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Aug 20 15 10:31 PM
How Edward Snowden inspired a musical vision of the future
Composer Matthew Collings explains the title of his new collaborative work A Requiem For Edward Snowden in sobering terms. “I was convinced that he would shortly be dead,” he says of Snowden, the former US government contractor and computer programmer turned wanted whistleblower. “It’s interesting that he isn’t. I’m convinced he’ll be one of these stories a year or ten years down the line, one of those, ‘Oh look, he slipped in the shower’ stories.” Some might argue that the Edinburgh-based Collings is being pessimistic, bordering on paranoid, there. But the story of Edward Snowden, who blew the whistle on mass government surveillance of internet communications on both sides of the Atlantic and now claims an exiled refuge in Russia, speaks to some of the most pressing concerns of the modern age. What is the internet doing to us, it asks, who is in charge, and how benevolently do they exercise that power?
Composer Matthew Collings explains the title of his new collaborative work A Requiem For Edward Snowden in sobering terms. “I was convinced that he would shortly be dead,” he says of Snowden, the former US government contractor and computer programmer turned wanted whistleblower. “It’s interesting that he isn’t. I’m convinced he’ll be one of these stories a year or ten years down the line, one of those, ‘Oh look, he slipped in the shower’ stories.”
Some might argue that the Edinburgh-based Collings is being pessimistic, bordering on paranoid, there. But the story of Edward Snowden, who blew the whistle on mass government surveillance of internet communications on both sides of the Atlantic and now claims an exiled refuge in Russia, speaks to some of the most pressing concerns of the modern age. What is the internet doing to us, it asks, who is in charge, and how benevolently do they exercise that power?
Read more @ http://www.scotsman.com/what-s-on/music/how-edward-snowden-inspired-a-musical-vision-of-the-future-1-3863946
It's been over two years since Edward Snowden revealed the startling scope of the NSA's programs for spying on the American people. So there's been enough time to form more substantial responses to the revelation, not just hot take after hot take. Laura Poitras's Academy Award-winning documentary Citizenfour showed history being made as Snowden walked reporter Glenn Greenwald through the data. Later this year, Joseph Gordon-Levitt will star in Oliver Stone's Snowden, a dramatisation of the whistleblower's life. And in a few weeks, you'll be able to read Snowden, an upcoming illustrated biography by author and editorial cartoonist Ted Rall. Here's what I thought of this darkly funny look at our ongoing surveillance nightmare. Surveillance State of Emergency In case the immediate comparisons to 1984 are too subtle, Rall's Snowden argues PRISM, Stellar Wind, and the various other NSA spying programs revealed by Snowden are really harmful to a free society. The opening chapter explains these programs with detailed but understandable language. Even readers already aware of Snowden might be shocked by just how sinister these systems are. The government is tapping into our phones, televisions, and laptops. Cops are tracking and predicting our movements, the post office is stealing our mail, and bullies like Arizona's infamous Sheriff Joe Arpaio are using these monitoring programs to squash political rivals with no repercussions. And for every sobering, dystopic example of privacy invasion, there's an absurd comic punchline like NSA workers gawking at naked couples through hacked web cameras. It's in moments like that where Rall's unflattering, political cartoon art style shines.
It's been over two years since Edward Snowden revealed the startling scope of the NSA's programs for spying on the American people. So there's been enough time to form more substantial responses to the revelation, not just hot take after hot take. Laura Poitras's Academy Award-winning documentary Citizenfour showed history being made as Snowden walked reporter Glenn Greenwald through the data. Later this year, Joseph Gordon-Levitt will star in Oliver Stone's Snowden, a dramatisation of the whistleblower's life. And in a few weeks, you'll be able to read Snowden, an upcoming illustrated biography by author and editorial cartoonist Ted Rall. Here's what I thought of this darkly funny look at our ongoing surveillance nightmare.
In case the immediate comparisons to 1984 are too subtle, Rall's Snowden argues PRISM, Stellar Wind, and the various other NSA spying programs revealed by Snowden are really harmful to a free society. The opening chapter explains these programs with detailed but understandable language. Even readers already aware of Snowden might be shocked by just how sinister these systems are.
The government is tapping into our phones, televisions, and laptops. Cops are tracking and predicting our movements, the post office is stealing our mail, and bullies like Arizona's infamous Sheriff Joe Arpaio are using these monitoring programs to squash political rivals with no repercussions. And for every sobering, dystopic example of privacy invasion, there's an absurd comic punchline like NSA workers gawking at naked couples through hacked web cameras. It's in moments like that where Rall's unflattering, political cartoon art style shines.
Read more @ http://au.pcmag.com/software/36392/feature/snowden-graphic-novel-is-a-dark-funny-portrait-of
First Look Media wants to get beyond Edward Snowden. One can hardly blame it since the past year or two has been a public and painful experiment in creating the world’s premier spot for self-described fearless, adversarial journalism. False starts, hang-ups and ego clashes culminated in the well-documented explosion of Matt Taibbi’s would-be satirical magazine Racket last year, with several high-profile resignations in the months after. In a visit to the startup, founded in 2013 by eBay billionaire Pierre Omidyar, International Business Times spoke with Michael Bloom, the company’s new president and general manager. He described First Look’s new direction toward broader coverage beyond national security and surveillance and a major shift into visual storytelling through film, documentary and television.
First Look Media wants to get beyond Edward Snowden. One can hardly blame it since the past year or two has been a public and painful experiment in creating the world’s premier spot for self-described fearless, adversarial journalism. False starts, hang-ups and ego clashes culminated in the well-documented explosion of Matt Taibbi’s would-be satirical magazine Racket last year, with several high-profile resignations in the months after.
In a visit to the startup, founded in 2013 by eBay billionaire Pierre Omidyar, International Business Times spoke with Michael Bloom, the company’s new president and general manager. He described First Look’s new direction toward broader coverage beyond national security and surveillance and a major shift into visual storytelling through film, documentary and television.
Read more @ http://www.ibtimes.com/beyond-edward-snowden-second-look-first-look-media-2060306
The window for former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden to reach a plea agreement with the U.S. Justice Department is closing quickly. That's what senior U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials tell us about the man whose leaks they call the worst in U.S. history. These officials say any momentum for these negotiations is gone; his lawyers have not even had conversations about such a deal for nearly a year with the U.S. attorney prosecuting the case. The officials say the chance that Snowden will be offered a plea deal in exchange for cooperation is now close to non-existent.
The window for former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden to reach a plea agreement with the U.S. Justice Department is closing quickly.
That's what senior U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials tell us about the man whose leaks they call the worst in U.S. history. These officials say any momentum for these negotiations is gone; his lawyers have not even had conversations about such a deal for nearly a year with the U.S. attorney prosecuting the case. The officials say the chance that Snowden will be offered a plea deal in exchange for cooperation is now close to non-existent.
Read more @ http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-08-19/snowden-s-window-for-a-plea-deal-is-closing
Edward Snowden, a former governor contractor who leaked classified information from the National Security Agency (NSA), creating worldwide indignation due to the revelation of the major extent of United States spying practices, has generated controversial debate around the globe on the accuracy of publishing confidential material and the need for other countries to grant him asylum. Indeed, in June 2013, Edward Snowden had to flee to Russia after the U.S. Department of Justice unsealed charges against him with two counts of violating the Espionage Act and theft of government property. Without going much into detail of US legislation in this case, in consideration of the charges he is facing it appears clearly Snowden would not be a free man in the United States. However, it can be argued whether or not his actions fall under the Espionage Act, since he carefully selected and consulted several journalists to determine the documents to be published in the public interest and the ones to be withheld. In fact, he could have sold information to a foreign surveillance agency or to an enemy of the United States, more likely to be considered an act of espionage than revealing precise documents to and in the interest of the general public which rather corresponds to whistleblowing and is similar to what thousands of investigative journalists do. That being said, over the last years, a growing part of civil society, especially in France, has raised its voice in order to convince government officials of the need to accord Snowden political asylum in the Hexagon. The question to raise is whether France can grant asylum to Snowden and on which legal foundation? When talking about political asylum, you cannot get around without considering international law and more precisely the Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refuges. Article 1 of the Convention, as amended by the 1967 Protocol, defines a refugee as: “a person who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.” (…)
Edward Snowden, a former governor contractor who leaked classified information from the National Security Agency (NSA), creating worldwide indignation due to the revelation of the major extent of United States spying practices, has generated controversial debate around the globe on the accuracy of publishing confidential material and the need for other countries to grant him asylum.
Indeed, in June 2013, Edward Snowden had to flee to Russia after the U.S. Department of Justice unsealed charges against him with two counts of violating the Espionage Act and theft of government property. Without going much into detail of US legislation in this case, in consideration of the charges he is facing it appears clearly Snowden would not be a free man in the United States. However, it can be argued whether or not his actions fall under the Espionage Act, since he carefully selected and consulted several journalists to determine the documents to be published in the public interest and the ones to be withheld. In fact, he could have sold information to a foreign surveillance agency or to an enemy of the United States, more likely to be considered an act of espionage than revealing precise documents to and in the interest of the general public which rather corresponds to whistleblowing and is similar to what thousands of investigative journalists do.
That being said, over the last years, a growing part of civil society, especially in France, has raised its voice in order to convince government officials of the need to accord Snowden political asylum in the Hexagon. The question to raise is whether France can grant asylum to Snowden and on which legal foundation?
When talking about political asylum, you cannot get around without considering international law and more precisely the Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refuges. Article 1 of the Convention, as amended by the 1967 Protocol, defines a refugee as: “a person who owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.” (…)
Read more @ http://www.rudebaguette.com/2015/08/20/why-france-would-be-better-off-granting-snowden-asylum/
Famed whistleblower and former CIA employee Edward Snowden has revealed a new batch of documents detailing how major network carrier AT&T closely collaborated with the National Security Agency to spy on Internet users. The documents, which were obtained by the New York Times, revealed that from 2003 to 2013, AT&T has provided the NSA the means to spy on U.S. Internet traffic. This includes billions of email messages sent by citizens using local networks. According to the files, the spying was carried out through AT&T's 17 facilities in different parts of the country. But aside from surveillance purposes, these centers were also used by the NSA to field test new spying technologies and methods. As noted by the IT Pro Portal, the two organizations had a solid partnership since the NSA repeatedly praised AT&T for its commitment to the clandestine operation. The government agency even reminded its agents to be courteous to AT&T staff members especially when visiting the company's facilities. "This is a partnership, not a contractual relationship," the NSA stated in the documents.
Famed whistleblower and former CIA employee Edward Snowden has revealed a new batch of documents detailing how major network carrier AT&T closely collaborated with the National Security Agency to spy on Internet users.
The documents, which were obtained by the New York Times, revealed that from 2003 to 2013, AT&T has provided the NSA the means to spy on U.S. Internet traffic. This includes billions of email messages sent by citizens using local networks.
According to the files, the spying was carried out through AT&T's 17 facilities in different parts of the country. But aside from surveillance purposes, these centers were also used by the NSA to field test new spying technologies and methods.
As noted by the IT Pro Portal, the two organizations had a solid partnership since the NSA repeatedly praised AT&T for its commitment to the clandestine operation. The government agency even reminded its agents to be courteous to AT&T staff members especially when visiting the company's facilities.
"This is a partnership, not a contractual relationship," the NSA stated in the documents.
Read more @ http://www.jobsnhire.com/articles/24909/20150817/new-edward-snowden-revelation-nsa-spied-on-internet-users-through-at-t.htm
In a twisted turn of events, newly-disclosed documents have revealed that the AT&T has been a trustful source of information for the spying NSA has been doing on internet traffic. The partnership between the telecoms giant and the National Security Agency surpasses the usual arrangement or cooperation that other firms have with the governmental organization. According to evidence published by the New York Times, the NSA also had an arrangement with Verizon, but it turns out that collaborating with AT&T was especially lucrative. Unsurprisingly, the new batch of information on the NSA dealings was provided by Edward Snowden – the now-exiled former NSA agent – and it reveals some concerning data. It turns out that AT&T had installed surveillance equipment to more than a dozen of its web centers, and was a frequent testing ground for developing spying technologies.
In a twisted turn of events, newly-disclosed documents have revealed that the AT&T has been a trustful source of information for the spying NSA has been doing on internet traffic.
The partnership between the telecoms giant and the National Security Agency surpasses the usual arrangement or cooperation that other firms have with the governmental organization. According to evidence published by the New York Times, the NSA also had an arrangement with Verizon, but it turns out that collaborating with AT&T was especially lucrative.
Unsurprisingly, the new batch of information on the NSA dealings was provided by Edward Snowden – the now-exiled former NSA agent – and it reveals some concerning data. It turns out that AT&T had installed surveillance equipment to more than a dozen of its web centers, and was a frequent testing ground for developing spying technologies.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt welcomed a baby boy over the weekend with his wife Tasha McCauley. Being the awards nuts that we are, we can't help but wonder if Gordon-Levitt is about to bring home another small bald thing in a few months ... the Oscar! Gordon-Levitt is the lead character in not one, but two hot Oscar contenders due out this year: "Snowden" in which he plays infamous CIA leaker Edward Snowden and "The Walk" where he portrays French high-wire artist Philippe Petit.
Read more @ http://www.goldderby.com/news/10034/joseph-gordon-levitt-baby-oscars-edward-snowden-the-walk-13579086.html
"What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~
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