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5 Years on, US Government Still Counting Snowden Leak Costs (apnews.com)
National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden blew the lid off U.S. government surveillance methods five years ago, but intelligence chiefs complain that revelations from the trove of classified documents he disclosed are still trickling out. From a report: That includes recent reporting on a mass surveillance program run by close U.S. ally Japan and on how the NSA targeted bitcoin users to gather intelligence to combat narcotics and money laundering. The Intercept, an investigative publication with access to Snowden documents, published stories on both subjects. The top U.S. counterintelligence official said journalists have released only about 1 percent taken by the 34-year-old American, now living in exile in Russia, "so we don't see this issue ending anytime soon." "This past year, we had more international, Snowden-related documents and breaches than ever," Bill Evanina, who directs the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, said at a recent conference. "Since 2013, when Snowden left, there have been thousands of articles around the world with really sensitive stuff that's been leaked."
I miss the days where the biggest threats were misguided idealists instead of stone cold traitors Like Donald Trump and his enablers in the republican party.
And yet they don't seem to care about the $2,300,000,000,000.00 that went missing the day before 9/11
Snowden is a convenient smokescreen to keep you distracted from the real outright theft of your illegally garnished federal income tax.
I'm happy to hear they're still facing consequences, even if those consequences aren't nearly severe enough to make me content.
in the history of the United States and Cop Math is still a thing.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
The government isn't really doing anything to prevent a Snowden 2.0 either. They're still after prosecuting him, which means the next Snowden will also flee overseas and leak to the media. There isn't really a "legal" way for someone like Snowden to report government abuses; the only alternative is through the media.
I've not seen the government make any steps to prevent the next Snowden from following the same steps Snowden made.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
On my tiny violin.
Wouldn't it be cheaper to, you know, not rely on extraordinary rendition, illegal spying, extra-constitutional structurally biased special courts, intra-agency webs of secrecy, and all that?
This seems more than a bit like "If it weren't for those darn meddling kids, everything would have been fine, JUST FINE," then complaining how expensive that now-ruined mask on the floor was.
Ryan Fenton
the world is not your enemy, you paranoid PoS country. I hope we see more leaks so the world wakes up to all the wrong horrible things America is doing, and it becomes more and more clear how paranoid they are and how they view the world as an enemy.
5 years has passed - would be nice if 100% of the data was released to us so the IT security professionals among us can actually do our jobs.
It cost the guilty nothing either. How many were fired after they were exposed? I haven't heard of a single person going to jail over any of it. It just cost them their reputation. Which is and will always be nothing. It only exposed what we already suspected. Our government will go to any lengths to keep their crimes secret.
Uncovering the truth and doing "The Right Thing".
With all the revelations, the main takeaway I got is the NSA is pissed that they got caught acting poorly. Given their lack of apology, it's clear the NSA isn't at all motivated to, you know - change, and stuff. All the NSA seems to want to do is deliver maximum stitches to maximum snitches.
I sleep better.
The fact that the U.S. government continue to persecute this whistle-blower is much more damning than the things he revealed.
IMO Snowden should be pardoned & given a medal.
Look, I still don't think Snowden helping Russia is a good thing, especially the many attempts in the US, Australia, Canada, and the UK to interfere (which are still ongoing, regardless of my personal viewpoint that Scotland deserves to be it's own nation, as it has always been, and the Soviet-backed Brexit was atrocious).
But, the agencies (five of which you know about, others which you don't) that are actively spying on US citizens both at home and abroad, did in fact go too far.
That said, using clouds or any external non-controlled data stores always is insecure, just like the President's cell traffic which is easy to locate to within centimetres.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
The major consequenses will be felt long term in little ways internationally. An extra line in a contract, viewing products in the same light as others, general suspicion of motives.
American allies were raised on a diet of propaganda that Snowden helped show was false. That loss of moral authority has allowed a rise in the popularity of figures like Putin. After all, it's hard to say someone is a liar when people already knows you are. The problem isn't Snowden, it's the U.S.A.
We still have tons of people that believe that google doesn't track you if you avoid using their 'services'. And those same people think we should invade Syria, blame the Russians for poorly made choices, and on, and on, and on...
If Snowden represented a real danger, he would simply be dead, end of story.. Like so many things this is a distraction.
I have to post AC because I am in violation of Slashdot groupthink. You will have to find another way to attack my account
Why aren't they all out by now? Why are journalists acting as gatekeepers?
Instead, he's landed a cushy job at CNN.
"The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
NSA should spy on everyone outside the USA.
I'm pissed about spying on US permanent residents and
data, phone, wire, wifi, RF signals trapping without warrants inside the USA.
Basically, the USGovt violating the 4th Amendment - that make me sad.
Certainly all the TLA are doing lots of good things, but how we play the game matters. It says important things about who we are as a people.
When it comes to a declared war...you know congress says we are at war - then the govt should do everything they can to destroy the enemy, take away his will to fight, completely. But we aren't at war anywhere I'm aware.
Instead of penalty for a treason or mishandling of classified documents, make an itemized bill and represent it to the policy violator. Bring in some Germanic justice to counteract this mercilessness of Roman law!
A Cautionary Tale:
"Think for just one moment and I'm sure that you will see,
the moral of this story - that what shall be must be.
He who gives his soul to Hell, must dare to pay the price,
he versed in divinity must live a noble life -
OR ELSE HE IS DAMNED!"
The wages of government stupidity is maybe another century of these releases. Governments can't keep secrets, so they're ethical to within practical limits, or else they are damned.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
Priceless.
Sorry to counter the groupthink on this, but Snowden needed to find a legal way of accomplishing his goals without breaking the law. Additionally, I do not think that spying on Americans has decreased any, look at what happened to Trump's campaign.
You want to stop spying by the government?? Punish those harshly for spying on the Trump campaign.
It really feels like people are talking out of both sides of their mouth here.
The problem with trickling out the documents over such a long period of time is that people ultimately get bored or complacent with it all and pay little attention to it. It's human nature.
Think of the nightly news.
It's full of non-stop murder and mayhem every single day and most of us don't even blink an eye at it anymore.
The Catch-22 part of the problem is this:
If you released it all en masse, many will raise hell for a few weeks then promptly forget about it as soon as the next tragedy or engineered distraction comes along. Either way, the information becomes irrelevant soon enough.
Personally, I think they should just release the cache and let folks decide for ourselves what we think of it all instead of continuing to dangle that carrot. Though, folks like The Guardian or The Intercept love to have their name in the headlines from time to time so folks remember they exist, so we'll probably be seeing bits and pieces of this forever.
I see little reason not to as the Government has had YEARS to pull folks from the field in the event the unredacted documents put anyone in harms way. If they haven't, then it tells me they're not concerned about it as they claim to be.
The price tag will be 100 quintrillion dollars added with interest over the next 50 years means the entire world will owe the US a lot of $$ based on the copyright infringement alone. But then again, China would rather flip us the bird and continue their quest for power and getting all our sh*t for free.
You didn't witness or report shit. If you did, you'll have no trouble coming up with a citation. I'm not even asking for 3. These cases are public record. Gimme a name and a state.
The most interesting part of your post is why you're being such a dick about it. Especially after you got the citation you asked for. What's in this for you? Did you share an office with Snowden or something?
Oh nevermind, I see the issue. Someone said trump and you shat your panties. You didn't even bother to read or acknowledge the context of the statement with the word in it. No one said this was trump's fault. As you so "brilliantly" pointed out, Obama isn't the goddamned president any more. So why in the fuck would a current person of the current administration whistleblow to Obama? You seriously can't see just how stupid you are. You're a partisan hack, a trumptard 2.0 as it were.
Look, I still don't think Snowden helping Russia is a good thing
The only evidence that he's helped russia is by capitalizing on his position as a public source of embarrassment to the US to garner asylum in russia. A choice he was forced into by the US cancelling his passport while he was en-route through a russian airport.
Contrast that to somebody like Assange who has not only knowingly served as a cut-out for russian disinfo operations, but also participated in them himself, particularly his public embrace of seth rich conspiracy lies to simultaneously puff himself up and put his thumb on the scale in US elections.
The day Snowden starts collaborating with the russians to advance their authoritarian agenda I will totally cut him loose. But for now there is no evidence he's doing anything to help them beyond simply continuing to breath in the place circumstances beyond his control put him.
Do you know any other tunes? It turns out what you're playing for is only the beginning of the story. Here is something from the middle.
Vicious truck attack kills 84 during France fireworks display
Berlin massacre reminiscent of deadly Nice attack (12 dead, 48 injured)
Barcelona attack as it happened: At least 13 dead and 100 injured after van hits crowd in act of terror
We don't know how it will end yet, but the portents aren't good.
German Intel Report Reveals Extent Of Islamist Infiltration In Germany
You can avert your eyes if you want to, or refuse to hear, but that will not stop the truck, bomb, knife, machinegun, . . .
How Edward Snowden Changed the Habits of a Terrorist
There is only one person I know who changed behavior because of Snowden. In October of last year, I traveled to Kenya to meet members of al Shabaab, an al Qaeda linked group that had pulled off a spectacular attack on an upscale mall in Nairobi a month earlier. One of the members, a man named Abdul, changed the SIM card on his mobile repeatedly. When I asked him why, he gave me a one-word answer:
“Snowden.”
It's all good, right?
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
The E911 Document was also proving a weak reed. It had originally been valued at $79,449.
Computer-knowledgeable people found this value -- for a twelve-page bureaucratic document -frankly incredible. In his "Crime and Puzzlement" manifesto for EFF, Barlow commented: "We will probably never know how this figure was reached or by whom, though I like to imagine an appraisal team consisting of Franz Kafka, Joseph Heller, and Thomas Pynchon."
Zenner gave the witness a copy of "BellSouth E911 Service Interfaces," which cost, as he pointed out, $13, straight from the catalog. "Look at it carefully," he urged Ms. Williams, "and tell me if it doesn't contain about twice as much detailed information about the E911 system of BellSouth than appeared anywhere in Phrack."
http://nuclear.gla.ac.uk/~protopop/archive/hacker/part4.php
lotta america haters here. smells like potatos and vodka.
Really, you think that "Abdul" changed his behavior because of Snowden? Terrorists have been using burner phones for years, long before Snowden showed up. Bin Laden and al-Qaeda were using burners at least a decade ago. Bin Laden himself went entirely off-grid in order to prevent electronic tracking of his whereabouts (which protected him for a while, but not enough to make him invulnerable).
But fine. Let's pretend the terrorists don't know about the Three Letter Agencies, about all the spying and monitoring. Let's pretend that every President since 9/11 hasn't given security their top priority and blessing to intrude upon every private conversation. Let's forget that even President Clinton tried to kill Bin Laden, long before 9/11.
Yes, it's all on Snowden. In fact there would be no terrorists at all if it weren't for Snowden, right? You'd like to say that right?
Right.
No, it smells like apple pie.
That's what I call "extreme libertarianism": repeal civilization and go back to "caveman" days, perhaps like Flintstones meet Mad Max. Their convention would be a hoot, that's for sure.
Nah, libertarians will pussy-out like the NRA did when they banned guns at their last convention. "Do as I say, not as I do" they say to their low-information followers, and their followers do just that. Their conventions are boring, filled with soul-destroying dogma, hysterical extreme-right cheerleading, and predictable anti-establishment, anti-government, anti-progressive rhetoric. Yawn inducing on the best of days.
Calculating the cost of the Snowden Leak is a recursive function that will result in a stack/budget overflow.
Perhaps Snowden alone delayed the arrival of Big Brother by 5 years. Heroic. Where can we find another?