John Oliver Talks "Dick Pics" And The Patriot Act With Edward Snowden

Via NBC News:

Snowden spoke to the "Last Week Tonight" host in Moscow, where he has been for more than a year since being charged with espionage after leaking classified information regarding the NSA's extensive surveillance programs. Oliver asked Snowden to explain the implications of NSA surveillance on racy personal photos. "The good news is there's no program named 'the dick pic program'," Snowden said. "The bad news is they're still collecting everybody's information — including your dick pics." He added: "When you send your junk through Gmail, for example, that is stored on Google's servers. Google moves that data from data center to data center invisibly to you. Without your knowledge, your data could be moved outside the borders of the United States temporarily. When your junk was passed by Gmail … the NSA caught a copy of that." The North Carolina-born Snowden also explained his decision to reveal classified information, saying he wanted to make Americans aware that government agencies were snooping on U.S. citizens.

HBO has posted the full episode. The Patriot Act is due for renewal in a couple of months.

Snowden Applauds Chelsea Manning

TRAILER: Citizenfour

Oliver Stone To Direct Snowden Biopic

Via the Guardian:

He has tackled the Kennedy assassination and the Watergate break-in, the Vietnam conflict and the Bush administration's "war on terror". Now the Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone is set to whip up fresh controversy with his adaptation of The Snowden Files, an account of the ongoing NSA scandal written by the Guardian journalist Luke Harding. Stone's thriller will focus on the experiences of the American whistleblower Edward Snowden, a contractor at the National Security Agency who leaked thousands of classified documents to the former Guardian columnist Glenn Greenwald back in June 2013. The film is to be produced by Stone's regular business partner Moritz Borman, with Harding and other Guardian journalists serving as production and story consultants. "This is one of the greatest stories of our time," Stone, 67, said in a statement. "A real challenge. I'm glad to have the Guardian working with us." Stone's previous films include Platoon, JFK and W. The director has also made documentaries on Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez, together with a 2012 TV series, Oliver Stone's Untold History of the United States.

Production of the film is set begin at the end of the year.

Glenn Greenwald Returns To US For First Time Since Breaking NSA/Snowden Story

Gay journalist Glenn Greenwald returned to the United States today for the first time since breaking the Edward Snowden story. Some have called for his arrest as Snowden's alleged co-conspirator. Greenwald himself said he expected to be detained at once, but he exited JFK airport without incident. TIME reports on the reason for today's visit:

Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras, who broke the Snowden story and met with the whistleblower in Hong Kong, are in New York City to receive the prestigious George Polk Award. Greenwald, formerly a columnist for The Guardian and now a partner in the upcoming First Look Media venture, and Poitras, a documentary filmmaker, will share the journalism award with Ewen MacAskill of The Guardian and Barton Gellman of the Washington Post, the Huffington Post reports. Greenwald, who currently resides in Rio de Janeiro, told The Huffington Post that he wanted to return to the U.S. because “certain factions in the U.S. government have deliberately intensified the threatening climate for journalists.” He noted that language used by government officials suggested that reporters who investigated Snowden’s documents were complicit with him.

Edward Snowden Skypes Into SXSW

Fugitive NSA leaker Edward Snowden skyped into a SXSW panel today via seven proxy servers, a tactic probably taken to cloak his location. NPR has the story:

Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who has leaked large amounts of classified information about the agency's electronic surveillance programs, spoke via video to a sympathetic audience at South By Southwest Interactive on Monday. Snowden, who is wanted for prosecution in the U.S., was in Russia, where he's been given temporary asylum. Repeating things he's said before, Snowden declared Monday that he would do what he did all over again because he had seen the Constitution being "violated on a massive scale." The Obama administration disagrees, though Snowden's revelations did begin a process that he wants the NSA to stop holding on to massive amounts of "metadata" about the phone calls and electronic communications of millions of people around the world.

The ACLU provides the video.

HomoQuotable - Glenn Greenwald

“I absolutely refuse to be exiled from my own country for the crime of doing journalism, and I’m gonna force the issue just on principle, and I think coming back for a ceremony like the Polk Award or other forms of journalistic awards would be a really good symbolic test to put the government in the position of having to arrest journalists who are coming back to the U.S. to receive awards for the journalism they’ve done.” - Glenn Greenwald, telling Huff Post Live that he will likely return from Brazil to accept a journalism award even though some have called for his arrest as an accomplice to NSA leaker Edward Snowden.

Obama Slams Edward Snowden

"I’m not going to dwell on Mr. Snowden’s actions or his motivations. I will say that our nation’s defense depends in part on the fidelity of those entrusted with our nation’s secrets. If any individual who objects to government policy can take it into their own hands to publicly disclose classified information, then we will not be able to keep our people safe, or conduct foreign policy. Moreover, the sensational way in which these disclosures have come out has often shed more heat than light, while revealing methods to our adversaries that could impact our operations in ways that we may not fully understand for years to come." - President Obama, in today's speech announcing "major reforms" at the National Security Agency.

New York Times: Pardon Edward Snowden

From the Times editorial board:

Considering the enormous value of the information he has revealed, and the abuses he has exposed, Mr. Snowden deserves better than a life of permanent exile, fear and flight. He may have committed a crime to do so, but he has done his country a great service. It is time for the United States to offer Mr. Snowden a plea bargain or some form of clemency that would allow him to return home, face at least substantially reduced punishment in light of his role as a whistle-blower, and have the hope of a life advocating for greater privacy and far stronger oversight of the runaway intelligence community. [snip] When someone reveals that government officials have routinely and deliberately broken the law, that person should not face life in prison at the hands of the same government. That’s why Rick Ledgett, who leads the N.S.A.’s task force on the Snowden leaks, recently told CBS News that he would consider amnesty if Mr. Snowden would stop any additional leaks. And it’s why President Obama should tell his aides to begin finding a way to end Mr. Snowden’s vilification and give him an incentive to return home.

Don Lemon Vs Larry Klayman

CNN host Don Lemon and crackpot freak show Larry Klayman got into it last night.

Klayman has previously received media attention for saying during a government shutdown rally that Obama needs “to put the Quran down, to get up off his knees, and to figuratively come out with his hands up,” leading to a particularly contentious fight with Martin Bashir. On CNN, Klayman was steamed that his appearance was preceded by what he saw as a hit piece on his character, and told Lemon, “It’s important to note that you’re a big supporter of Obama, that you have favored him in every respect.” He called Lemon an “ultra-leftist,” but Lemon interrupted and threatened to cut him out of the segment if he kept going. Toobin, who was never a fan of what Snowden did, argued that this was an important ruling on a serious subject that shouldn’t be tarnished by the “tin foil hat paranoia” of the “lunatic” on screen with him. Klayman responded by attacking Toobin’s past and calling him an unserious person who ‘should not be doing legal commentary for CNN.”

2013 News In Review

From the Boston bombing to DOMA to Edward Snowden and much, much more. Excellent production by filmmaker Jean-Louis Nguyen.

REPORT: Partner Of Glenn Greenwald Was Carrying 58,000 "Sensitive" Documents

Politico reports:

David Miranda, the partner of journalist Glenn Greenwald, was carrying 58,000 classified intelligence documents when he was detained by British authorities earlier this month, according to a new UK national security report. Miranda was detained for nine hours at London's Heathrow airport, a move that Greenwald called "a profound attack on press freedoms and the news gathering process." But today's 13-page report, from UK deputy national security adviser Oliver Robbins, has reinforced Greenwald's critics, who believe he and his partner are hiding behind claims of journalistic freedom while disobeying the law.

Scotland Yard has launched a criminal investigation against Miranda.  Greenwald is quoted today by the Telegraph:

“The UK Government is incapable of pointing to a single story we have published that has even arguably harmed national security. The only thing that has been harmed are the political interests and reputations of UK and US officials around the world, as they have been caught engaging in illegal, unconstitutional and truly dangerous bulk surveillance aimed at their own citizens and people around the world, all with little accountability or transparency - until now."

New York Times To Publish Documents Leaked To Guardian By Edward Snowden

Citing oppressive measures by the British government, the Guardian has partnered with the New York Times to publish documents leaked to them by Edward Snowden.

The New York Times is in the Snowden game. The paper — which NSA leaker Edward Snowden deliberately avoided over his fear that it would cooperate with the United States government — is now working with the Guardian on a series of stories based on documents that detail National Security Agency cooperation with its British counterpart, the Government Communications Headquarters, known as GCHQ. “In a climate of intense pressure from the UK government, The Guardian decided to bring in a US partner to work on the GCHQ documents provided by Edward Snowden,” Guardian spokeswoman Jennifer Lindenauer said in an email. “We are continuing to work in partnership with the NYT and others to report these stories.”

Last month British officials demanded that the Guardian hand over Snowden's documents. When they refused, the officials reportedly made them destroy several hard drives in their presence. The Times and the Guardian have worked together in the past on the Wikileaks story and on the News Corp wiretapping scandal.

Tweet Of The Day - Wikileaks

USA Today has more:

National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden has been granted temporary asylum in Russia for one year and left a Moscow airport to formally enter the country's territory, according to his lawyer. Anatoly Kucherena, Snowden's legal representative, told Interfax Thursday that he had given Snowden temporary papers issued by the Russian Immigration Service. The Associated Press reported that Snowden had actually left Sheremetyevo airport, where he has been holed up since arriving June 23 from Hong Kong. Kucherena said Snowden was unaccompanied when he left the airport in a regular taxi. RT.com reported that his whereabouts will be kept secret.

Snowden's father this morning thanked Vladimir Putin for having the "courage and strength of conviction to keep my son safe."

Snowden: NSA Is Working With Germany

Fugitive NSA leaker Edward Snowden yesterday accused Germany of working with the United States government in spying on private citizens.

America's National Security Agency works closely with Germany and other Western states on a 'no questions asked'-basis, former NSA employee Edward Snowden said in comments that undermine Chancellor Angela Merkel's indignant talk of "Cold War" tactics. "They are in bed with the Germans, just like with most other Western states," German magazine Der Spiegel quotes him as saying in an interview published on Sunday that was carried out before he fled to Hong Kong in May and divulged details of extensive secret U.S. surveillance. "Other agencies don't ask us where we got the information from and we don't ask them. That way they can protect their top politicians from the backlash in case it emerges how massively people's privacy is abused worldwide," he said.

Edward Snowden Seeks Asylum In Russia

NSA leaker Edward Snowden has applied for asylum in Russia.

Foreign ministry consul Kim Shevchenko said the request was made on Sunday night. The Kremlin has made no comment. The 30-year-old former CIA analyst is believed to be holed up in a Moscow airport hotel. Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Mr Snowden was welcome to stay as long as he stopped "inflicting damage on our American partners".

The US has not yet made any comment on the latest developments. President Barack Obama, speaking earlier in Tanzania, said Washington and Moscow had held "high level" discussions about Mr Snowden. "We are hopeful the Russian government makes decisions based on the normal procedures regarding international travel and the normal interactions law enforcement have," he told reporters, pointing out that Mr Snowden does not have a valid passport or legal papers.

Earlier reports had said that Snowden was seeking asylum in Ecuador.

Tweet Of The Day - Allen West

Putin: Russia Won't Extradite Snowden

Russian President Vladimir Putin today confirmed news reports that NSA leaker Edward Snowden is presently in a Moscow airport. However Putin said that Snowden is a "free person" and that Russia will not comply with US requests that he be arrested and extradited.

"In the territory of Russia, Mr. Snowden committed no crimes," Putin said. "Mr. Snowden is a free person. The sooner he chooses his final destination, the better it is for us and for him." Putin confirmed that Snowden is in the transit zone of a Moscow airport and has not technically crossed the border in Russia. Even if he had, Putin said Russia and the U.S. don't have a relevant extradition treaty and that any accusations leveled at the Kremlin for not grabbing Snowden were "gibberish" and "nonsense."

Just hours before Putin's comments top U.S. officials warned Russia to turn over the former contractor for the National Security Agency. Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday it would be "very disappointing" if Snowden was "willfully allowed to board an airplane... and there would be without any question some effect on the relationship and consequences." Today the Secretary said that even though Russia and the U.S. do not have a standard extradition treaty, there were still "standards of behavior" between sovereign nations and the request for Snowden was "normal and basic."

According to ABC News, US agents believe Snowden is traveling with four laptops "full of US government secrets."

Nancy Pelosi Booed At Netroots Nation

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi was heckled and booed at this weekend's Netroots Nation convention when she said that Edward Snowden broke the law. Via Politico:

As Pelosi was saying the country needs a “balance” between security and privacy, Marc Perkel, a 57-year-old activist from Gilroy, Calif., started shouting at Pelosi during her answer and was escorted out of the room. “It’s not a balance. It’s not constitutional!” he yelled. “No secret laws!”

Others in the room began shouting as well, saying things like “Leave him alone!” or “That’s what a police state looks like right there!” The moderator, Zerlina Maxwell, worked to quiet the crowd by saying audience members needed to submit questions via Twitter rather than shouting them out, but Pelosi said she didn’t mind.

“I welcome the challenges that people pose because I think that those questions must be answered,” Pelosi said. She was further booed when she said Snowden did break the law by leaking the information he revealed. “As far as Snowden: he did violate the law in terms of releasing those documents,” she said. Some of the crowd erupted in boos, with one man screaming, “You suck!”

Netroots Nation is the country's largest annual gathering of progressive bloggers and journalists.

Al Jazeera On Edward Snowden