Thread: Edward Snowden and his stay in Russia

Originally Posted by Lampada

http://www.echo.msk.ru/blog/dobrokhotov/1127964-echo/


Открытое письмо Эдварду Сноудену

02 августа 2013, 13:56 Роман Доброхотов член Политсовета партии 5 декабря


Дорогой Эд!

Well, since there are papers like this one, things can't be that bad. Plus anyone can go online and bitch as much as they like. Also, Russia doesn't make itself out to be the big champion of freedom of speech and human rights on the planet, unlike certain other countries.
So there'd a lot less of hypocrisy if it was revealed that Russia was doing this (and I genuinely don't think it is - I think they focus on real problems, not what people search for on google or email to their friends.

However, if Russia is spying on citizens in a similar way, IT MUST BE REVEALED.
And if the whistleblower has to flee to America, or anywhere else, so be it!

Originally Posted by Eric C.

Not all people do what you do; to me, what you're talking about is indescribably creepy...

Nevertheless, your Promised Land has a long history of toppling off people it doesn't like:
“Targeted Killings”: Timeline of U.S. Policy Concerning Covert Operations Involving Assassination | Global Research

Originally Posted by Hanna

However, if Russia is spying on citizens in a similar way, IT MUST BE REVEALED.
And if the whistleblower has to flee to America, or anywhere else, so be it!

Of course it's spying, everyone knows about it here but no one gives a flying f##k.

Originally Posted by Basil77

Of course it's spying, everyone knows about it here but no one gives a flying f##k.

Wouldn't you care if it was done, and used against you, or somebody you know? If you were denied a job for security reasons without any further details given.. Or if you got pulled out of your bed in the middle of the night because you had made some dramatic statement on a radical website? Or just because someone else under suspicion sent you a few emails or was your friend on a social network.

Anyway; it requires an absolutely spectacular commitment in terms of cost. America has been doing this for years. I think it was 2006 that the first limited evidence was revealed, when the NSA had an interception point at the backbone internet cables somewhere in California.
Whereupon everybody in IT realised that there was something big going on... until NSA started building the biggest computer hall on the universe essentially, for data storage quickly followed by Snowden's revelations.

In the UK, everyone in IT knew about the Menwith Hill spying central only the exact purpose was a bit shady. Now we know that the worst suspicions are true.

Sweden has a programme like this, going back many years, but was open about it from day one and there was plenty of debate and demonstrations. Nevertheless think it's revolting, but at least they didn't lie about it.

I think that if Russia was doing something on a scale near what the UK or USA are doing, then somebody would have felt obliged to publish it.
Online, or in foreign press or whatever, but it would have come out.




Wired's awesome and extremely interesting article that everybody in the USA / EU / NATO absolutely should read

Apparently they figured out how to decrypt 128 bit encryption on the fly (?!!) so VPN will do you no good if you want privacy. Only TOR.

However, if Russia is spying on citizens in a similar way, IT MUST BE REVEALED.

It is as good as revealed in this Wikipedia article: "Для непосредственно прослушивания разговоров решение суда официально требуется, но для получения другой информации (например, о фактах совершения вызовов) санкции суда не требуется. В то же время технических ограничений на прослушивание разговоров нет".

I hope you can appreciate this turn of phrase -- "решение суда официально требуется" instead of "требуется решение суда".