Difference between revisions of "Edward Snowden Affair"
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− | As of November 2015, no one is known to have been subject to legal sanction as a result of Snowden's revelations. Instead, initial indignation and shock has been replaced by acquiescence to [[ | + | Edward Snowden's actions appear not to have slowed the uncontrolled use of [[mass surveillance]], which appears to be subject only to technical rather than legal or other restrictions. As of November 2015, no one is known to have been subject to legal sanction as a result of Snowden's revelations. Instead, initial indignation and shock has been replaced by self-censorship and acquiescence to mass surveillance by [[intelligence agencies]] for non-transparent purposes. |
===UK=== | ===UK=== |
Revision as of 14:54, 20 November 2015
Date | June 5, 2013 - Present |
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The Edward Snowden Affair concerns the exfiltration by Edward Snowden of cache of classified NSA documents, followed by publication of a small fraction of them in the commercially-controlled media. The documents themselves reveal details of illegal mass surveillance by the NSA and its UK equivalent GCHQ.
The affair began with Edward Snowden presenting himself as an NSA whistleblower after fleeing to Hong Kong and subsequently to Moscow. His revelations, although initially not substantially different from other whistleblowers such as Thomas Drake, Mark Klein, or Russell Tice (which were more or less ignored by commercially-controlled media) were reported worldwide. He reportedly copied many tens of thousands of documents, of which less than 1% had been released by December 2013.
Contents
Edward Snowden
- Full article: Edward Snowden
- Full article: Edward Snowden
Edward Snowden came to prominence in 2013 when he featured in a video explaining his motives for leaking NSA documents. At the time he was in Hong Kong, having travelled there from Hawaii. Later he flew to Moscow, reportedly on his way elsewhere. He was granted a one year temporary stay in Russia. The US government is seeking to try him under the Espionage Act.
Other Key Figures
Glenn Greenwald
- Full article: Glenn Greenwald
- Full article: Glenn Greenwald
Edward Snowden reportedly contacted Glenn Greenwald and negotiated access to some (or all?) of Snowden's documents. He subsequently secured a multi-million publication deal for some of them. He is not wanted by US government.
Pierre Omidyar
- Full article: Pierre Omidyar
- Full article: Pierre Omidyar
Pierre Omidyar of eBay agreed to finance (to the tune of $250M) a new publishing venture fronted by Greenwald and involving, among others, Laura Poitras and Jeremy Scahill of Zero Dark Thirty fame. The Greenwald/Poitras claimed access to the entire document cache was self-evidently a major consideration in this deal.
Laura Poitras
- Full article: Laura Poitras
- Full article: Laura Poitras
Interpretations
The official narrative that Snowden is, as he claims to be, a whistleblower altruistically exposing NSA mass surveillance has aroused suspicion in some quarters, and been interpreted as subterfuge. Snowden's implausible career progressions have struck several commentators as support the claim that he may in fact never have stopped working for the intelligence agencies. Tom Secker has observed that his C.V. has some parallels with that of Lee Harvey Oswald.[1] Various, not-mutually exclusive, interpretations exist.
Controlled information
Wikispooks user and deep politics researcher Joël van der Reijden writes that "I support his disclosures... [but] nothing is certain, but one sure gets the impression that someone is trying to control the flow of newly-released information. There are massive conflicts of interest here, with newspapers around the world ignoring them." He also provides a useful short summary of Snowden's disclosures at his ISGP website.[2]
Promoting fear
Webster Tarpley characterises the affair as a limited hangout to promote fear and hence self-censorship by the population at large. One of his major arguments concerns the widespread publicity given to Snowden's revelations by the commercially-controlled media, as opposed to their very limited interest in other such whistleblowers.
Diversion
Tom Secker suggests that the Snowden affair may have been designed to divert attention away from real whistleblowers, or to lull people into a reliance on the controlled media to inform them about such events and thus lessening the trend away from them to independent, internet-based news providers.[1]
"Turf war"
Jon Rappoport has suggested that this is a "turf war" between the NSA and CIA.[3]
Consequences
Edward Snowden's actions appear not to have slowed the uncontrolled use of mass surveillance, which appears to be subject only to technical rather than legal or other restrictions. As of November 2015, no one is known to have been subject to legal sanction as a result of Snowden's revelations. Instead, initial indignation and shock has been replaced by self-censorship and acquiescence to mass surveillance by intelligence agencies for non-transparent purposes.
UK
In November 2015, the UK Home Secretary, Theresa May moved to explicitly legalise the mass surveillance exposed by Snowden and also to mandate that ISPs assist it by requiring them to keep logs, for example, the addresses of all web pages visited by their customers in the last 12 months.[4]
Worldwide
Mistrust of government has grown since Snowden's revelations.[5] Interest in (and suspicion of) encryption software has been increased by Snowden's revelations.
Related Documents
Title | Type | Publication date | Author(s) | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|
Document:Checkbook Journalism & Leaking to the Highest Bidders | article | 8 December 2013 | Sibel Edmonds | A hard-hitting article on the Edward Snowden affair. Its author speaks with considerable authority on matters concerning intel/security whistle-blowing matters in the USA |
Document:Green-Light for Greenwald: Government Duplicity or Government Duality? | article | 14 December 2013 | Sibel Edmonds | Sibel Edmonds illustrates the importance of behaviour patterns in divining the underlying relationships between State approved institutions and those claiming Whistleblower status or speaking on behalf of Whistleblowers. She poses some serious questions that require answers from both Edwar Snowden and Glenn Greenwald |
Document:Greenwald-Omidyar Joint Venture: The Blurring Lines Between Being A Source & Being A Journalist | article | 13 December 2013 | Sibel Edmonds | |
Document:How to identify CIA limited hangout operation | article | 18 June 2013 | Webster Tarpley | Citing the Pentagon Papers as an example, Tarpley suggests that both Wikileaks and the Snowden affair are limited hangout operations by the CIA. |
Document:Mr Snowden, It’s Time to Come Out and Take a Stand Publicly as to Your Intentions | article | 15 December 2013 | Sibel Edmonds | |
Document:Omidyar-Greenwald-Rosen | article | 15 December 2013 | Anonymous | |
Document:Omidyar’s PayPal Corporation Said To Be Implicated in Withheld NSA Documents | article | 11 December 2013 | Sibel Edmonds | |
Document:Pierre Omidyar: giving until it hurts | article | 7 December 2013 | David Carr | "No billionaire media mogul is ever going to be in the service of working people, no matter how much rhetoric about freedom of speech is deployed in the promotion of his or her product..." |
Document:Saving Agent Snowden From His Handlers Greenwald & Omidyar | article | 24 October 2013 | Yoichi Shimatsu | A long article on the Edward Sowden affair and the proposed 'alternative news' and whistleblowing-transparency initiative recently announced by Glenn Greenwald of Edward Snowden and Wikileaks revelations fame. It also contains plausible information about SIS involvement during the flight of Edward Snowden to Moscow via Hong Kong. |
Document:Selling Secrets? | article | 1 December 2013 | Glenn Greenwald | Glenn Greenwald's personal apologia - cum - mia-culpa. Written in response to devastating criticism of his motives and actions in the Edward Snowden affair to date. |
Document:Snowden Civil War | article | 5 December 2013 | John Young | A pithy and on-the-button forecast from John Young about the how the Edward Snowden affair will likely pan out: if the NSA does not yet have effective control of the Snowden leaks, then they are going to make sure that those that have not been published already (i.e. >99% of Snowden's cache) never see the light of day. This is authoritative stuff from a seasoned professional. |
Document:The Doomsday Insurance Cache That Was, and Then Never Was | article | 3 January 2014 | Sibel Edmonds | Part 1 of a promised series of articles dissecting the published statements of the principal characters in what has become known as the Edward Snowden Affair. It highlights some glaring inconsistencies between those of Greenwald and Snowden and puts a shrewd question-mark over corporate media coverage of them. |
References
- ↑ a b http://www.spyculture.com/clandestime-episode-014-is-edward-snowden-a-false-flag/
- ↑ http://www.isgp.nl/faq#snow
- ↑ http://www.naturalnews.com/043825_Edward_Snowden_NSA_CIA.html
- ↑ http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/04/investigatory-powers-bill-the-key-points
- ↑ http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/01/20/distrust-in-government-growing/4655111/
External Links
- Espionage Whistleblower Edward Snowden to Seek Asylum in Brazil - Folha de S Paulo 17 December 2013
- An open letter to the people of Brazil - Folha de S Paulo 16 December 2013
- Hugh Kerr speaking to the NUJ on defending Edward Snowden and other journalists exposing state surveillance 11 April 2014