The Guardian: world: The NSA-files http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.info?_id=a5230665c95f86322ef5518a4085b2f9 Thu, 01 Oct 2015 22:43:48 +0000 http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/ http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/sep/23/us-intelligence-services-surveillance-privacy <p>Changes may be required after European court advocate general accuses US intelligence services of ‘mass, indiscriminate surveillance’</p><p>European companies may have to review their widespread practice of storing digital data with US internet companies after a court accused America’s intelligence services of conducting “mass, indiscriminate surveillance”.</p><p>The <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&amp;docid=168421&amp;pageIndex=0&amp;doclang=EN&amp;mode=req&amp;dir=&amp;occ=first&amp;part=1&amp;cid=330213">influential opinion</a> by the European court of justice’s advocate general, Yves Bot, yet to be confirmed by the Luxembourg court as final, is a significant development in the battle over online privacy. The court normally follows the advocate general’s opinion; ECJ judgments are binding on EU countries. <br /></p> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/sep/23/us-intelligence-services-surveillance-privacy">Continue reading...</a> http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/sep/23/us-intelligence-services-surveillance-privacy Wed, 23 Sep 2015 13:48:16 +0000 Photograph: Dado Ruvic/REUTERS http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/sep/17/the-guardian-view-on-counter-terrorism-legislation-too-important-to-rush With radio interviews and meetings with the data companies, the government is trying to force the pace on new laws<p>Andrew Parker became the first ever MI5 boss to give a live interview this morning, choosing the Today programme to emphasise the importance of being able to collect and monitor electronic activity. On Tuesday, internet and social media bosses were invited&nbsp;for a chat with the home secretary, and now there are reports of a new counter-terrorism bill coming before parliament within weeks. Something is clearly up: it seems the snooper’s charter, the bill that refuses to die, is back on the agenda of a government that expected to have its ambitions curtailed by&nbsp;coalition, and now finds itself unbound – or at least bound only&nbsp;by the slender size of&nbsp;its majority.</p><p>The demand for legislation to extend the gathering and retention of meta-data from telecommunications, the internet and social media has recurred almost annually since 2008. To question it is not to underestimate the security threat that the UK faces. That is unquestionably serious: according to Mr Parker, six attempts have been foiled in the past 12 months, the highest number in his long career. But, as David Anderson, the watchdog on terrorism laws, said in his important report <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://terrorismlegislationreviewer.independent.gov.uk/a-question-of-trust-report-of-the-investigatory-powers-review/#more-2364" title="">A question of trust</a> last June, the law as it is currently framed is inadequate. It needs a complete overhaul, a&nbsp;view supported only 10 days after the report’s publication when the investigatory powers tribunal upheld a complaint for the first time in its existence, accepting the argument of the human rights organisation <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2015/07/uk-surveillance-tribunal-reveals-the-government-spied-on-amnesty-international/" title="">Amnesty International that GCHQ had been intercepting and monitoring its communications</a> without&nbsp;explicit safeguards.</p> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/sep/17/the-guardian-view-on-counter-terrorism-legislation-too-important-to-rush">Continue reading...</a> http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/sep/17/the-guardian-view-on-counter-terrorism-legislation-too-important-to-rush Thu, 17 Sep 2015 18:29:44 +0000 Photograph: Jeff Overs/BBC/PA http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/sep/05/snowden-criticises-russia-internet-homosexuality <p>The NSA whistleblower, living in ‘exile’ in Russia, calls government fundamentally wrong as he accepts Norwegian prize</p><p>Edward Snowden has criticised Russia for its crackdown on internet freedom and lax attitude to gay rights, despite having been granted asylum by the country.</p><p>The National Security Agency whistleblower described Moscow’s tightening grip over online activities and <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/06/russian-lgbt-activists-describe-victimisation-repression-and-hope">treatment of gay people</a> as “fundamentally wrong”.</p> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/sep/05/snowden-criticises-russia-internet-homosexuality">Continue reading...</a> http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/sep/05/snowden-criticises-russia-internet-homosexuality Sat, 05 Sep 2015 16:52:44 +0000 Photograph: Ntb Scanpix/Reuters http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/aug/29/julian-assange-told-edward-snowdon-not-seek-asylum-in-latin-america <p>WikiLeaks founder says he told the NSA whistleblower he could be kidnapped or killed, and that he was better off sheltering in Russia despite ‘negative PR’</p><p>Julian Assange has said he advised the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden against seeking asylum in Latin America because he could have been kidnapped and possibly killed there.</p><p>The WikiLeaks editor-in-chief said he told Snowden to ignore concerns about the “negative PR consequences” of sheltering in Russia because it was one of the few places in the world where the CIA’s influence did not reach.</p> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/aug/29/julian-assange-told-edward-snowdon-not-seek-asylum-in-latin-america">Continue reading...</a> http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/aug/29/julian-assange-told-edward-snowdon-not-seek-asylum-in-latin-america Sat, 29 Aug 2015 12:50:46 +0000 Photograph: Yui Mok/PA http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/14/uk-surveillance-report-makes-concessions-to-privacy-lobby <p>Report in response to Edward Snowden’s revelations concedes privacy should be a greater concern in data collection and that current laws are outdated</p><p>Privacy campaigners have secured significant concessions in a key report into surveillance by the British security agencies published on Tuesday.</p><p>The 132-page report, <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.rusi.org/ISR-Report">A Democratic Licence To Operate</a>, which Nick Clegg commissioned last year <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/the-nsa-files">in the wake of revelations by the US whistleblower Edward Snowden</a>, acknowledges the importance of privacy concerns.</p> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/14/uk-surveillance-report-makes-concessions-to-privacy-lobby">Continue reading...</a> http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/14/uk-surveillance-report-makes-concessions-to-privacy-lobby Mon, 13 Jul 2015 23:01:10 +0000 Photograph: PA http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/jul/02/wikileaks-us-spied-on-angela-merkels-ministers-too-says-german-newspaper <p>The NSA did not just tap German chancellor Angela Merkel’s phone but also listened in on finance, economy, agriculture and other ministers</p><p> The United States did not just tap chancellor Angela Merkel’s phone but also eavesdropped on several of her ministers, the German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung has reported, citing documents from WikiLeaks.</p><p>German-US relations were badly strained after fugitive US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden in 2013 revealed widespread US foreign surveillance, although a probe into the alleged tapping of Merkel’s mobile phone was dropped in June over a lack of evidence.</p> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/jul/02/wikileaks-us-spied-on-angela-merkels-ministers-too-says-german-newspaper">Continue reading...</a> http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/jul/02/wikileaks-us-spied-on-angela-merkels-ministers-too-says-german-newspaper Thu, 02 Jul 2015 01:23:13 +0000 Photograph: Michael Kappeler/AP Photograph: Michael Kappeler/AP http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jun/30/snowden-first-trailer-for-oliver-stone-movie-joseph-gordon-levitt <p>Teaser trailer for film about the NSA spy scandal starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, arrives, but offers few clues to eventual shape of movie</p><p>The first trailer for Snowden, the Oliver Stone-directed movie <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/series/the-snowden-files">about the NSA leak</a> starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, has been released online. And like Snowden himself, it appears to play its cards close to its chest.</p> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jun/30/snowden-first-trailer-for-oliver-stone-movie-joseph-gordon-levitt">Continue reading...</a> http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jun/30/snowden-first-trailer-for-oliver-stone-movie-joseph-gordon-levitt Tue, 30 Jun 2015 17:07:24 +0000 Photograph: Barton Gellman/Getty Images Photograph: Barton Gellman/Getty Images http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/14/edward-snowden-hero-government-scare-tactics <p>The government, claiming Snowden has ‘blood on his hands’, is using scare tactics to shut down debate. It is a technique Liberty has felt the full force of</p><p>Who needs the movies when life is full of such spectacular coincidences? On Thursday, David Anderson, the government’s reviewer of terrorism legislation, <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/13/david-anderson-qc-investigatory-powers-report-gchq-undemocratic">condemned snooping laws as “undemocratic, unnecessary and – in the long run – intolerable”</a>, and called for a comprehensive new law incorporating judicial warrants – something for which my organisation, <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk">Liberty</a>, has campaigned for many years. This thoughtful intervention brought new hope to us and others, for the rebuilding of public trust in surveillance conducted with respect for privacy, democracy and the law. And it was only possible thanks to <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/14/russia-and-china-broke-into-snowden-files-to-identify-british-and-us-spies">Edward Snowden</a>. Rumblings from No 10 immediately betrayed they were less than happy with many of Anderson’s recommendations – particularly his call for judicial oversight. And three days later, the empire strikes back! An exclusive story in the Sunday Times saying that <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/14/russia-and-china-broke-into-snowden-files-to-identify-british-and-us-spies">MI6 “is believed” to have pulled out spies because Russia and China decoded Snowden’s files</a>. The NSA whistleblower is now a man with “blood on his hands” according to one anonymous “senior Home Office official”.</p><p>Low on facts, high on assertions, this flimsy but impeccably timed story gives us a clear idea of where government spin will go in the coming weeks. It uses scare tactics to steer the debate away from Anderson’s considered recommendations – and starts setting the stage for the home secretary’s new investigatory powers bill. In his report, Anderson clearly states no operational case had yet been made for the snooper’s charter. So it is easy to see why the government isn’t keen on people paying too close attention to it.</p> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/14/edward-snowden-hero-government-scare-tactics">Continue reading...</a> http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/14/edward-snowden-hero-government-scare-tactics Sun, 14 Jun 2015 18:51:36 +0000 Photograph: Miguel Juarez Lugo/ZUMA Press/Corbis Photograph: Miguel Juarez Lugo/ZUMA Press/Corbis http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/14/russia-and-china-broke-into-snowden-files-to-identify-british-and-us-spies <p>Sunday Times says Downing Street believes Russia and China have hacked into American whistleblower’s files, endangering US and British agents</p><p>Downing Street and the Home Office are being challenged to answer in public claims that Russia and China have broken into the secret cache of Edward Snowden files and that British agents have had to be withdrawn from live operations as a consequence.<br /></p><p>The reports first appeared in the Sunday Times, which quoted anonymous senior officials in No 10, the Home Office and security services. The BBC also quoted an anonymous senior government source, who said agents had to be moved because Moscow gained access to classified information that reveals how they operate.</p> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/14/russia-and-china-broke-into-snowden-files-to-identify-british-and-us-spies">Continue reading...</a> http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/14/russia-and-china-broke-into-snowden-files-to-identify-british-and-us-spies Sun, 14 Jun 2015 15:58:27 +0000 Photograph: Itar-Tass/Barcroft Media Photograph: Itar-Tass/Barcroft Media http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/13/david-anderson-qc-investigatory-powers-report-gchq-undemocratic Britons are remarkably unconcerned about phone hacking and GCHQ snooping. Could a new report on our intelligence agencies result in greater accountability?<p>The political theorist David Runciman has a nice way of analysing <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.ippr.org/juncture/the-crisis-of-british-democracy-back-to-the-70s-or-stuck-in-the-present">the controversies that regularly blow up in liberal democracies</a>. He divides them into two categories: scandals and crises. Scandals arise all the time in democracies. They generate much heat but little light. And in the end they pass, like ripples of breeze through a ripe cornfield, having made relatively little impact on the body politic. Crises, in contrast, are rarer, and much more important; not only do they generate much heat, but in the end they lead to serious political change.</p><p>When the phone-hacking story broke in 2011 many observers thought it was a crisis: all that fuss; closure of the <em>News of the World</em>; journalists in the dock; massive legal cases; Murdoch not only denying control of Sky but apparently on the ropes; David Cameron’s toxic mateyness with Rebekah Brooks, not to mention his employment of Andy Coulson; and then the full panoply of the <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/leveson-inquiry">Leveson inquiry </a>with its associated QCs, all with meters running at public expense.</p> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/13/david-anderson-qc-investigatory-powers-report-gchq-undemocratic">Continue reading...</a> http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/13/david-anderson-qc-investigatory-powers-report-gchq-undemocratic Sat, 13 Jun 2015 18:00:04 +0000 Photograph: Itn/Photograph: ITN Photograph: Itn/Photograph: ITN http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/03/america-freedom-act-britain-state-snoopers As the US Congress passes a Freedom Act, the grip of the UK’s securocrats on ministers is clearer than ever<p>The US Congress passed a <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/02/congress-surveillance-reform-edward-snowden" title="">Freedom Act </a>this week, partially curbing its power to harvest bulk data on the lives of America’s citizens. A congressional tussle has been going on between libertarians and securocrats ever since the <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/edward-snowden" title="">Edward Snowden</a> whistleblowing of 2013. That argument, and the act itself, vindicate Snowden’s disclosures, whatever their legality.</p><p>Meanwhile Britain’s government moves relentlessly in the opposite direction. It wants to revive the “snooper’s charter” bill, which failed in the last parliament. Among other things, this would give police and secret services more surveillance powers and, David Cameron hopes, ban server encryption that could impede surveillance.</p> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/03/america-freedom-act-britain-state-snoopers">Continue reading...</a> http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/03/america-freedom-act-britain-state-snoopers Wed, 03 Jun 2015 19:23:35 +0000 Photograph: The Guardian/AFP/Getty Images Photograph: The Guardian/AFP/Getty Images http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/08/edward-snowden-trust-phone-laptop-sim-cards Edward Snowden’s astute revelations show that no electronic communications device – from hard disks to sim cards – is trustworthy<p>Back in July 2013, a few weeks after <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/mar/04/edward-snowden-what-would-happen-if-he-went-home-pardon-or-prison" title="">Edward Snowden</a>’s revelations about internet and mobile-phone surveillance began, I wrote a column that began: “<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/jul/28/edward-snowden-death-of-internet" title="">Repeat after me: Edward Snowden is not the story</a>. The&nbsp;story is what he has revealed about&nbsp;the hidden wiring of our networked world.”</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/jul/28/edward-snowden-death-of-internet">Edward Snowden's not the story. The fate of the internet is</a> </p> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/08/edward-snowden-trust-phone-laptop-sim-cards">Continue reading...</a> http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/08/edward-snowden-trust-phone-laptop-sim-cards Sun, 08 Mar 2015 07:00:12 +0000 Photograph: /Corbis Photograph: /Corbis http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/19/edward-snowden-case-amnesty <p>The justice system would never allow Snowden to present a real defense at trial. That's just one reason to give him amnesty</p><p>The Guardian's <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2014/jul/17/edward-snowden-video-interview">riveting video interview</a> with Edward Snowden this week ended with one of the biggest unresolved question in the debate over Snowden's decision to leak classified information about the NSA to journalists more than a year ago: what will happen if and when he can ultimately return to the United States? </p><p><strong>Alan Rusbridger:</strong> Are you confident that if you went back to the US and were tried in front of a jury of your peers that you would be acquitted?</p><p><strong>Edward Snowden:</strong> I think it would be very difficult to find any 12 Americans in the United States right now who would uniformly agree that the last year's revelations about the NSA's unconstitutional surveillance programs did not serve the public interest.</p> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/19/edward-snowden-case-amnesty">Continue reading...</a> http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/19/edward-snowden-case-amnesty Sat, 19 Jul 2014 11:30:11 +0000 Photograph: The Guardian Photograph: The Guardian http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/18/guardian-view-edward-snowden-challenges-society Britain needs much more than 'puncture repair kit' legislation if we are to tackle the growing imbalance between the security state and the state<br /><br /><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/18/-sp-edward-snowden-interview-rusbridger-macaskill">I, spy: Edward Snowden in exile</a><p>Love or revile him, Edward Snowden has <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/17/edward-snowden-professionals-encrypt-client-communications-nsa-spy" title="">raised a great number of profoundly important challenges for society</a>. They include disturbing issues to do with legality, privacy, security, oversight, consent, ethics, commerce, innovation, communications, encryption, and international relations. No one sensible thinks these matters are easy to understand, let alone reconcile. But one of the things that marks democracies out from security states is the expectation that elected politicians will debate and, on our behalf, resolve the complex tangle of dilemmas involved in 21st-century surveillance, intelligence and policing.</p><p>Mr Snowden's revelations began over a year ago. For more than three months the British government has known it would want to pass fresh legislation in response to an 8 April European court of justice ruling. In the past 13 months there have been numerous debates and reports within the American Congress or at the prompting of the president himself. The same is true of many European legislatures. From the vast majority of Westminster peers and MPs there has barely been a peep. And then – nine days ago – there came the revelation that the UK government had secretly cooked up &quot;emergency&quot; legislation which was rushed through both houses with unseemly haste and minimal discussion.</p> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/18/guardian-view-edward-snowden-challenges-society">Continue reading...</a> http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/18/guardian-view-edward-snowden-challenges-society Fri, 18 Jul 2014 18:05:43 +0000 Guardian/Guardian Guardian/Guardian http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/20/congress-obama-nsa-reform-obama-senate <p>An overwhelming House vote to cut funds for back doors into your private life sets up a summer surveillance fight: will the Senate stand up before the White House shuts it down?</p><p>• Plus: <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/20/house-bans-nsa-backdoor-search-surveillance">House moves to ban NSA's 'backdoor search' provision</a></p><p>If you got angry last month when the National Security Agency, the White House and Eric Cantor's spy-friendly House of Representatives took a once-promising surveillance reform bill and <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/22/nsa-reform-bill-passed-house-usa-freedom-act-senators-only-hope">turned it into a shit sandwich</a>, I've got some good news for you: so, apparently, did many members of Congress.</p><p>Late Thursday night, in a surprising rebuke to the NSA's lawyers and the White House – after they <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/22/nsa-reform-bill-passed-house-usa-freedom-act-senators-only-hope">co-opted and secretly re-wrote the USA Freedom Act</a> and got it passed – <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/20/house-bans-nsa-backdoor-search-surveillance">an overwhelming majority of the House of Representatives voted</a> to strip the agency of its powers to search Americans' emails without a warrant, to prohibit the NSA or CIA from pressuring tech companies to install so-called &quot;back doors&quot; in their commercial hardware and software, <i>and</i> to bar NSA from sabotaging common encryption standards set by the government.</p> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/20/congress-obama-nsa-reform-obama-senate">Continue reading...</a> http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/20/congress-obama-nsa-reform-obama-senate Fri, 20 Jun 2014 18:16:15 +0000 Photograph: Xinhua /Landov / Barcroft Media/Xinhua /Landov / Barcroft Media Photograph: Xinhua /Landov / Barcroft Media/Xinhua /Landov / Barcroft Media http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/05/edward-snowden-one-year-surveillance-debate-begins-future-privacy <p>The scale of the surveillance industrial complex turned out to be so vast that even the NSA couldn't comprehend all the rules it was breaking. One year later, we can finally examine not just the code-named programs but the future of information itself</p><p>• Trevor Timm: <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/05/what-snowden-revealed-changed-nsa-reform">Why Edward Snowden's fight isn't over yet</a></p><p>• Spencer Ackerman: <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/05/edward-snowden-one-year-nsa-surveillance-reform">How the NSA preserved its power</a></p><p>• Plus: <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jun/05/guardian-launches-securedrop-whistleblowers-documents">Guardian introduces SecureDrop for whistleblowers</a></p><p>America's first real debate about the 21st century surveillance state began one year ago. There had, of course, been no previous shortage of hearings, op-eds and panels mulling the appropriate &quot;balance between privacy and security&quot; in the post-9/11 era. But for the masses who lacked a security clearance, these had the character of a middle school playground conversation about sex – a largely speculative discussion among participants who'd learned a few of the key terms, but with only the vaguest sense of the reality they described. Secrecy meant abstraction, and in a conflict between abstract fears and the all-too-visible horror of a burning skyscraper, there could be little question which would prevail. The panoptic infrastructure of surveillance developed well out of public view.</p><p>A more meaningfully informed public debate finally became possible via a series of unprecedented disclosures about the global surveillance apparatus operated by the National Security Agency – disclosures for which the word &quot;leak&quot; seems almost preposterously inadequate. It was a <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.aclu.org/what-difference-year-makes">torrent of information</a>, and it gave even the most dedicated newshounds a glimmer of what intelligence officials mean when they complain about &quot;drinking from the fire hose&quot; of planet-spanning communications networks.</p> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/05/edward-snowden-one-year-surveillance-debate-begins-future-privacy">Continue reading...</a> http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/05/edward-snowden-one-year-surveillance-debate-begins-future-privacy Thu, 05 Jun 2014 20:02:00 +0000 Photograph: Steve Rhodes/ Steve Rhodes/Demotix/Corbis Photograph: Steve Rhodes/ Steve Rhodes/Demotix/Corbis http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/05/what-snowden-revealed-changed-nsa-reform <p>Encrypted Gmail. Transparency from mobile providers. Maybe even a legal 'revolt' against 'Orwellian' surveillance. But until we get real reform, NSA and Co may survive in the shadows</p><p>• Julian Sanchez: <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/05/edward-snowden-one-year-surveillance-debate-begins-future-privacy">Snowden showed the panopticon for us all</a></p><p>• News analysis: <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/05/edward-snowden-one-year-nsa-surveillance-reform">How surveillance architects kept NSA power</a></p><p>• Plus: <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jun/05/guardian-launches-securedrop-whistleblowers-documents">Guardian introduces SecureDrop for whistleblowers</a><br></p><p>Thursday marks one year since the Guardian published the first in <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/the-nsa-files">a series of eye-opening stories about surveillance</a> based on documents provided by Edward Snowden. The events in the 52 weeks since have proven him to be the most significant whistleblower in American history – and have reverberated throughout the world.</p><p>But along with the changes Snowden sparked, vital questions remain about how and if the National Security Agency and its global spy apparatus will truly be reformed. <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/05/edward-snowden-one-year-nsa-surveillance-reform">Many wheels are finally in motion</a>, but will the US Congress and the courts actually respond in a meaningful way? In truth, the second year of Snowden may be more important than the first. It's when we'll see if global privacy rights get protected for the better – or if mass surveillance becomes more entrenched in our laws than ever before. For now, it's important to take stock in looking ahead to the next chapter.</p> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/05/what-snowden-revealed-changed-nsa-reform">Continue reading...</a> http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/05/what-snowden-revealed-changed-nsa-reform Thu, 05 Jun 2014 11:15:28 +0000 Photograph: Kyle Bean for the Guardian Photograph: Kyle Bean for the Guardian http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/30/nsa-surveillance-debate-how-government-uses-data At heart, the NSA debate is about what the government is allowed to do with what it knows and who is overseeing it<p>I celebrate Judge Richard J Leon's <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/17/us/politics/federal-judge-rules-against-nsa-phone-data-program.html?_r=0&amp;gwt=pay">opinion</a> that the government's mass collection of communications metadata is &quot;almost Orwellian&quot;, and I decry Judge William H Pauley III's <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/28/us/nsa-phone-surveillance-is-lawful-federal-judge-rules.html?partner=rss&amp;emc=rss&amp;smid=tw-nytimes">decision</a> that the NSA's collection is both effective and legally perfectly peachy. </p><p>But I worry that the judges, as well as many commentators and <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57616281-83/snowdens-christmas-message-privacy-counts/">Edward Snowden himself</a>, may be debating on the wrong plane. I see some danger in arguing the case as a matter of privacy because I fear that could have serious impact on our concept of knowledge, of what is allowed to be known and thus of freedom of speech. Instead, I think this is an argument about authority – not so much what government (or anyone else) is allowed to know but what government, holding unique powers, is allowed to do with what it knows. </p> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/30/nsa-surveillance-debate-how-government-uses-data">Continue reading...</a> http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/30/nsa-surveillance-debate-how-government-uses-data Mon, 30 Dec 2013 15:08:00 +0000 Google/EPA John Wilkes/Getty Images http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/19/obama-nsa-review-britain-debate-possible In the US, the official response to Snowden's revelations celebrates journalism and calls for real change. In Britain, the picture has been rather different<p>What a relief. It is, after all, possible to discuss the operations of modern intelligence agencies without having to prove one's patriotism, be turned over by the police, summoned by politicians or visited by state-employed technicians with instructions to smash up one's computers.</p><p>The 300-page report into the Guardian's revelations about the US National Security Agency commissioned by President Obama and published this week is wide-ranging, informed and thoughtful. It leaps beyond the timid privacy-versus-national security platitudes which have stifled so much of the debate in the UK. It doesn't blame journalism for dragging the subject into the open: it celebrates it.</p> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/19/obama-nsa-review-britain-debate-possible">Continue reading...</a> http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/19/obama-nsa-review-britain-debate-possible Thu, 19 Dec 2013 20:50:00 +0000 Guardian Guardian http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/10/state-surveillance-data-tom-stoppard One of the writers who signed<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/10/surveillance-theft-worlds-leading-authors" title=""> a letter demanding an international bill of digital rights, </a>says 'our masters are in the grip of a delusionary nightmare'<p>What in principle would justify the scope of the surveillance revealed by the Snowden leak? Would it be enough, for example, if it could be shown that a specific potential act of terrorism had been prevented by, and could only have been prevented by, the full breadth and depth of what we now have learned is the playing field of the security services?</p><p>We should hesitate before we stray off the touchline. The idea that public safety, the safety of the innocent, is an absolute which trumps every other consideration, is tacitly abandoned in the way we live.</p> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/10/state-surveillance-data-tom-stoppard">Continue reading...</a> http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/10/state-surveillance-data-tom-stoppard Tue, 10 Dec 2013 01:00:00 +0000 Altaf Hussain/Reuters Altaf Hussain/Reuters http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/nov/01/prism-slides-nsa-document Prism, according to the Snowden documents, is the biggest single contributor to the NSA's intelligence reports. As a 'downstream' program, it collects data from Google, Facebook, Apple and others <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/nov/01/prism-slides-nsa-document">Continue reading...</a> http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/nov/01/prism-slides-nsa-document Fri, 01 Nov 2013 22:40:23 +0000 http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/nov/01/nsa-tapping-cables-document The NSA's Special Source Operations division deals with collection programs that focus on private companies like Yahoo, Google and Microsoft. This document shows how it relies on its commercial partnerships to 'gain access to high-capacity international fiber-optic cables' <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/nov/01/nsa-tapping-cables-document">Continue reading...</a> http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/nov/01/nsa-tapping-cables-document Fri, 01 Nov 2013 19:08:00 +0000 http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/nov/01/intelligence-reports-by-company-nsa-document This graphic produced by the SSO shows that between June and July 2010, data from Yahoo generated by far the most NSA intelligence reports, followed by Microsoft, and then Google <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/nov/01/intelligence-reports-by-company-nsa-document">Continue reading...</a> http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/nov/01/intelligence-reports-by-company-nsa-document Fri, 01 Nov 2013 19:03:48 +0000 http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/nov/01/snowden-nsa-files-surveillance-revelations-decoded <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/nov/01/snowden-nsa-files-surveillance-revelations-decoded">Continue reading...</a> http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/nov/01/snowden-nsa-files-surveillance-revelations-decoded Fri, 01 Nov 2013 16:21:00 +0000 Guardian http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/05/nsa-gchq-encryption-codes-security • NSA and GCHQ unlock encryption used to protect emails, banking and medical records<br />• $250m-a-year US program works covertly with tech companies to insert weaknesses into products<br />• Security experts say programs 'undermine the fabric of the internet'<br /><br />• <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/sep/06/nsa-surveillance-revelations-encryption-expert-chat">Q&amp;A: submit your questions for our privacy experts</a><p>US and British intelligence agencies have successfully cracked much of the online encryption relied upon by hundreds of millions of people to protect the privacy of their personal data, online transactions and emails, according to top-secret documents revealed by former contractor Edward Snowden.</p><p>The files show that the National Security Agency and its UK counterpart GCHQ have broadly compromised the guarantees that internet companies have given consumers to reassure them that their communications, online banking and medical records would be indecipherable to criminals or governments.</p> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/05/nsa-gchq-encryption-codes-security">Continue reading...</a> http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/05/nsa-gchq-encryption-codes-security Fri, 06 Sep 2013 10:24:00 +0000 Kacper Pempel/REUTERS Kacper Pempel/REUTERS http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/sep/05/nsa-project-bullrun-classification-guide Guide for NSA employees and contractors on Bullrun outlines its goals – and reveals that the agency has capabilities against widely-used online protocols such as HTTPS<br /><br />• <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/05/nsa-gchq-encryption-codes-security">Revealed: how US and UK spy agencies defeat internet privacy and security</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/sep/05/nsa-project-bullrun-classification-guide">Continue reading...</a> http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/sep/05/nsa-project-bullrun-classification-guide Thu, 05 Sep 2013 19:00:00 +0000 Patrick Semansky/AP http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/sep/05/sigint-nsa-collaborates-technology-companies Document shows how 'signals intelligence', or Sigint, 'actively engages US and foreign IT industries to covertly influence and/or overtly leverage their commercial products' designs'<br /><br />• <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/05/nsa-gchq-encryption-codes-security">Revealed: how US and UK spy agencies defeat internet privacy and security</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/sep/05/sigint-nsa-collaborates-technology-companies">Continue reading...</a> http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/sep/05/sigint-nsa-collaborates-technology-companies Thu, 05 Sep 2013 19:00:00 +0000 http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/sep/05/nsa-classification-guide-cryptanalysis Guide reveals that NSA 'obtains cryptographic details of commercial cryptographic information security systems through industry relationships'<br /><br />• <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/05/nsa-gchq-encryption-codes-security">Revealed: how US and UK spy agencies defeat internet privacy and security</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/sep/05/nsa-classification-guide-cryptanalysis">Continue reading...</a> http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/sep/05/nsa-classification-guide-cryptanalysis Thu, 05 Sep 2013 19:00:00 +0000 http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/aug/01/nsa-paid-gchq-spying-edward-snowden • Secret payments revealed in leaks by Edward Snowden <br />• GCHQ expected to 'pull its weight' for Americans <br />• Weaker regulation of British spies 'a selling point' for NSA<p>The US government has paid at least &pound;100m to the UK spy agency GCHQ over the last three years to secure access to and influence over Britain's intelligence gathering programmes.</p><p>The top secret payments are set out in documents which make clear that the Americans expect a return on the investment, and that GCHQ has to work hard to meet their demands. &quot;GCHQ must pull its weight and be seen to pull its weight,&quot; a GCHQ strategy briefing said.</p> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/aug/01/nsa-paid-gchq-spying-edward-snowden">Continue reading...</a> http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/aug/01/nsa-paid-gchq-spying-edward-snowden Thu, 01 Aug 2013 15:04:16 +0000 Kieran Doherty/Reuters Kieran Doherty/Reuters http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/jun/21/gchq-cables-secret-world-communications-nsa <strong>Exclusive:</strong> British spy agency collects and stores vast quantities of global email messages, Facebook posts, internet histories and calls, and shares them with NSA, latest documents from Edward Snowden reveal<p>Britain's spy agency GCHQ has secretly gained access to the network of cables which carry the world's phone calls and internet traffic and has started to process vast streams of sensitive personal information which it is sharing with its American partner, the National Security Agency (NSA).</p><p>The sheer scale of the agency's ambition is reflected in the titles of its two principal components: Mastering the Internet and Global Telecoms Exploitation, aimed at scooping up as much online and telephone traffic as possible. This is all being carried out without any form of public acknowledgement or debate.</p> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/jun/21/gchq-cables-secret-world-communications-nsa">Continue reading...</a> http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/jun/21/gchq-cables-secret-world-communications-nsa Fri, 21 Jun 2013 16:23:17 +0000 Guardian Guardian