NSA SURVEILLANCE: Germany a primary example of NSA SURVEILLANCE cooperation says Edward Snowden

Edward Snowden: Germany a 'primary example' of NSA surveillance cooperation

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Big Tech and the Rise of Surveillance Capitalism - by Mark Kernan

Read more at: 

https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/05/06/big-tech-and-the-rise-of-surveillance-capitalism/

Surveillance: Trump's lips sealed on surveillance, complains EU privacy chief - by Alexander J Martin

The US administration has been keeping schtum regarding President Trump's plans to adhere to promises made by Obama's government on how EU citizens' data would be protected from the NSA's mass-surveillance activities.

Giovanni Buttarelli, the EU's data protection supervisor, has complained that his office is "waiting for a phone call" from the Trump administration regarding commitments made to the new Privacy Shield agreement, which extends the protections of EU data regulations to the US when EU citizens' data is transported there.

At the International Association of Privacy Professionals' (IAPP) Global Privacy Summit in Washington DC, Buteralli said that nobody from the administration had been in touch to discuss the new agreement since Trump took office.

"We're waiting for a phone call one of these days, one of these weeks," said Buttarelli. "We've given them time... and they have extremely professional people still in the administration and different players may be identified. But we are in limbo, and we hope they will take initiative soon."

Read more: Trump's lips sealed on surveillance, complains EU privacy chief • The Register

Security on-line: An Internet primer for healthy web habits - by Doug Bernard

I

Internet surveillance by Government and the Private sector

nformation may want to flow freely, but there are plenty of forces that want to dam up the web’s flow of information and punish those who try to fight back.
In particular, some governments are working hard to wall off parts of the Internet by filtering and blocking what people can see. Others are exploiting the open nature of the web to spy on individuals and punish them for what they do Internet Surveillance online.

As surveillance and censoring technologies advance, so, too, do new tools for your computer or mobile device that help protect your privacy and break through Internet censorship.

Think of this project as something like a primer on Internet circumvention and anonymity.

This is a basic overview on what the challenges are and how to fight back, emphasis on “basic.”  This is not a complete, iron-clad, never-changing rule book. Rather, think of this as a general guide to discuss a few key concepts and introduce several tools that can help you keep the Internet relatively free and safe.

Circumvention is not anonymity: Breaking through a firewall does not equal keeping yourself anonymous online. Some of the tools we’ll focus on will help you both circumvent blocks as well as shield your identity while online. Others tend to do one or the other, but not both.

Every country, just like every user, is different: If you’re planning on doing a lot of uploading, or live in a country where the government actively spies on what users are doing, you probably want to select a tool with high anonymity. If you mostly just want to reach websites that your government blocks, you may be OK using tools that just help you do that. And remember, no one tool can do everything, so you may want to try your own mix of protection and circumvention.

Sometimes government isn’t the problem: In the early 2000s, two Chinese dissidents, Wang Xiaoning and Shi Tao, were jailed by China for their online activities. What wasn’t widely known at the time is that Yahoo voluntarily turned over the pair’s email records to Chinese authorities, which were then used by prosecutors. It’s important to remember that private corporations which operate websites and ISPs are constantly gathering all sorts of data on you – sometimes for their own profit, and sometimes at the order of a government.

Some tools are better than others: In 2009 during what some called the “Twitter Revolution,” Iranians took to the streets to protest recent elections and used websites, social media and other online tools to organize. That is, until the government cracked down. Then along came a new tool called “Haystack” that was supposed to help Iranians evade government blocks. However, because of a programming flaw, “Haystack” also likely exposed many of its users to Iranian authorities before it was shut down.  Lesson: new isn’t necessarily better.

Practice good web hygiene: Just like you need a little discipline in your personal life, you should always employ some basic habits when going online. Try not to use public WiFi, as anyone can easily monitor what you’re doing and steal personal information. If you’re using a web browser, try to use HTTPS encryption as often as you can. Don’t open emails from people you don’t know, or attachments you haven’t asked for. Clear your browser’s history and cookies file as often as you can. You don’t need to be fearful about using the web, but a little skepticism goes a long way.

Nothing’s perfect: If there’s one thing that can be said with perfect certainty, it’s that there is no 100 percent guarantee of anonymity and free access online. If a government wants badly enough to control what you do online, specially if you are a criminal or terrorist, they’ll probably find a way.

Here are some of the  links too tools you can download to circumvent potential surveillance services whatever they may be.

	\
DNS
Freegate
PGP
Psiphon
TOR (The Onion Router)
UltraSurf
VPN (Virtual Private Network)

Read more: An Internet primer for healthy web habits | VOA Special Report

Prepare yourself for a world of constant surveillance by insurance companies

Nest, a connected-appliance company owned by Google, announced yesterday that it has partnered with insurance companies to offer discounts to customers willing to share data generated by Nest’s smoke detector.

According to Quartz reporter Alice Truong, who attended the Nest launch event, the data shared with insurance companies is just to make sure that Wi-Fi, batteries, and sensors are working properly. In return, American Family Insurance and Liberty Mutual, two insurance companies, will offer customers discounts on their premiums, amounting to about 5%.

On the face of it, this makes sense. Insurance companies are in the business of measuring—and, where possible, minimizing—risk. If they can be assured that a homeowner is taking steps to avoid a fire, then they can be more confident offering insurance. And the lower risk of a fire can be reflected in a lower price to the insurance buyer.

Consumers have long been accustomed to sharing their financial information with credit rating agencies and, more recently, their web browsing and mobile phone data with the advertising and marketing industries. Now, it is the actuaries who want to know what you’re up to.

In some cases, such tracking makes insurance possible for people who otherwise had no access to it. In South Africa, one company offers life insurance to HIV-positive people so long as they agree to regular blood tests and anti-retroviral medication. It is in the best interests of the company to keep its policyholders healthy.

The most widespread use of tracking has been for auto insurance. Progressive, an American insurer, provides discounts of between 10% and 15% to customers who agree to share data on their driving habits with the company. In Italy and the UK, this usage-based insurance has been growing in popularity, with up to a fifth of all car insurance policies linked to tracking.

A report (pdf) about usage-based car insurance published last year by Deloitte predicted that the auto industry was just the beginning: “Before too long the use of sensory technologies that permit behavioral underwriting by insurers is likely to be expanded beyond auto insurance into homeowners, life and health coverages, and perhaps even non-auto commercial lines as well, such as workers’ compensation.”

That future is creeping into view. The worry is that if such forms of insurance become mainstream, sharing data may no longer be optional in practice: instead of a discount for those who do, there may be penalties for those who don’t. “In the end, serving the ‘naysayers’ may become a specialty market niche for some carriers,” the Deloitte report suggested.\\

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Freedom of the Press USA: Seymour Hersh on Obama, NSA and the 'pathetic' American media - by Lisa O 'Carroll

Seymour Hersh has got some extreme ideas on how to fix journalism – close down the news bureaus of NBC and ABC, sack 90% of editors in publishing and get back to the fundamental job of journalists which, he says, is to be an outsider.

It doesn't take much to fire up Hersh, the investigative journalist who has been the nemesis of US presidents since the 1960s and who was once described by the Republican party as "the closest thing American journalism has to a terrorist".
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He is angry about the timidity of journalists in America, their failure to challenge the White House and be an unpopular messenger of truth.

Don't even get him started on the New York Times which, he says, spends "so much more time carrying water for Obama than I ever thought they would" – or the death of Osama bin Laden. "Nothing's been done about that story, it's one big lie, not one word of it is true," he says of the dramatic US Navy Seals raid in 2011 [see footnote].

Hersh is writing a book about national security and has devoted a chapter to the bin Laden killing. He says a recent report put out by an "independent" Pakistani commission about life in the Abottabad compound in which Bin Laden was holed up would not stand up to scrutiny. "The Pakistanis put out a report, don't get me going on it. Let's put it this way, it was done with considerable American input. It's a bullshit report," he says hinting of revelations to come in his book.

The Obama administration lies systematically, he claims, yet none of the leviathans of American media, the TV networks or big print titles, challenge him.

"It's pathetic, they are more than obsequious, they are afraid to pick on this guy [Obama]," he declares in an interview with the Guardian.

"It used to be when you were in a situation when something very dramatic happened, the president and the minions around the president had control of the narrative, you would pretty much know they would do the best they could to tell the story straight. Now that doesn't happen any more. Now they take advantage of something like that and they work out how to re-elect the president.

He isn't even sure if the recent revelations about the depth and breadth of surveillance by the National Security Agency will have a lasting effect.

Read more:  Seymour Hersh on Obama, NSA and the 'pathetic' American media | Media | The Guardian

Privacy Violations: Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile) to follow Vodafone in revealing surveillance - Juliette Garside

Germany's biggest telecoms company is to follow Vodafone in disclosing for the first time the number of surveillance requests it receives from governments around the world.

Deutsche Telekom, which owns half of Britain's EE mobile network and operates in 14 countries including the US, Spain and Poland, has already published surveillance data for its home nation – one of the countries that have reacted most angrily to the Edward Snowden revelations. In the wake of Vodafone's disclosures, first published in the Guardian on Friday, it announced that it would extend its disclosures to every other market where it operates and where it is legal.

A spokeswoman for Deutsche Telekom, which has 140 million customers worldwide, said: "Deutsche Telekom has initially focused on Germany when it comes to disclosure of government requests.

We are currently checking if and to what extent our national companies can disclose information. We intend to publish something similar to Vodafone."

Bosses of the world's biggest mobile networks, many of which have headquarters in Europe, are gathering for an industry conference in Shanghai this weekend, and the debate is expected to centre on whether they should join Deutsche and Vodafone in using transparency to push back against the use of their technology for government surveillance.

Mobile companies, unlike social networks, cannot operate without a government-issued licence, and have previously been reluctant to discuss the extent of their cooperation with national security and law enforcement agencies.

But Vodafone broke cover on Friday by confirming that in around half a dozen of the markets in which it operates, governments in Europe and outside have installed their own secret listening equipment on its network and those of other operators.

Under this direct access system, wires suck up traffic at key points in the network, allowing unfettered access to the content of phone conversations and text messages, and in some cases delivering

Read more: Deutsche Telekom to follow Vodafone in revealing surveillance | World news | The Guardian

NSA Spy Saga : Britain the US's Faithful Servant - Surveillance: complacency, secrecy –Britain's great vices

It is becoming a cautionary tale of two countries, their myths and instinctive reactions. One, a great superpower, reveres but also distrusts power itself. The over-arching state is a source of suspicion. Citizens naturally fear it; they balk at policies that seem to hand over influence to a distant, federal centre. They see themselves as vibrant individuals, sons of the pioneers. Popular culture lauds Jason Bourne, a lonely warrior against malignant, controlling spooks. The great heroes of journalism revealed presidential conspiracies.

Today's most manifest foes are giant government schemes in the style of "Obamacare", a supposed bewilderment of tick boxes, crocked computers and cash leaking from a denuded exchequer. Reforms of this type may be ritually denounced as "socialism", taking away the hallowed right of ordinary Joes to spend 15% of their income on pills and visits to a doctor who earns considerably more than Joe.

The other nation – once the centre of an empire that spanned the world – may boast of its closeness to this introverted superpower. It believes it has a special relationship, speaks the same language, shares aspirations and secrets. But the difference at the core is profound. Britain still trusts in the benevolent state. Safeguarding its National Health Service, a Labour creation that dwarfs Obama's reform, is the most totemic policy in its politics, a "national religion". Voters still hanker after a return to state-run water, gas, electricity and rail services when they talk to pollsters.

James Bond, a laughing, fornicating cavalier of a secret agent, is the spook of choice. Editors across Fleet Street denounce unpatriotic journalists who rock M's boat. The British assume governments are on their side.

They may not hold much personal brief for the politicians or the mandarins who serve them. But they still look to Whitehall and Westminster for help, for action, for everything. And it is this distinction, this canyon of incomprehension, which so shapes the world of the US National Security Agency and its faithful servant, GCHQ Cheltenham.

There is a simple, media-friendly narrative that seems to encompass six months of revelations from Edward Snowden. It finds American editors and politicians swiftly incensed by the stories in the Guardian, New York Times, Washington Post and Der Spiegel. Complacent reassurances from security chiefs don't wash. Courts belabour "Orwellian" practices. President Obama sets up a high-level review group to tell him what needs to be done. These experienced DC trusties, reporting last week, recommend fundamental shifts and reforms in NSA behaviour: on encryption, on the storage of meta data, on surveillance of overseas leaders, and much, much more.


Meanwhile the Snowden trove, carefully decoded, its contents weighed, continues to surprise and shock. What's GCHQ doing bugging German government offices, listening to EU Commission conversations, tuning in to hear what the Israeli PM's got to say … or leering over Unicef's shoulder, for heaven's sake? Are our enemies in the supposed war on terror doctors saving lives in the African bush? This story, self-evidently, isn't over. Whistles will blow, and blow again. The spooks of high technology will have much more to answer for in the coming year
Read more::Surveillance: complacency, secrecy –Britain's great vices | Observer editorial | Comment is free | The Observer

Surveillance: European Union Seeks Drone and Spy Satellite Network - by Chris Marsden

After feigning outrage over the US spying on European citizens, the European Union has proposed the creation of what amounts to a pan-European equivalent to the National Security Agency (NSA), armed with a European drone programme and a spy satellite network.

The extent of collusion between the European powers and the NSA in the mass surveillance of EU citizens has already been made apparent by the exposures from whistle-blower Edward Snowden.

The PRISM program was developed in collusion with the United Kingdom. Together with the UK’s own Tempora system, PRISM gives full access to the emails, phone calls, social network records and browser histories of millions of people, obtained by tapping into the fibre optic network of the Internet. Germany’s collaboration with the NSA is also extensive, making it a prime European hub for operations in Afghanistan as well as for gathering data on European citizens. France’s independent system of data collection has been exposed, and it must be assumed that every other state has similar operations in place.

This is no longer considered sufficient. The European powers are intent on acquiring the full panoply of mechanisms of surveillance and repression possessed by the US. They are citing Snowden’s revelations as justification for overcoming the advantages in this area presently enjoyed by Washington.

“The Edward Snowden scandal shows us that Europe needs its own autonomous security capabilities. This proposal is one step further towards European defence integration,” a senior EU official recently told the DailyTelegraph. “Looking at the current gaps, possibilities could be from surveillance Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS, or drones) to airlift and command and communication facilities.”

Read more: European Union Seeks Drone and Spy Satellite Network | Global Research