Source of NSA Surveillance Leaks Reveals Himself

Citing reasons akin to those that Bradley Manning has said motivated his leaking of information on U.S. military atrocities and other wrongdoings, the source of the leaks revealing the extent of domestic spying against American citizens has said that he was motivated by "the systematic surveillance of innocent citizens."  Personally, I find the level of spying on innocent Americans frightening and reminiscent of what one would expect under Nazi Germany, the former Soviet Union or today's Chinese regime.  There seem to be few if any restraints on the government's spying and the question becomes that of who decides what's enough to trigger having one swept up into the system as a "treat" merely because of one's views?   Here are excerpts from the Washington Post story:

A 29-year-old man who says he is a former undercover CIA employee said Sunday that he was the principal source of recent disclosures about ­top-secret National Security Agency programs, exposing himself to possible prosecution in an acknowledgment that had little if any precedent in the long history of U.S. intelligence leaks.

Edward Snowden, a tech specialist who has contracted for the NSA and works for the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, unmasked himself as a source after a string of stories in The Washington Post and the Guardian that detailed previously unknown U.S. surveillance programs. He said he disclosed secret documents in response to what he described as the systematic surveillance of innocent citizens.

“I’m not going to hide,” Snowden told The Post from Hong Kong, where he has been staying. “Allowing the U.S. government to intimidate its people with threats of retaliation for revealing wrongdoing is contrary to the public interest.”

Asked whether he believes that his disclosures will change anything, he said: “I think they already have. Everyone everywhere now understands how bad things have gotten — and they’re talking about it. They have the power to decide for themselves whether they are willing to sacrifice their privacy to the surveillance state.”

Snowden said nobody had been aware of his actions, including those closest to him. He said there was no single event that spurred his decision to leak the information, but he said President Obama has failed to live up to his pledges of transparency.

“My sole motive is to inform the public as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them,” he said in a note that accompanied the first document he leaked to The Post.

In a brief statement, a spokesman for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said the intelligence community is “reviewing the damage” the leaks have done.

 

Snowden said he is seeking “asylum from any countries that believe in free speech and oppose the victimization of global privacy,” but the law appears to provide for his extradition from Hong Kong, a semiautonomous territory of China, to the United States.  Although any extradition proceeding could take months or even years, experts said Snowden has not put himself in a favorable position.

The debate and turmoil will continue to rage but the question remains how much freedom and privacy are Americans willing to surrender so that government bureaucrats can decide what keeps us "safe."

Child Porn Found on 20,000 Computers in Virginia

This article from the Fairfax Times (http://www.fairfaxtimes.com/news/2008/feb/26/child-porn-found-20000-computers-virginia/) is a bit frightening for several reasons. The first is the fact that there are probably at least 20,000 pedophiles in Virginia who may at some point act on their sick urges (when my children were younger, I always thought I'd kill any adult who ever molested my kids). The second is that given the lawless regime of the Chimperator when it comes to spying on citizens, who is to say that evidence could not be planted on a computer of those deemed "enemies." If the authorities can secretly download information from a computer, it would seem just as easy to place illegal materials on one. Perhaps Virginia's legislators should spend less time pushing an anti-gay agenda and more time going after child molesters. On a different note, however, I'd love to know how many of these computers belong to straight married men who go to anti-gay churches and/or who are Republicans and/or are Baptist clergymen. Here are some highlights:

Using a national online system that enables them to remotely download incriminating images directly from a suspect's computer, members of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force have identified nearly 20,000 computer hard drives in Virginia that they say contain hardcore child pornography. Virginia Del. Brian Moran (D-Alexandria) reported last week that the Town of Herndon ranked number four in overall Virginia localities behind only Virginia Beach, Norfolk and Richmond in the number of computers known to possess child pornography statewide.

Jesse Ferguson, legislative aide for Moran, said that by using the nationwide software system, child pornography can easily be downloaded from the computer hard drives of individuals who utilize peer-to-peer file-sharing networks such as Napster or Limewire. Investigators initiate downloads and then identify Internet protocol (IP) addresses. Law enforcement officials can then obtain physical addresses from Internet service providers.

When all the evidence has been collected and reviewed, and a physical address has been identified, local authorities can then decide to apply for a search warrant to search the property in question and seize the offending computer. "Approximately 30 percent of people who possess child pornography also victimize children," said Moran's office, citing a statistic from the U.S. Department of Justice.