Brian Krebs has an interesting article up, http://krebsonsecurity.com/2014/10/silk-road-lawyers-poke-holes-in-fbis-story/, about the trial of alleged leader of Silk Road.
Short version, government's explanation for how they found the hidden servers appears to be BS.
This seems like they are hiding real way & means that they discovered the information.
Which, though IANAL, isn't legal as I understand it, in US Trials, there is a step called "Discovery" see http://www.americanbar.org/groups/public_education/resources/law_related_education_network/how_courts_work/discovery.html & http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_discovery_under_United_States_federal_law.
So unlike TV or Movie Courtroom drama, there isn't surprise evidence introduced in the middle of the trial.
There are several reasons why information isn't supposed to be hidden during Discovery.
Discovery reduces wasting time, Judges generally have more cases than they can get to in any given time period, so as a practical matter, parties are encouraged to settle before Court date.
It also reduces some types of false testimony & evidence, or at least makes it easier to illuminate that it is occurring.
Showing posts with label Snowden. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Snowden. Show all posts
Monday, October 6, 2014
Thursday, September 11, 2014
DEFCON 22: Dark Mail Ladar Levison and Stephen Watt
DEF CON 22 Darkmail
Ladar Levison & Stephan Watt
I also strongly recommend Leo Laporte's interview of Ladar Levison on Triangulation, its available as podcast on iTunes or as download at
http://twit.tv/show/triangulation/125
Nerd News: "U.S. threatened massive fine to force Yahoo to release data"
Washington Post article about how US Government forced Yahoo to hand over information & messages from its users.
And forced their participation in PRISM.
Washington Post article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/us-threatened-massive-fine-to-force-yahoo-to-release-data/2014/09/11/38a7f69e-39e8-11e4-9c9f-ebb47272e40e_story.html
Wikipedia PRISM:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM_%28surveillance_program%29
And forced their participation in PRISM.
Washington Post article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/us-threatened-massive-fine-to-force-yahoo-to-release-data/2014/09/11/38a7f69e-39e8-11e4-9c9f-ebb47272e40e_story.html
Wikipedia PRISM:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM_%28surveillance_program%29
Thursday, May 29, 2014
Snowden responds to email NSA released via ICON
I Blogged here about supposedly only email NSA could find where Snowden seemed to be following procedure for complaints, concerns, & whistle blowing.
I had more than one sad chuckle reading Snowden's response at The Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/edward-snowden-responds-to-release-of-e-mail-by-us-officials/2014/05/29/95137e1c-e781-11e3-afc6-a1dd9407abcf_story.html
Like I speculated in my previous blog post, Snowden realized the official system wasn't designed to correct problems.
He states that in the article linked above.
But more telling, he mentions another specific correspondence that they certainly have:
Source for quote same as link at top http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/edward-snowden-responds-to-release-of-e-mail-by-us-officials/2014/05/29/95137e1c-e781-11e3-afc6-a1dd9407abcf_story.html
Sure sounds to me like Snowden's focus is to bring accountability to NSA & other agencies under the DNI http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Director_of_National_Intelligence.
I'd also suggest reading http://www.emptywheel.net/2014/05/29/snowdens-emailed-question-addresses-one-abuse-revealed-by-his-leaks/
I had more than one sad chuckle reading Snowden's response at The Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/edward-snowden-responds-to-release-of-e-mail-by-us-officials/2014/05/29/95137e1c-e781-11e3-afc6-a1dd9407abcf_story.html
Like I speculated in my previous blog post, Snowden realized the official system wasn't designed to correct problems.
He states that in the article linked above.
But more telling, he mentions another specific correspondence that they certainly have:
"Today’s release is incomplete, and does not include my correspondence with the Signals Intelligence Directorate’s Office of Compliance, which believed that a classified executive order could take precedence over an act of Congress, contradicting what was just published. It also did not include concerns about how indefensible collection activities - such as breaking into the back-haul communications of major US internet companies - are sometimes concealed under E.O. 12333 to avoid Congressional reporting requirements and regulations."
Source for quote same as link at top http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/edward-snowden-responds-to-release-of-e-mail-by-us-officials/2014/05/29/95137e1c-e781-11e3-afc6-a1dd9407abcf_story.html
Sure sounds to me like Snowden's focus is to bring accountability to NSA & other agencies under the DNI http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Director_of_National_Intelligence.
I'd also suggest reading http://www.emptywheel.net/2014/05/29/snowdens-emailed-question-addresses-one-abuse-revealed-by-his-leaks/
Security & Hacking: NSA & Snowden email correspondence
http://icontherecord.tumblr.com/post/87218708448/edward-j-snowden-email-inquiry-to-the-nsa-office is link for most recently released email, released by NSA, of correspondence between Snowden & Office of General Counsel.
[Edited to add: Strange that they released this email, they claimed Snowden's emails were exempt from FOIA & that they didn't have records, because he was never a NSA or CSS employee? see https://www.muckrock.com/foi/united-states-of-america-10/edward-snowden-employeecontractor-reviewsagreements-5971/]
He asks for some clarification about Executive Orders, that they are of lesser authority than Federal Statues.
In addition to the email, IC On The Record states that they can't find any other evidence that Snowden was trying to fix problems through official procedures or channels.
Based on this statement:
That doesn't fit the facts very well.
Consider that Snowden turned over the document collection to the reporters that he had decided to trust. And refused to dictate the agenda.
He certainly could have released fewer documents, or only documents that targeted what he wanted revenge against, or even had sold the documents.
He didn't do that.
Funny thing is, many of the claims of government officials & politicians have repeatedly been proven to be false by the documents released so far.
Not to mention court cases that had been denied because standing couldn't be proved until documents Snowden released were published by reporters. Or in other words, Snowden enabled Courts to actually provide a check on Executive branch of government, including NSA, like they are supposed to do.
More on US Seperation of Powers:
More on IC On The Record, according to info on their site http://icontherecord.tumblr.com/post/58838654347/welcome-to-ic-on-the-record: Created at the direction of the President of the United States, IC ON THE RECORD provides immediate, ongoing and direct access to factual information related to the lawful foreign surveillance activities carried out by the U.S. Intelligence Community
Despite that data, some still try to claim Snowden did this for fame/notoriety or out of spite.
I suppose that is possible based on the evidence we have so far, but it doesn't seem targeted, or focused, with that as a primary goal.
Also based on the pattern of denials by Government, followed by documentation that prove those denials false, I wouldn't be surprised if eventually, documentation surfaces showing that Snowden did attempt to resolve at least some issues through official means.
Need to remember that Snowden seems smart, one of the most frequent comments from people that meet him.
Note smart people tend to learn quickly, I doubt it would have taken many failures to fix things through official means for Snowden to realize the official means were designed to maintain status quo, not fix things.
Being a smart nerd, he would have then searched for some way to fix that problem.
[Edited to add: Strange that they released this email, they claimed Snowden's emails were exempt from FOIA & that they didn't have records, because he was never a NSA or CSS employee? see https://www.muckrock.com/foi/united-states-of-america-10/edward-snowden-employeecontractor-reviewsagreements-5971/]
He asks for some clarification about Executive Orders, that they are of lesser authority than Federal Statues.
In addition to the email, IC On The Record states that they can't find any other evidence that Snowden was trying to fix problems through official procedures or channels.
Based on this statement:
"There are numerous avenues that Mr. Snowden could have used to raise other concerns or whistleblower allegations. We have searched for additional indications of outreach from him in those areas and to date have not discovered any engagements related to his claims."It seems clear they (Executive Branch of Government) are continuing to portray Snowden as someone who refused to follow correct procedures and just wanted some personal gain or revenge.
That doesn't fit the facts very well.
Consider that Snowden turned over the document collection to the reporters that he had decided to trust. And refused to dictate the agenda.
He certainly could have released fewer documents, or only documents that targeted what he wanted revenge against, or even had sold the documents.
He didn't do that.
Funny thing is, many of the claims of government officials & politicians have repeatedly been proven to be false by the documents released so far.
Not to mention court cases that had been denied because standing couldn't be proved until documents Snowden released were published by reporters. Or in other words, Snowden enabled Courts to actually provide a check on Executive branch of government, including NSA, like they are supposed to do.
More on US Seperation of Powers:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Separation_of_powers_under_the_United_States_Constitution
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Separation_of_powers#United_States
More on IC On The Record, according to info on their site http://icontherecord.tumblr.com/post/58838654347/welcome-to-ic-on-the-record: Created at the direction of the President of the United States, IC ON THE RECORD provides immediate, ongoing and direct access to factual information related to the lawful foreign surveillance activities carried out by the U.S. Intelligence Community
Despite that data, some still try to claim Snowden did this for fame/notoriety or out of spite.
I suppose that is possible based on the evidence we have so far, but it doesn't seem targeted, or focused, with that as a primary goal.
Also based on the pattern of denials by Government, followed by documentation that prove those denials false, I wouldn't be surprised if eventually, documentation surfaces showing that Snowden did attempt to resolve at least some issues through official means.
Need to remember that Snowden seems smart, one of the most frequent comments from people that meet him.
Note smart people tend to learn quickly, I doubt it would have taken many failures to fix things through official means for Snowden to realize the official means were designed to maintain status quo, not fix things.
Being a smart nerd, he would have then searched for some way to fix that problem.
Monday, December 9, 2013
Nerd News: NSA & GCHQ so BM
"NSA and GCHQ collect gamers' chats and deploy real-life agents into World of Warcraft and Second Life" ~http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/09/nsa-spies-online-games-world-warcraft-second-life
NSA document [PDF], written in 2008 and titled Exploiting Terrorist Use of Games & Virtual Environments http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/dec/09/nsa-files-games-virtual-environments-paper-pdf
The Guardian broke this story along with NYT & ProPublica:
NSA document [PDF], written in 2008 and titled Exploiting Terrorist Use of Games & Virtual Environments http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/dec/09/nsa-files-games-virtual-environments-paper-pdf
The Guardian broke this story along with NYT & ProPublica:
- http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/10/world/spies-dragnet-reaches-a-playing-field-of-elves-and-trolls.html
- http://www.propublica.org/article/world-of-spycraft-intelligence-agencies-spied-in-online-games
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Random Wikipedia of the Day (RWotD): Church Committee
A lot of people concerned about NSA because of Edward Snowden may not be familiar with the Church Committee, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_Committee.
The Church Committee was a US Senate Committee that looked into illeagal spying by the NSA, FBI, & CIA back in 1975.
I was reminded of it when I read this Gawker article http://gawker.com/after-30-years-of-silence-the-original-nsa-whistleblow-1454865018 on Perry Fellwock (aka Winslow Peck), a former NSA employee turned Whistleblower back in 1971 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry_Fellwock.
To see more post like this, just click on the Random Wikipedia of the Day RWotD label, more labels can be found in cloud at left side of blog and at bottom left of every post.
The Church Committee was a US Senate Committee that looked into illeagal spying by the NSA, FBI, & CIA back in 1975.
I was reminded of it when I read this Gawker article http://gawker.com/after-30-years-of-silence-the-original-nsa-whistleblow-1454865018 on Perry Fellwock (aka Winslow Peck), a former NSA employee turned Whistleblower back in 1971 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry_Fellwock.
To see more post like this, just click on the Random Wikipedia of the Day RWotD label, more labels can be found in cloud at left side of blog and at bottom left of every post.
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
NSA News: "Declassified court documents highlight NSA violations"
Source: http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/world/declassified-fisa-court-documents-on-intelligence-collection/447/
Story: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/declassified-court-documents-highlight-nsa-violations/2013/09/10/60b5822c-1a4b-11e3-a628-7e6dde8f889d_story.html
Snippet from story above:
Really disturbing, and shows how blatantly NSA officials, Senator Feinstein, and President Obama have been lying when they claim no serious or intentional violations.
Direct quote from President Obama:
I am seeing a pretty consistent pattern here, and it certainly isn't a positive one.
Sources & Additional information:
Story: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/declassified-court-documents-highlight-nsa-violations/2013/09/10/60b5822c-1a4b-11e3-a628-7e6dde8f889d_story.html
Snippet from story above:
"“The court finds that the government’s failure to ensure that responsible officials adequately understood the NSA’s alert list process, and to accurately report its implementation to the court, has prevented for more than two years both the government and the FISC from taking steps to remedy daily violations,” Walton wrote. "
Really disturbing, and shows how blatantly NSA officials, Senator Feinstein, and President Obama have been lying when they claim no serious or intentional violations.
Direct quote from President Obama:
"And if you look at the reports, even the disclosures that Mr. Snowden's put forward, all the stories that have been written, what you're not reading about is the government actually abusing these programs and, you know, listening in on people's phone calls or inappropriately reading people's emails." ~http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/transcript-president-obamas-august-9-2013-news-conference-at-the-white-house/2013/08/09/5a6c21e8-011c-11e3-9a3e-916de805f65d_story_4.htmlThen consider this tweet, https://twitter.com/csoghoian/status/377440206284406785:
"Ex-FBI general counsel Valerie Caproni, fan of surveillance backdoors, confirmed by Senate to be federal judge in NY. http://www.mainjustice.com/2013/09/10/senate-confirms-former-fbi-general-counsel-for-seat-on-u-s-district-court/ … "Note that Valerie Caproni was nominated by President Barack Obama, based on her excellent record in the FBI I assume, from Wikipedia
House Judiciary Committee Chair John Conyers, Jr's statement: "Today’s hearing showed that the FBI broke the law on telephone records privacy and the General Counsel’s Office, headed by Valerie Caproni, sanctioned it and must face consequences. I call upon FBI Director Mueller to take immediate action to punish those who violated the rules, including firing them from the agency. This must include the FBI Office of General Counsel, headed by Valerie Caproni, which the IG testified today had approved [the] continued use of exigent letters and provided legal advice that was inconsistent with federal law. Between 2003 and 2006, the FBI improperly obtained personal telephone record information from U.S. telephone companies for more than 5,500 phone numbers, including private details protected by federal law. "
I am seeing a pretty consistent pattern here, and it certainly isn't a positive one.
Sources & Additional information:
- TRANSCRIPT: President Obama’s August 9, 2013, news conference at the White House http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/transcript-president-obamas-august-9-2013-news-conference-at-the-white-house/2013/08/09/5a6c21e8-011c-11e3-9a3e-916de805f65d_story_4.html
- Declassified FISA court documents on intelligence collection http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/world/declassified-fisa-court-documents-on-intelligence-collection/447/
- NSA’s pipe dream: Weakening crypto will only help the “good guys” http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/09/nsas-pipe-dream-weakening-crypto-will-only-help-the-good-guys/
- Ex-FBI lawyer linked to surveillance abuses poised for federal judge post Valerie Caproni, up for judgeship in important terrorism court, likely to come under fresh scepticism in wake of NSA revelations http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/06/fbi-lawyer-surveillance-judge-valerie-caproni
- Wikipedia Valerie Caproni http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valerie_E._Caproni
- Lawmakers Probe Willful Abuses of Power by NSA Analysts http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-23/nsa-analysts-intentionally-abused-spying-powers-multiple-times.html
- Loveint http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2013/08/23/nsa-officers-sometimes-spy-on-love-interests/
Update on John Hopkins University and NSA blog posts
"I just received a very kind formal apology from the Interim Dean of JHU Whiting School of Engineering." Matthew Green ~https://twitter.com/matthew_d_green/status/377491743870291968
Andrew Douglas, the interim Dean involved, wrote a very manner (to use a SC2/Korean phrase) apology, he also released a copy to the press.
A copy of the apology can be read at http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/09/university-apologizes-for-censoring-crypto-prof-over-anti-nsa-post/.
I know from personal experience how hard it is to admit your wrong about something serious and apologize.
Andrew Douglas, Ph.D. has earned my respect by the way he dealt with this issue, once he realized a mistake had been made.
As I have stated before, everyone makes mistakes, only foolish people fail to learn from them.
I like to think wise people learn from the mistakes of others, so they have opportunity to make their own original mistakes.
Andrew Douglas, the interim Dean involved, wrote a very manner (to use a SC2/Korean phrase) apology, he also released a copy to the press.
A copy of the apology can be read at http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/09/university-apologizes-for-censoring-crypto-prof-over-anti-nsa-post/.
I know from personal experience how hard it is to admit your wrong about something serious and apologize.
Andrew Douglas, Ph.D. has earned my respect by the way he dealt with this issue, once he realized a mistake had been made.
As I have stated before, everyone makes mistakes, only foolish people fail to learn from them.
I like to think wise people learn from the mistakes of others, so they have opportunity to make their own original mistakes.
Monday, September 9, 2013
Nerd News: "Crypto prof asked to remove NSA-related blog post"
Update: Matthew Green has received a kind apology http://cliffsesportcorner.blogspot.com/2013/09/update-on-john-hopkins-university-and.html
****
Ars article http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/09/crypto-prof-asked-to-remove-nsa-related-blog-post/
This really upsets me, on several levels.
I consider Matthew Green a mentor, in addition to being (IMVHO) one of the most knowledgeable people in cryptography.
His twitter is @matthew_d_green link https://twitter.com/matthew_d_green & his blog is at http://blog.cryptographyengineering.com/
I also strongly recommend the Resource page of his blog http://blog.cryptographyengineering.com/p/useful-cryptography-resources.html
****
Ars article http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/09/crypto-prof-asked-to-remove-nsa-related-blog-post/
This really upsets me, on several levels.
I consider Matthew Green a mentor, in addition to being (IMVHO) one of the most knowledgeable people in cryptography.
His twitter is @matthew_d_green link https://twitter.com/matthew_d_green & his blog is at http://blog.cryptographyengineering.com/
I also strongly recommend the Resource page of his blog http://blog.cryptographyengineering.com/p/useful-cryptography-resources.html
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Very interesting NYT article about Snowden, Laura Poitras, & Glenn Greenwald
Longer, more in depth article http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/18/magazine/laura-poitras-snowden.html?pagewanted=all and a shorter one that is also used in longer article http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/18/magazine/snowden-maass-transcript.html
Lot of people know who Snowden and Greenwald are now, I think fewer know who Laura Poitras is, sad to say I didn't before seeing this article.
For quick reference about these people see their Wikipedia links:
Close reading of the NYT's article can provide some useful insights and tidbits to serious security.
I also want to note one comment by Snowden:
Lot of people know who Snowden and Greenwald are now, I think fewer know who Laura Poitras is, sad to say I didn't before seeing this article.
For quick reference about these people see their Wikipedia links:
- Poitras http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Poitras
- Greenwald http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Greenwald
- Snowden http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Snowden
Close reading of the NYT's article can provide some useful insights and tidbits to serious security.
I also want to note one comment by Snowden:
"I was surprised to realize that there were people in news organizations who didn’t recognize any unencrypted message sent over the Internet is being delivered to every intelligence service in the world. In the wake of this year’s disclosures, it should be clear that unencrypted journalist-source communication is unforgivably reckless. "
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Security & Hacking News: NYT "Two Providers of Encrypted E-Mail Shut Down"
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/08/two-providers-of-encrypted-e-mail-shut-down/
Sounds like some secure email companies are shutting down to avoid being forced to betray their customers.
I have a lot of respect for them, if that is what is going on, just hope some other companies might follow suit, or at least be inspired to do something more than they have so far.
Lavabit was supposedly used by Snowden.
Though I am personally frustrated, since I had just recently started researching Silent Circle as possible secure option, and that certainly isn't possible now, based on this snipped from NYT link above:
"Mike Janke, Silent Circle’s chief executive, said in a telephone interview late Thursday that his company had destroyed its server. “Gone. Can’t get it back. Nobody can,” he said. “We thought it was better to take flak from customers than be forced to turn it over.” "
Additional links:
Lavabit (has statement from owner about situation): http://lavabit.com/
Silent Circle: https://silentcircle.com/
Silent Circle Twitter: https://twitter.com/Silent_Circle
Sounds like some secure email companies are shutting down to avoid being forced to betray their customers.
I have a lot of respect for them, if that is what is going on, just hope some other companies might follow suit, or at least be inspired to do something more than they have so far.
Lavabit was supposedly used by Snowden.
Though I am personally frustrated, since I had just recently started researching Silent Circle as possible secure option, and that certainly isn't possible now, based on this snipped from NYT link above:
"Mike Janke, Silent Circle’s chief executive, said in a telephone interview late Thursday that his company had destroyed its server. “Gone. Can’t get it back. Nobody can,” he said. “We thought it was better to take flak from customers than be forced to turn it over.” "
Additional links:
Lavabit (has statement from owner about situation): http://lavabit.com/
Silent Circle: https://silentcircle.com/
Silent Circle Twitter: https://twitter.com/Silent_Circle
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