Tag: Edward Snowden | Hamilton.jerry

April 23, 2014

Brazil Offers Internet Constitution to the World

Yesterday Brazil’s Senate passed ‘Marco Civil da Internet,’ to many known as the Internet Constitution. The Congress, a separate Brazilian legislative body, had passed that bill by the end of last month, so now President Dilma Vana Rousseff’s promised signing will soon make it the law of the land. http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/23/us-internet-brazil-idUSBREA3M00Y20140423

The Internet Constitution arose from the ashes of Edward Snowden’s disclosure of NSA spying on President Rousseff, in 2013, and she took just six months to fast-track a comprehensive balance between corporate, government, and public interests in the Internet. The most controversial provision, to make Google and Facebook keep all data about Brazilian citizens on servers housed within Brazil, ultimately was stricken from the text of the bill. In place the Congress and Senate agreed to extend Brazilian legal jurisdiction worldwide when Brazilian citizens’ data is involved. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marco_Civil_da_Internet

HamiltonFinanceServices.com analysts note that German Chancellor Angela Merkel, also a target of NSA spying, promised in October 2013 before the UN General Assembly to take the idea of the Internet Constitution to the rest of the world. Tim Berners-Lee, one of the inventors of the Internet and a leader of world policy on how the Internet should evolve to maintain its autonomy and decentralized structure, has already voiced key support for the Internet Constitution. Perhaps the Brazilian model will lead the world to policies that fulfill Tim Berners-Lee’s dream. What do you think?

March 31, 2014

More NSA Treachery Discovered By Academics

NSA Worse Than Previously Thought

Just when many believe the US National Security Agency (NSA) could not reach any lower in world judgment about NSA ethics, another report came out today shedding new light on NSA treachery and double dealing. https://www.commondreams.org/headline/2014/01/30-1

Most in the cyber security field have heard already about how RSA, a well-respected pioneer of cyber security through development of encryption tech, had developed a now-useless cryptology for NSA that became the default software used by most commercial computer programs. That cryptology used software into which NSA software engineers placed a backdoor, enabling NSA to hack the majority of computer programs and related communications worldwide just a few years ago. http://www.newsweek.com/exclusive-nsa-infiltrated-rsa-security-more-deeply-thought-study-238906

Now the picture looks worse. Several professors from different universities, including from John Hopkins, Wisconsin, and Illinois, discovered additional NSA tools in the RSA program that accelerated the hacking efficiency by a factor of more than 10,000. That means NSA had no real challenge getting around all RSA security measures very rapidly to decipher all Internet traffic of those using that predominant RSA program. http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/31/us-usa-security-nsa-rsa-idUSBREA2U0TY20140331

Based on HFS surveys and analysis, many today find the behavior of Edward Snowden, who disclosed and continues disclosing to the world data he illegally took from the NSA while working there as a contractor, committed unforgivable treason against his nation. At the same time, those surveyed hold the NSA equally at fault for NSA’s deceptive, abusive, illegal spying domestically and abroad. Combining the bad behavior of both Snowden and NSA, the US has lost credibility in the hearts and minds of its allies, leaving open the door to its competitors for control of the Internet.

What do you think?

March 10, 2014

Assange Skypes to the World About National Security Reporting

National Security Reporting, A New Career Choice

Listening to Julian Assange as he Skyped around the world from the Ecuadorian embassy in London Saturday, one might believe a new career choice has emerged in the field of national security reporting. http://www.theverge.com/2014/3/8/5484784/julian-assange-at-sxsw-wikileaks

The WikiLeaks founder, now fleeing Swedish charges of sexual assault, has holed up in the embassy to avoid what he maintains is a plot to extradite him to the US for prosecution because he broadcast hundreds of thousands of national security documents and refuses to name sources. http://news.yahoo.com/wikileaks-assange-talks-nsa-hints-more-leaks-214516768.html

For about an hour marked by sound outages, Assange described how a new refugee status has emerged as national security reporters become more significant influencers on the world scene. To Assange, the NSA has become a rogue government agency. http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/mar/08/julian-assange-wikileaks-nsa-sxsw The world’s reaction to government overreaching is the new job called ‘national security reporter.’

However, Assange warns that even now the US fails to take Edward Snowden and similar reporters seriously. He says: “We know what happens when the government is serious. Someone is fired, someone is forced to resign, someone is prosecuted, an investigation (is launched), a budget is cut. None of that has happened in the last eight months since the Edward Snowden revelations.”

Analysts at http://HamiltonFinanceServices.com (HFS) argue that to take Snowden and similar leakers seriously would raise them to a new political status due to the importance of changes being made as the result of ongoing court cases, previously report by HFS, that have arisen within the past 6 months. US security service leaders remains indignant and self-righteous, and they will probably stay that way until the US Supreme Court bites them where it hurts, say HFS analysts.

What do you think?

March 8, 2014

NSA Wiretaps: On or Off?

ACLU Appeals Court Approval of NSA Blanket Wiretaps

Yesterday afternoon, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in Manhattan, New York, filed an appeal to overrule a US federal judge’s December 2013 decision that approves of the US National Security Agency (NSA) plan to archive copies of all telephone records of large telephone companies. http://news.yahoo.com/aclu-asks-appeals-court-undo-phone-data-ruling-192626948.html The NSA program has operated for over ten years within the US, according to documents released recently by Edward Snowden. http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-05-10-nsa_x.htm

According to analysts at http://HamiltonFinanceServices.com (HFS), another US federal judge in Washington DC, Richard Leon, ruled in early 2014 that the NSA program unconstitutionally violates the ban against unreasonable search and seizure. Judge Leon stayed his decision so that the US government could file an appeal. https://ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_public_doc?2013cv0851-48

Today HFS analysts predict this question and possibly both of the federal appeals will end up in the US Supreme Court, as impacts of the Edward Snowden leaks continue to unfold across the globe. Those analysts opine that for good or ill, Snowden has changed the course of history.

What do you think?

February 22, 2014

Was Edward Snowden Justified Disclosing Illegal US Government Spy Conduct?

Edward Snowden, while employed by a contractor working for a US government agency, disclosed through various means information considered classified by the US government about that government’s unlawful spy activities worldwide and within the US. Was he justified?

The fallout from Snowden’s disclosures persist through today. http://www.democracynow.org/2014/2/18/julian_assange_on_being_placed_on

The attorney for Snowden this week suffered interrogation by British authorities, presumeably simply because of serving as Snowden’s legal counsel.http://www.democracynow.org/2014/2/18/attorney_for_edward_snowden_interrogated_at

Here at HamiltonFinanceServices.com we hold the following opinion: Edward Snowden was faced with a moral dilemma of historic proportions when he became aware through his employment of classified information about US government spy activities worldwide and within the US, and Mr. Snowden chose to act in accordance with his conscience to violate the laws of the US. That choice has already caused many changes in US and international conduct, and we expect continual changes to unfold for the foreseeable future and beyond. http://www.thenation.com/article/178467/what-snowden-leaked-was-nothing-compared-what-he-didnt

The thought that US government spies watched the Internet activities of millions without consent or notice chills free speech and privacy to unparalleled levels. http://www.theguardian.com/world/edward-snowden

Here at http://HamiltonFinanceServices.com we feel embarrassed by recent actions of the US government disclosed through Edward Snowden’s actions.

What do you think?