Edward Snowden

USA Patriot Act vs USA Freedom Act

June 12, 2015 — Leave a comment

image

The busy little bees in the Congress are not going to be bored this summer, that is for sure. The clash of the legal titans USA Patriot Act and US Freedom Act is far from over. In addition, all the voices calling Edward Snowden to come back home are perhaps still premature despite their noble intentions.

From what we know for sure, the most decisive battle is going to be fought over the phone records. The NSA has a couple of months left to do what it wants with our phone records. After the moment the USA Freedom Act reaches its full legal power, a court order would be an absolute must in this field.

Either way, this is a tricky situation, and there are no winners here. Our privacy is incurably lost between our need for the flawless security and our desire to be left alone, from time to time. You cannot have it both, can you? One side of this story has to suffer, either our privacy or our safety.

The President Obama is going to have more than one sleepless night. His signature will set the beginning of this legal war. We sure hope that a new devastating terrorist attack is not going to be required to determine a winner. Maybe, it is simply impossible to enjoy your privacy and safety at the same time.

Edward Please Go Back Home

June 9, 2015 — Leave a comment

image

Uniting and Strengthening America by Fulfilling Rights and Ensuring Effective Discipline Over Monitoring Act. Are you confused with this sentence? In order to ease this task for you, we have bolded the most important letters. Your job is to get something meaningful out of it. Do you need more help?

How about the USA Freedom Act? Oh dear, it sounds so lovely and inspirational. What is it supposed to do? Well, for what is worth, this shiny document is supposed to work against the good men in black, who are doing bad things to our privacy. Is it going to be effective and enough?

We only wish that Edward Snowden was here to witness one of the very few acts, which aims directly at the NSA operations. This is an obvious acknowledgement that Snowden has been absolutely right all of this time. However, this is not going to save him from prison.

The world’s most famous whistleblower may never come back home. It is a hard thing to say, but that is not the most important thing. We believe that Snowden would have appreciated a hypothetical situation of not being able to recognize his home country thanks to this and similar acts.

NSA Plays With Google Play

May 27, 2015 — Leave a comment

image

To tell you the truth, we are not quite sure if this is one more of those crazy urban legends or a lost page from Edward Snowden’s diary. However, for what is worth, at some point in time the NSA planed or still plans to get its cyber hands on Google Play. What for? What is there to gain for them, in the first place?

Well, you do not have to be a rocket scientist nor a notorious NSA man in black to know for sure, do you? Instead of paying the countless malicious visits to mobile devices all over the world, it is a much smarter thing to get yourself a nice seat in Google Play and wait for the potential victims. Right?

Google is more or less surprisingly silent on this one. On the other side, it would be ridiculous to think that a users’ exodus is going to take place, if this information proves itself to be true, after all. We are all aware that our cyber privacy is nothing more than a huge and powerful illusion, aren’t we?

In addition, why bother with an expensive, complex and above all a compromising Google Play invasion? We have every reason to believe that for quite some time Google has been giving everything and anything the NSA asked for on a silver plate. We sure hope that Google Play is not a foul play.

White House And Black Cyber Laws

May 10, 2015 — Leave a comment

image

In order to protect you properly, we need to spy on you enormously. Does this sound like a fair or a win-win scenario to you? The White House is a breath away from passing the Protecting Cyber Networks Act. So, what is the catch with a new member of the numerous cyber laws family?

Well, to make the long story short, we will get more surveillance in an exchange for the better cyber security. It seems that our government just cannot get enough of additional authorizations. One fine day, we will not need laws in this extremely controversial field.

Why? Because, every single moment and every available square inch are going to be covered by the state’s surveillance, this way or another. We have every reason to believe that we are not going to make it to the 2084 in order to have a proper anniversary. Are we being too much pessimistic?

Ask Edward Snowden for a second opinion, because he certainly has a lot to tell you about it. In the meantime, there is no other comfort for you than a timeless NSA advice. If you have nothing to hide, then there is nothing to worry about. Seriously? Is that all we are left with?

The Dark Decade

March 17, 2015 — Leave a comment

image

Whenever the most popular whistleblower in the world has something to say, you simply know it is not going to end up well for our cyber security. Edward Snowden is the usual suspect, when it comes to the most annoying partybreakers. So, what happened this time? Speak out you dark cloud.

It turns out that the bad busy little cyber bee in the NSA and the CIA have worked the entire decade in order to infiltrate the IOS system. They were stubborn and merciless, when it comes to the spying on iPhones and iPads. Have they succeeded? Did they bite the Apple, our precious apple?

That is the catch. We do not know, and probably we will never know, for sure. It also makes a perfect sense to claim that Android was not left aside. However, this simply makes you wonder and become helplessly restless, is there a place in the cyber space you can really feel safe and protected? 

The secret government agencies can simply afford themselves to get some of the leading Apple’s developers. You can scare or buy him or her, or touch an ego with an irresistible James Bond story. Why bother for the entire decade? It just does not make any sense, does it? Edward, what are you hiding?

The NSAnet

September 6, 2014 — Leave a comment

image

DO you work in some of the government agencies such as the DEA or the FBI? Do you know what is the ICREACH? OK. Time for some explaining. This is one more of the Snowden’s lessons about the NSA. The ICREACH stands for the Intelligence Community Reach. What in the world is that?

Well, let us put it in this way. This is the NSA Internet, or to be even more precise a specific form of a social networks for secret agents. As soon as you access this network you get an immediate overview of literally billions and billions of extremely sensitive data. How convenient it is indeed. Impressed?

Or, stressed? So, the next time you want to experience the full scale privacy breach, use the NSA’s ICREACH. Nevertheless, the things are a little bit serious in this matter. Therefore, we will leave poems for some other occasion. If other agencies can access the NSA forbidden data kingdom, how about hackers?

Although, the NSA has locked the door and made the key copies for the limited number of users, who can guarantee us that there is no skilled locksmith with dishonest intentions on his mind. Someone, for example, who is listening this story first hand from the most famous whistleblower in history. You know who is that, don’t you?

The Whistleblower On A Magazine Cover

August 20, 2014 — Leave a comment

image

When you see Edward Snowden how firmly he holds the US flag close to his heart on the latest Wired Magazine cover, then you think or say or feel what exactly? For the US citizens and government this is an obvious case of bitter joke or inappropriate sense of humor. For the rest of us he will be a symbol.

Or, maybe a tragic figure who used a time machine to get to us from the ancient Greece. One thing is more than certain in this case. There are no chances for this one to become a win-win situation for him. We are very likely to witness a loose-and-then-loose-again situation for Edward Snowden.

Was it worth it? All these troubles and all this pain. This is a question only he knows an answer to. We have been awakened from a fake dream of flawless IT security and privacy, and there is no way back. The similar thing happened to Neo in The Matrix. Edward did not even ask us to choose between the red and blue pill.

He made a choice in our name. Eventually, he will also suffer consequences in our name. We will make a movie about him. Create a foundation with an annual reward carrying his name. What is there for him personally? Does he wish for a time machine while he reads the Wired Magazine at the Moscow airport?

The NSA Loves the USA

July 17, 2014 — Leave a comment

image

Under some other circumstances, this title could have been used as a nice slogan or children’s song for the 4th of July. However, when you read what is to follow, you are very likely to spoil your good mood about this story. As always, Edward Snowden is to blame for your privacy worst nightmares.

It seems that the NSA has always nine of its ten eyes and all the time for the US citizens. Only one eye left is being used for the international terrorist threats. How is that possible? For what is worth, if you are an American citizen, who for some reason communicate with foreigners.

If for the purpose of this communication you use a foreign language, you qualify immediately for the NSA favorite target of the month. Sad but true, the NSA “cares” more about the potential domestic threats than the international ones. And, this is how we got to the privacy dead-end street.

It may seem as a huge contradiction, but the terrorists all over the world provide such a nice alibi and justification for the NSA’s activities on the home ground. This the trouble with the curve, which is not likely to be solved quickly or easily in the NSA case. Edward Snowden is not the person you should blame, that is for sure.