plug-in-warns-users-of-nsa-surveillance/

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Missing in Hong Kong - Edward Snowden Biggest Leak in Modern USA History

Edward Snowden quit his £130k a year job at America's National Security Agency after claiming he could not stand by and watch the civil liberties of millions of people be eroded.

The 29-year-old former CIA technical director has since been holed up in a plush hotel in Hong Kong.

But he is understood to have checked out yesterday and his whereabouts are now not known, although he is still thought to be in Chinese territory.

Snowden was said to have been so paranoid about security he lines the doors of his hotel room to prevent eavesdropping and covers his head and laptop with a large red hood to prevent passwords being copied by secret cameras.

The computer course drop-out joined the US Army in 2003 and began an intense special forces training programme. He was discharged after breaking both legs in an accident.

He then got his first job in the NSA, working as a guard before transferring to the CIA, where he was involved in IT security.

Despite having few qualifications, he worked his way up the ladder and was transferred to Geneva, where he had clearance to access classified documents.

He said it was that experience which led him to question America's role in top-secret operations.

In an interview Snowden said: "The sense of outrage is justified. The only thing I fear is the harmful effects on my family, who I won't be able to help any more. That's what keeps me up at night."


http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/edward-snowden-whistleblower-responsible-biggest-1944928#ixzz2W1DEf3Hf

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Spying Not the Government for Brent Scott - it's the Internet Search Giant Google - Nationwide Lawsuit

Brent Scott said his email is being spied upon, but the culprit isn't the government -- it's the internet search giant Google. Scott is part of a nationwide lawsuit that charges Google with the "unlawful interception" of his personal emails.

"I just started thinking about the personal emails ... I guess not what they can use them for, but what they read, which was strictly for the receiver's eyes only. So my heart sunk," Scott said.

For years, Google's computers have scanned the content of millions of Gmails -- Google's popular email service -- in order to figure out what ads the users might respond to. Many users don't realize they've given Google permission to eavesdrop in the agreement that opens their account.

But that means Google is monitoring the emails of almost 50 million Gmail users in America. It's also recording everything you type on the Google search engine and, if you own a smartphone, Google is probably recording where you are. Scott Cleland wrote a book critical of Google's unprecedented power.

"Which agency has more personal information about Americans, the NSA or Google?" said Cleland. "Google, without a question."

Cleland said the comparison is "not even close."

"The National Security Agency is focused by law, outside of the U.S. If an American knew that literally someone knew every place they went, everybody they were talking to, where, when, and however, they would freak out."

Google is not unique in the quest for personal information. Facebook has been accused in several lawsuits after users complained Facebook was tracking them everywhere else they visited on the internet. The computers at Amazon.com record not just everything you purchase, but everything you shop for -- to analyze what you might want next.

Google would not comment on the lawsuit Brent Scott has joined but said in a statement that Gmails are only tracked by computer software.

Read More... http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57588833/google-surveillance-far-surpasses-the-nsa-author-says/

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Activist's are Filing lawsuits Over NSA Surveillance

A conservative activist has filed a lawsuit against U.S. President Barack Obama, the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. National Security Agency after news reports that the NSA has been collecting the phone records of a large number of Verizon Communications customers.

A British newspaper ,the Guardian, reported Wednesday that the NSA, with authorization from the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, has been collecting the phone records of a large number of Verizon customers.

On Thursday, the Guardian and the Washington Post reported that the NSA and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation also have access to servers at Google, Facebook, Microsoft and other major providers of Internet services, collecting audio, video, email and other content for surveillance. Some of the companies denied that the NSA and FBI have access to their servers.

Larry Klayman, the founder of watchdog websites Judicial Watch and Freedom Watch and a former DOJ prosecutor, filed the lawsuit Friday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, he said in a statement on the Freedom Watch site.

Also named as defendants in the lawsuit are U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, NSA Director Keith Alexander, Verizon, and Roger Vinson, the judge who signed the order allowing the surveillance.

Reasons for the the lawsuits....
“Here, there is no doubt that this massive illegal seizure had to be authorized and approved at the highest levels of the executive branch, which necessarily leads to the president, attorney general, and the director of the NSA,” Klayman said on the website. “These violations of free speech, prohibitions against unreasonable search and seizure, and due process rights are unprecedented in American history.”


The surveillance violates the First, Fourth, and Fifth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, Klayman alleged.

The programs raise questions about the independence of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which approved the collection of phone records, he added.

“It would appear that Obama and his government yes men know no constitutional bounds, and the courts are no longer independent such that they will protect American citizens from this tyranny,” Klayman said.

Presidents Responce...
Obama said he welcomes a national debate about NSA eavesdropping. The U.S. needs to “strike a balance” between privacy and security, he said. “I think it’s important that the American people understand that there are some tradeoffs involved,” he said.

Read More.... http://techupdates.com/go/462555#

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