The N.S.A. Continues, and a free picture

     I'm glad that Ed Snowden did what he did.  He demonstrated great courage.  He risked all in order to tell us something that he believed we needed to know.  Ed Snowden remains an hero to my way of thinking.  I presume that he is still in Russia somewhere learning Russian and perhaps working by now.  I hope that he is safe from those who want to bring him back to the United States in order to prosecute him while the true criminal-- the entire N.S.A.-- remains free to spy on everyone everywhere all the time.

Yes I made it myself from a photo that I took and the legally included fonts in my legally obtained digital art/photograph editing program.  Yes you can download it and use it on the Internet.  Hot-linking is frowned upon.  Right-click and save to "My Computer" if you want it.  Copyright conglomerates, your presence is not welcome here.

     The media continues to release documents and information which makes it quite clear to the average aware citizen exactly how powerful and how bloated the agency has become.  There is outcry on Twitter and throughout the Internet.  Away from the computer, there is a certain rage lacking in the commoners that I happen across on any given day.  Anecdotally speaking only, most of the folks that I run into on a day to day basis have no idea about the extent of the information-gathering that the N.S.A. has been [insert legal word] allegedly doing.  That the N.S.A. has been conducting itself in an underhanded fashion [in my opinion] and continues to do so in spite of the revelations [in my opinion] is no longer a newsflash in the Twitter streams.

     Why doesn't the populace know about it?

radical sapphoq says:  Do this, if you want to.  Every day tell one person about the N.S.A. and what has been revealed.  Tell that one person why he or she should care.  Tell that one person why you care.  In order to change this stuff, more people have to know and reach beyond their self-imposed walls of apathy to respond.  Up the radicals!

Read This and Save That: In Support of Ed Snowden

     I bear no love for Big Government.  Big Government allows for the existence of the N.S.A. with neither meaningful oversight nor accountability to the American people.  In my opinion, the United States should not get to bully other nations with threats of trade sanctions because someone spoke up.  Seeking asylum is an honorable act.  If the American government had its' way, Ed Snowden would be arrested and brought back here to face charges of espionage.  If the American government had its' way, another Bradley Manning would be born.  Bradley Manning has existed in solitary confinement and is now facing the judgement of a kangaroo court.  Both men saw something and said something.  I don't know whether or not Bradley Manning can be saved from the injustices perpetrated upon him.  I am hopeful that Ed Snowden will be able to flee to freedom.  Whether or not he succeeds in darting past those that would kill him or torture him in the name of justice, Ed Snowden will go down in the tomes of learned historians as a hero.  He is certainly my hero.

radical sapphoq

Ed Snowden said the quotes which were collected at: http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/27-edward-snowden-quotes-about-u-s-government-spying-that-should-send-a-chill-up-your-spine.  Talented other person made the original Ed Snowden hero poster which is posted here http://i.imgur.com/ouUHvyC.png in tiny form and here by Anti-Federalist http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?417348-Get-your-Ed-Snowden-quot-HERO-quot-avatar-here/page2 under #37 in larger form.  I altered colors and added the quotes.  Right-click to save to your computer if you want any of them.

Open Letter to Ed Snowden

Dear Ed Snowden,

     Although I'm pretty sure that you will never know the existence of this letter to you, I thought I would write it anyway.  There are some things in my heart of hearts that require communicating, even if only to the emptiness of the Internet.

     I am quite frankly appalled at the actions taken by our government since you came forward as the man who leaked information about the N.S.A. spying on all of us world-wide.  My country has proven to be a bully.  Quite a few of the politicians have publicly proven themselves [in my view] to be idiots with no spine.  It is obvious to me that the N.S.A. will continue to do what it is doing for as long as it can.  This is the danger in providing no meaningful oversight to any agency.  I watched what happened with the T.S.A. and I am now watching it again with the N.S.A.  That the F.I.S.A. court rubber-stamps anything that the N.S.A. wants to do is a mere formality-- a hideous kangaroo court-- and of little comfort to those of us who believe in "liberty and justice for all." 

     I was heartened to read that you do not have regrets about standing up for what is right.  You are the true patriot in this.  Not Obama or his ilk who want you brought back to the motherland as a condemned spy even before trial.  You are an hero.  You are my hero, Ed.  I think that if we had ever met, we would have been friends.

     I hope that you are able to leave Russia for a safer place soon.  Although Russia will not extradite [so far], the actions of their police regarding the throwing of dissidents and suspected dissidents into prisons which are basic torture chambers makes me wary of you living there for very long.  So even if you do wind up at the airport or a refugee camp or in an apartment somewhere for awhile out of necessity, I wish you safe passage to a country which will not kowtow to the wishes of the bossy United States.  And once you get there, I wish you both safety and happiness.

     President Obama, like many others who are not techies, confuses the words "safety" and "privacy."  It appears to me that he seems to believe that the more safety one has, the less privacy one is entitled to by necessity.  He doesn't know that safety which is not self-generated is a mere illusion.  He thinks-- I guess-- that destroying all anonymity and privacy will protect the American people from ourselves.  But we don't need surveillance.  Big Government is odious.  I don't want that.  Like you, I don't want to live in a country that polices every e-mail and communication for a list of suspect words.  But I am still here and you are not.  I watch what has happened to and what is happening to Bradley Manning and I know that Daniel Ellsberg has the right of it.  In order for you to have any chance at a life, you have had to sacrifice pretty much everything.  Thank you for not selling out, Ed.  The easier action would have been to shut up, stand down, say nothing.  You chose the rights of the people who inhabit this world over the directives of the government.  For that, I thank you.

     Although countries are caving left and right, I have to believe that there is a place for you and that you will get there.  Whether it is one of the three in South America or some other country, you deserve to be awarded asylum and hopefully citizenship someplace else.  Please know that there are bunches of us here in the United States who are rooting for you.  Be well, Ed.  

                                      Sail Strong!


                                       radical sapphoq       

What If Ed Snowden Isn't Who He Says He Is: An Opinion

     The following post is composed of my opinions.  My opinions may be right, wrong, or somewhere in-between, but they are my opinions.  F.Y.I., I am not a dem lib and I have not been for quite some time now. 


     I think Ed Snowden is who he says he is.  I do not believe that he is an operative working for the C.I.A.  I do believe that he exists.  Yes, people can and do change their viewpoints on a variety of issues and sometimes a bit dramatically throughout the years.  That Ed Snowden was against leaking stuff a couple of years ago [according to information given to Ars Technica by folks who saved their typed conversations with Ed Snowden] really doesn't bother me in the least.  Furthermore, there is a real danger in labeling someone as having narcissistic-like tendencies sight unseen, especially when this label is based on media reports and opinions of various people who did not professionally evaluate Ed Snowden.  In short, I do not believe that there is evidence for that particular claim.  I don't think he exposed the leaks because he wanted to be in the spotlight.  I think Ed Snowden's motives lie within the realm of realizing that what is happening within the N.S.A. is incorrect.  

     I believe there is some amount of misinformation being fed to us-- intentionally or otherwise-- by the media.  One example is the reports I read at first did not admit that Ed Snowden could stay in the transit area of the Russian airport without a three day visa.  The initial reports admitted that he did not have a three day visa but not that he would only need such a document in order to leave the transit area of the airport.  Another example is the idea that both China and Russia have harvested [interviewed] Ed Snowden in hopes of gaining information from him or offering him work as their spy or something like that.  I don't believe that has happened.

I cannot understand:
1.  why the N.S.A. cannot locate Ed Snowden.
2.  why Congress isn't asking the N.S.A. some very pointed questions about exactly how it is that Ed Snowden was able to download some heavy duty stuff onto a thumb-drive.  All in a day's work, is it?
3.  why Obama and other politicos think that China; and now Russia, should just willingly deport Ed Snowden just because the American government and its' various shadow organizations want them to.
4.  why people assume that Ed Snowden must be at a Russian airport in the transit zone just because we are told that is where he is.   
5.  why some country doesn't just jump up and say "Come over here, Ed.  Stay with us."  Considering the circumstances, Ed Snowden needs immediate protection and immediate citizenship someplace else.
6.  why the conversation has centered around that bad boy hacker Ed Snowden instead of what the N.S.A. is doing.
7.  why the conversation has centered around that bad boy hacker Ed Snowden instead of why the N.S.A. appears to be able to dictate its' own doings without any real oversight from any other organization or from Congress or frigging anybody.
8.  why people are at all surprised by the recent revelations of exactly how deeply the N.S.A. is into monitoring all of us here and everyone in the whole world.
9.  why there is not more in the news about Boundless Informant.

 
Furthermore, the definition of a "terrorist" needs to be refined a bit.  I may be wrong but at least to me, it appears that:
1.  people who support or are in Anonymous are considered to be friends of terrorists or terrorists.  
2.  people who use encryption are considered to be suspect.
3.  people who use V.P.N.s or TOR are considered to have some kind of inherent criminal intent.


Problem #1:  I thought things were a bit odd last year and earlier this year when I realized that FedBook wanted our wallet names and wallet info [picture that!], when Google and Twitter and Yahoo and AOL wanted our cell phone numbers in order to open an e-mail account, when Google suddenly changed their TOS to be all inclusive when using any Google service, when the push was on to link various accounts together.  I distinctly remember the days before Google transformed into a Big Brother sort of outfit. 

Partial solution:  Don't use Fedbook.  No new e-mail accounts.  Search for an email account with a company that does not have dot com or dot net or dot biz after their name.  Use e-mail minimally and certainly not for communication purposes.
Drastic solution:  Get off of the internet entirely.  [For now, I will take my chances]. 
 
Problem #2:  I first suspected something was wrong this year when suddenly Google appeared to be vomiting on my searches when my computer was shielded under a proxy.

Solution:  Use another search engine.

Problem #3:  I first noticed something was wrong this year when suddenly Yahoo would not show up in a search engine when behind a proxy.

Solution:  Use another search engine. 

Problem #4: Obummer has offered "reassurance" that no one is listening in on our phone calls.

Solution:  Figure that A.I. bots which have been scripted to recognize certain code words are listening in on phone calls. 

Problem #5:  It is hard to know who is telling the truth and who is spinning a yarn.

Solution:  Carefully evaluate the evidence from a variety of source material.  Take nothing at face value.  

radical sapphoq says:  We the People have a right to know what is going on when a powerful shadowly agency is performing broadly based Big Data collections.  So much info has been collected and is being collected that a facility in Utah is being built to house it in.  Utah is an ideal location for such a facility to be built because a large number of National Guard recruits originate in Utah.
 
When an agency or organization [like the N.S.A.] is given carte blanche to do as it will with little to no meaningful oversight, a distinct possibility of abuse of power exists.  Meta-data is not innocuous.  If it were, the N.S.A. would not be interested in organizing meta-data through Boundless Informant. 

I like my privacy-- even though I in fact "have nothing to hide."  I am aware that if someone or some agency is hunting for something to report, the information will be found or manufactured or spun to suit the purposes of said person or agency.  Drama begets drama.  If the job order says "Find something," then something will be found.  I've learned that from investigations work.   

I prefer some transparency in my government to lies.  Certainly I prefer a smaller non-interfering (in my personal life or other peoples' personal lives) government to this stuff that is going on right now.  What the N.S.A. is doing under the guise of offering us security is unacceptable to me.  Security is not the opposite of privacy.