US, EU sign data transfer deal to ease privacy concerns
The European Union and United States made a breakthrough in their yearslong battle over the privacy of data that flows across the Atlantic with a preliminary agreement that paves the way for Europeans’ personal information to be stored in the U.S. President Joe Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the deal Friday during Biden’s stop in Brussels while on a European tour amid Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Belarus leader seeks Russian support amid showdown with EU
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has met in Sochi with his Belarusian counterpart for talks on forging closer ties amid Minsk's bruising showdown with the European Union over the forced diversion of a passenger jet to arrest a dissident journalist.
Facebook loses court fight over halting EU-US data transfers
Facebook has lost a legal battle with Ireland’s data privacy watchdog over a European Union privacy decision that could result in the social network being forced to stop transferring data to the U.S. The Irish High Court on Friday rejected Facebook’s bid to block a draft decision by the country’s Data Protection Commission to inquire into, and order the suspension of, the company’s data flows between the European Union and the U.S. The Irish watchdog had launched its inquiry last year...
Despite hacks, US not seeking widened domestic surveillance
The Biden administration is not planning to step up government surveillance of the U.S. internet even as state-backed foreign hackers and cybercriminals increasingly use it to evade detection, a senior administration official said Friday. The official said the administration, mindful of the privacy and civil liberties implications that could arise, is not currently seeking additional authority to monitor U.S.-based networks. AdForeign state hackers are increasingly using U.S.-based virtual private networks, or VPNs, to evade detection by U.S. intelligence agencies, who are legally constrained from monitoring domestic infrastructure. Criminal and state-backed hackers seeking to exploit the underlying flaw are apt to cause more havoc, the administration says. When it comes to the pursuit of new surveillance or monitoring authorities, the official described the administration’s posture as “not yet, not now."
Snowden and his wife seek to be Russian-US dual nationals
MOSCOW – Former U.S. security contractor Edward Snowden said Monday that he and his wife intend to apply for Russian citizenship without renouncing their U.S. citizenship. According to Snowden's lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena, the child, a boy, will be born in December and will have Russian citizenship. That’s why, in this era of pandemics and closed borders, we’re applying for dual U.S.-Russian citizenship,” Snowden said in a tweet Monday. Kucherena told the Interfax news agency that the process of preparing the necessary paperwork for getting Snowden a Russian passport will start soon. Previously the law required foreigners to renounce other nationalities in order to get Russian citizenship.
United States Obtains Final Judgement and Permanent Injunction Against Edward Snowden
In September 2019, the United States filed a lawsuit against Snowden, who published a book entitled Permanent Record in violation of the non-disclosure agreements he signed with both CIA and NSA. Additionally, the lawsuit alleges that Snowden has given public speeches on intelligence-related matters, also in violation of his non-disclosure agreements. The United States’ lawsuit did not seek to stop or restrict the publication or distribution of Permanent Record. “Edward Snowden violated his legal obligations to the United States, and therefore, his unlawful financial gains must be relinquished to the government,” said Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen. This lawsuit is a civil action, and based solely on Snowden’s failure to comply with the clear pre-publication review obligations included in his signed non-disclosure agreements.
justice.govUnited States Obtains Final Judgment and Permanent Injunction Against Edward Snowden
In September 2019, the United States filed a lawsuit against Snowden, who published a book entitled Permanent Record in violation of the non-disclosure agreements he signed with both CIA and NSA. Additionally, the lawsuit alleges that Snowden has given public speeches on intelligence-related matters, also in violation of his non-disclosure agreements. The United States’ lawsuit did not seek to stop or restrict the publication or distribution of Permanent Record. “Edward Snowden violated his legal obligations to the United States, and therefore, his unlawful financial gains must be relinquished to the government,” said Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen. This lawsuit is a civil action, and based solely on Snowden’s failure to comply with the clear pre-publication review obligations included in his signed non-disclosure agreements.
justice.govFacebook may have to stop moving EU user data to US
LONDON Facebook may be forced to stop sending data about its European users to the U.S., in the first major fallout from a recent court ruling that found some trans-Atlantic data transfers don't protect users from American government snooping. The social network said Wednesday that Ireland's Data Protection Commission has started an inquiry into how Facebook shifts data from the European Union to the United States. The news was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, which said Irelands data commission gave Facebook until mid-September to respond to a preliminary order to suspend the transfers. The Irish data commission suggested that a type of legal mechanism governing the data transfers, known as standard contractual clauses, cannot in practice be used for EU-U.S. data transfers," Clegg said. But in cases where there are concerns about data privacy, EU regulators should vet, and if needed block, the transfer of data.
Ex-FBI agent: Attacks from Trump 'outrageous' and 'cruel'
Strzok, a former FBI agent who was fired because of derogatory text messages about Donald Trump, writes in a new book that he believes the president has been compromised by Russia. Strzok, for his part, expresses measured regret for the texts in Compromised: Counterintelligence and the Threat of Donald J. Trump, due out Tuesday. Special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation revealed significant contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia but found insufficient evidence of a criminal conspiracy. By his own count, Strzok says, Trump has attacked him since then more than 100 times in tweets. After Trump accused Strzok of treason, he appealed to the FBI for a statement condemning the remarks, but got none.
Bolton critique of Trump could define tell-all book battles
Trump on Thursday called the book a compilation of lies and made up stories intended to make him look bad. But he never got a formal clearance letter, and the Trump administration contends that the book, titled The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir," still contains sensitive material. Ellis began his review of the Bolton book on May 2 at the behest of national security adviser Robert OBrien. It was initially cleared for publication by Army reviewers, but when spy agency reviewers took a look, they claimed it included classified information that could damage national security. Aftergood, the classifications expert, said the Bolton case has turned the governments little-known prepublication review process into national news.
CIA unit that crafts hacking tools didn't protect itself
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., a senior member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, obtained the redacted report from the Justice Department after it was introduced as evidence in a court case this year involving stolen CIA hacking tools. The 2017 report was produced one year after the theft of sensitive tools for hacking into adversaries' networks that were developed by the CIA's specialized Center for Cyber Intelligence. The disclosure of the hacking tools featured prominently in the trial this year of Joshua Schulte, a former CIA software engineer accused of stealing a large trove of the agencys hacking tools and handing it to WikiLeaks. He was convicted in March of only minor charges after a jury deadlocked on more serious espionage counts against him, including the theft of the hacking tools. The CIAs cyber tools were gone in an instant.
Facebook secures a symbolic victory in EU court battle against privacy activist Max Schrems
Facebook's sharing of data on its European users with the U.S. is legal and provides sufficient protections, the legal advisor to the EU's top court said Thursday. "Standard contractual clauses for the transfer of personal data to processors established in third countries is valid," he said in written opinion Thursday. His non-binding opinion is not a ruling as such, but legal experts say opinions from the advocate general are typically followed by the court in a majority of cases. Privacy activist Max Schrems has been battling Facebook and other internet platforms in the courts for several years. The CJEU advocate general in his written opinion appeared to sympathize with Schrems' concerns about the Privacy Shield, "in the light of the right to respect for private life and the right to an effective remedy."
cnbc.comEdward Snowden must give government money from book because ex-intelligence contractor didn't get approval first, judge says
Former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden poses for a photo during an interview in an undisclosed location in December 2013 in Moscow, Russia. Barton Gellman | Getty ImagesNewly released "Permanent Record" by Edward Snowden is displayed on a shelf at Books Inc. on September 17, 2019 in San Francisco, California. Justin Sullivan | Getty ImagesO'Grady's ruling noted that all three agreements Snowden signed required him to protect information and material of which he had knowledge from unauthorized disclosure. They also required him to submit for review any writings or other presentations he prepared which related to intelligence data or protected information. Snowden's book, which was published in September in the United States by Macmillan Publishing Group, details CIA and NSA intelligence-gathering activities, including classified programs.
cnbc.comSnowden: Lawsuit targeting his book is selective enforcement
Former CIA contractor Edward Snowden says the government is unfairly singling him out in a lawsuit that seeks to block him from profiting off his best-selling memoir. The U.S. says Snowden's book, "Permanent Record," violates secrecy agreements he signed when he worked for the CIA and as a contractor for the National Security Agency . Snowden's lawyers filed papers Wednesday in federal court in Alexandria responding to the lawsuit. He also says the CIA and NSA never would have given Snowden a fair shake if he had followed the rules of his secrecy agreements and submitted his book for prepublication review. "There is a strong likelihood that the government would have subjected Mr. Snowden specifically to such discriminatory treatment," Snowden's lawyers wrote.
chicagotribune.comSnowden 'did more damage to the private sector' than government, says former intelligence lead
Edward Snowden's 2013 leaks hurt U.S. businesses more than the government agencies that lost the information, the recently departed deputy director of national intelligence said Monday. Sue Gordon, who resigned her position with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in August and left the role just last week, was speaking to an audience of corporate executives at CNBC's @Work People + Machines Summit in San Francisco. "One of our favorite insider threats was Edward Snowden, and he did massive damage to the security of the nation just in terms of what he exposed about information operations," Gordon said. "But he did more damage to the private sector. The National Security Agency announced in September it is suing Snowden for failing to submit his recently published book to the government for clearance.
cnbc.comEdward Snowden says 'the most powerful institutions in society have become the least accountable'
Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden speaks via video link at the Web Summit technology conference in Lisbon, Portugal on November 4, 2019. LISBON, Portugal "What do you do when the most powerful institutions in society have become the least accountable to society?" That was the question Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who blew the whistle on numerous global surveillance programs, put to an audience of thousands at the Web Summit technology conference in Lisbon, Portugal on Monday. In 2013, Snowden's name hit the headlines after the whistleblower leaked classified documents with journalists that detailed surveillance programs run by the NSA that tapped people's cell phone and internet communications. Washington subsequently charged Snowden with espionage and theft of government property, while his passport was also revoked.
cnbc.comTrump-Ukraine whistleblower is part of long tradition
"I would say, 'You are obviously a person of integrity and you take it seriously when you hear about wrongdoing,'" Brockovich, the environmental and consumer activist, said in a recent telephone interview. Presidents, military leaders and corporate executives have raged against them, but whistleblowers have been around as long as the country itself. Whistleblowers have a long, diverse and complicated history, right down to the definition and spelling of the word. "Whistleblower" is now one word, generally unhyphenated, and defined by activists as someone who exposes wrongdoing, often from the inside at personal risk. "It isn't surprising to me that the Trump-Ukraine whistleblower is from the intelligence community," says Danielle Brian, executive director of the watchdog Project on Government Oversight.
chicagotribune.comEdward Snowden book coming out Sept. 17
Former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden has written a memoir. The book by the man whose leaks of classified documents transformed the debate about government surveillance is coming out September 17. According to Metropolitan, Snowden will describe his role in the accumulation of metadata and the "crisis of conscience" that led him to steal a trove of files in 2013 and share them with reporters. "Publishing Ed Snowden has been a remarkable learning experience," Sargent told The Associated Press. Snowden's story was told in part in the Oscar-winning documentary "Citizenfour" and in the Oliver Stone movie "Snowden."
chicagotribune.comHere's what former Attorney General Eric Holder thinks of Edward Snowden
Former Attorney General Eric Holder had some unexpected comments about former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, who leaked information about secret U.S. government surveillance programs, calling Snowden's work a "public service" for starting a national debate.
cbsnews.comParis terror attacks raise questions over privacy, security
The intelligence community says new encryption technologies may have helped the Paris attackers hide their plans. Edward Snowden’s NSA leaks are being blamed for revealing government surveillance methods that could help terrorists avoid detection. Jeff Pegues reports.
cbsnews.comPreview: Into Dangerous Hands
Scott Pelley uncovers critical lapses in the U.S. security clearance process that millions of people, including NSA leaker Edward Snowden and convicted spy Chelsea Manning, must pass to work with America’s secrets. Watch Pelley's report on Sunday, Nov. 8 at 7:30 p.m. ET and 7 p.m. PT.
cbsnews.comW.H.: Edward Snowden did not raise surveillance concerns before leaking
: Edward Snowden did not raise surveillance concerns before leaking White House spokesman Jay Carney disputes Edward Snowden's claim that he tried to blow the whistle internally before going public with his leaks of classified government surveillance programs.
cbsnews.comNSA leaker Edward Snowden asks Putin if Russia spies on Russians
NSA leaker Edward Snowden asks Putin if Russia spies on Russians Popping up via video link during a live televised Q&A session with Russian leader, the man who revealed extent of the NSA's data-gathering asks whether Moscow does the same to its citizens. Putin didn't hesitate to answer.
cbsnews.comSnowden questions Putin about spying in Russia
Snowden questions Putin about spying in Russia Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke on a TV call-in show, where he also got a question from NSA leaker Edward Snowden about whether Russia carries out surveillance on its citizens. Norah O'Donnell reports.
cbsnews.comSnowden: Constitution being violated on massive scale
Snowden: Constitution being violated on massive scale Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden broke his silence and told attendees at the South by Southwest Conference in Austin, Tex., that his actions were in defense of the U.S. Constitution. He spoke remotely from Russia by video to a packed meeting of tech industry experts. Omar Villafranca reports.
cbsnews.comSnowden at SXSW: U.S. gov't has "no idea" what documents I've leaked
Snowden at SXSW: U.S. gov't has "no idea" what documents I've leaked Former NSA contractor turned whistleblower Edward Snowden addresses the importance of data encryption during a videoconference at the 2014 South by Southwest Interactive Festival.
cbsnews.comAt SXSW, Snowden calls on developers to keep data safe
At SXSW, Snowden calls on developers to keep data safe During a videoconference at the 2014 South by Southwest Interactive Festival, NSA leaker Edward Snowden says that those in the tech development community are better suited to keep the public's data safe than the people in Washington.
cbsnews.comInside the NSA, The Copts
Inside the NSA, The Copts The NSA allows 60 Minutes cameras inside the agency's secure areas for the first time to explain what it does and what it says it doesn't do: spy on Americans; then, Who is Edward Snowden? John Miller reports on what the NSA has learned about the contractor responsible for stealing 1.7 million classified documents. Plus, see for the first time the black chamber - a secret room where the nation's code breakers work; and, The turmoil in Egypt has led to one of the worse persecutions of the country's Coptic Christians in the nearly 2,000-year history of the sect.
cbsnews.com60 Minutes Overtime, 12.15.13
60 Minutes Overtime, 12.15.13 A conversation with John Miller and 60 Minutes producers about their experience reporting in top-secret areas of the NSA; then, John Miller asked the NSA's Rick Ledgett what he would say to Edward Snowden if given the chance; also, The NSA's Rick Ledgett said system administrators detected that Snowden was downloading confidential documents; and, human rights activist Hossam Bahgat describes the day a peaceful protest in Cairo turned into one of the worst massacres of Christians in modern Egypt.
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