Edward Snowden Opens Twitter Account And Follow NSA

Whistleblower Edward Snowden has opened a Twitter account that he is following one other Twitter account, namely that the US secret service NSA for which he worked. The first tweet Snowden "Can you hear me now" was about 94 000 times retweeted.

In the 16 hours since Snowden his accountsnowden opened he got 893 000 followers. It is a by Twitter verified account, there is no question of a hoax. In the first few tweets communicates Snowden especially with astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson. Recently published the whistleblower Star Talk, the radio show DeGrasse Tyson. Snowden is still in Russia, which granted him asylum in 2013, after he had fled from the United States with a large amount of confidential documents from the NSA.

Stop Using NSA Collected Phone Records

US intelligence NSA will stop on November 29 with the use of the telephone data collected in recent years through mass surveillance in the United States. Just recently, the US Senate Section 215 of the Patriot Act not to renew . Through this legislation, the NSA was authorized to store massive call data of American citizens and preserve.

In a statement, the Director of National Intelligence now announced that data from November 29 will no longer be used.However, technical staff of the NSA will have three months long to access the data. This would be necessary in order of data which may be collected to verify the new USA under Freedom legislation.

In addition, the NSA would be legally bound to keep the bulk of the collected telephone records, until civil proceedings are related to the eavesdropping program completed or that the court states that the NSA's data no longer need to keep.According to the NSA Data is maintained only because of the civil proceedings and will not be used for other purposes. The data will eventually be destroyed, so the Secret Service says.

Julian Assange: Google Does To "Voluntary" Mass Surveillance

Google collects less information than the US National Security Agency, yet the way the software giant stores data and silvers as "voluntary" mass surveillance and "surveillance-capitalism" to describe, says WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange facing Der Spiegel .

According Assange is about one person of little worth, but have the data of one billion strategic value, similar to an oil pipeline. The large amounts of information collected are then used through a new economic model, called "surveillance capitalism," says the WikiLeaks founder.

Google also likes to give itself with "voluntary" mass surveillance through things at first glance away for free. Not only does this much information, it also changes the perception of users. By giving away services it seems that they are not a business, says Assange. "As companies do not have free things. They therefore seem wrongly to be a part of civil society."

Culture

The impact of Google goes beyond just collecting data about users, they affect those too. "They export a specific mindset of culture. You can visit the old term of" cultural imperialism "use, or the "Disneylandization "call of the Internet. Or maybe" digital colonisation "a better term," warns the WikiLeaks founder.

Companies like Google set as Assange new social rules about what activities are allowed and which information can be exchanged, or even how much of it a nipple may be displayed. Normally this would be part of the public debate and even policy makers. "But as soon as something is sufficiently controversial these organizations prohibit it. Even if it's not as controversial, but it affects their interests, then it is banned or partially prohibit

NSA Began Phasing Eavesdroppers

The US National Security Agency began to phase out the eavesdropping program that collected the phone records of US citizens and stored, now the Senate no agreement has been reached on an extension of the program, reports the Associated Press .

On June 1 expires section 215 of the Patriot Act, which allows intelligence services may collect phone records of Americans.Investigation FBI also uses this section, only to collect financial and other information in national security cases. As a solution was devised a new proposal, the USA Freedom Act.

This proposal would end the massive storage of telephone data, but would allow the NSA to the data store by searching telecom providers by case. However, the proposal fell short of three votes, since the Republicans voted against it. Because the outcome is the NSA now started to reduce the search of domestic telephone data. On May 31, the Senate comes back together for one last rescue attempt.

British Government Gives Secret Service Hacking Powers

The British government has quietly changed the law so that the intelligence agency GCHQ can not be indicted for hacking. That leaves privacy organization Privacy International know. The organization was told this is a day for a hearing on the illegal hacking practices of GCHQ.

On March 3, there appears to be a change in the law to be implemented which intelligence can not be prosecuted for illegal hacking operations. In early May last year had Privacy International along with seven Internet providers, including tabled the Dutch Green Host a complaint against the GCHQ. The hacking practices of the intelligence service would be incompatible with the British computer law, which prohibits hacking. There would also be no legal authority to approve the hacking practices of GCHQ well.

In June last year the British government quietly introduced legislation that intelligence can not be held liable for hacking. This, according to Privacy International does not just affect the charges, but offers British investigators even the ability to carry out cyber attacks within Britain. The accompanying text would also not mentioned the impact of the adjustment. It would also regulators and other parties about the amendment have been informed or consulted. The bill was finally adopted on 3 March this year and has been in effect since May 3.

Privacy International notes that it is not the first time that the British government because of the indictment carries quietly amendments to the law. Thus was prepared in February for a "Code of Practice" which British intelligence gives the power to hack into goals, even though they are not a threat to national security or are not suspected of a crime.

"The underhand and undemocratic way in which the government hacking operations GCHQ attempts to legalize is outrageous," said Eric King, deputy director of Privacy International. He notes that hacking one of the most penetrating surveillance capabilities, and its use must be surrounded by all sorts of guarantees.

Snowden Interviewed On Leaked Documents And Nude Selfies

HBO comedian John Oliver had this week for his Tonight Show Last week a special guest, namely Edward Snowden. Oliver had an extensive interview with the whistleblower, who still lives in Russia. The questions that were asked ranged from serious to light.

So Oliver wanted to know if Snowden had read all the leaked files. Then the whistleblower said that he had evaluated all."There is a difference between understanding what is in the documents state, and reading it," replied Oliver. "I understand the concerns," Snowden said. Later in the interview was about intercepting nude selfies by the NSA. Something that still takes place according to Snowden. The interview with Oliver is now on YouTube and viewed more than 2.6 million times.

GnuPG Developer Receives 130,000 Euros After Cry

The developer of the Gnu Privacy Guard (GnuPG), very popular software for encrypting e-mail, has received 130,000 euros in donations after a cry that he would go bankrupt. Werner Koch GnuPG developed in 1997. It is a free implementation of the OpenPGP standard that is used for encryption of the data and communication. Since launching Koch maintains software.

Yesterday appeared in ProPublica an interview with the 53-year-old German, who argued that his money was slowly running out. "It was in early 2013 that I realized I had to take a normal job," Koch said earlier already know. When the revelations of whistleblower Edward Snowden appeared in his own words, he realized that it was not the right time to stop.

Despite all the attention for encryption and secure e-mail traffic Koch was struggling to find enough money. Among others to realize his dream, hiring a full-time programmer. The German would have about $ 25,000 earned annually since 2001. Much less than he could earn in a company.

So he decided after the revelations Snowden start a fundraiser, where T-shirts and stickers could be purchased. It eventually yielded 18,000 euros. The campaign gave Koch, who is married and has a daughter of 8, some space. When asked what would happen if this amount was the programmer said that he would rather not think about it. "I am happy that for the next three months, money is," he says.

After the article appeared in ProPublica told the GnuPG developer that last week he had received a one-time scholarship of $ 60,000 from the Linux Foundation's Core Infrastructure Initiative. However, he could announce until after publication of the article the donation. In addition, the article missed its effect is not. In 2011, the German programmer 21 donations with a net worth of 465 euros.

A year later, there were 53 and went to nearly 5,000. In 2013, he received more donations, namely 148, but the donations were lower which he played at Euro 4145. In 2014, the situation improved with 801 donations, with a gross value of 35,000 euros. This year, Koch after the article all 3849 donations worth some 130,000 euros received.