“When I was in Hong Kong, I spoke to my partner in [Rio de Janeiro] via Skype and told him I would send an electronic encrypted copy of the documents,” Greenwald noted. “I did not end up doing it. Two days later his laptop was stolen from our house and nothing else was taken. Nothing like that has happened before. I am not saying it’s connected to this, but obviously the possibility exists.”
If I am paying so much money for our awesome military industrial complex, I would AT LEAST expect them to know how to stage the house to make it look like a robbery. Or copy the hard drive and then bug the machine & router to intercept all future communications.
If the government really did break in and just stole his laptop, this is like the least cool spy thriller ever.
ASK HN: How Does Edward's Dead Man Switch(EDMS) Function?
How?
So, there are these remote backups/sites out there, encrypted. Say, every week ES has somebody Bob post a keyword somewhere, a forum, pastebin, etc. The owner(s) Alice, Doreen, Glen, etc... of these backup sites manually or 'auto-crontab' for this keyword, or coded sequence of keywords, if so, fine, steady as Edward goes.
If not, .... ES released his hand(See hyperventilated Dyson's DMS in Terminator II film) sprung trigger. NOT good:
This interrupts the auto-cron periodic keyphrase(word) update and the toothpaste tubes are vigorously flattened, and you can't get the toothpaste back in.
(How? ie, How does EDMS trigger release become known to remote system trigger manager Bob or crontab daemon?)
Neighbor Bob check's local lampposts for Ed's new white tape once a week?
"Rio de Janeiro has been rated “Critical” for crime by the State Department for the past 25 years. Crimes statistics for 2012 reflect continued critically high and rising levels of crimes in both the state and city of Rio de Janeiro in the categories of robbery, rape, fraud, and residential thefts." [1]
"The high level of residential burglary has made most residents opt to reside in apartments where the “porteiro” (doorman) ensures 24/7 access control for the building. Having effective access control is critical."
So, NSA supposedly has access via PRISM to direct access to Microsoft servers, and yet they supposedly have to go steal a laptop to get access to sent files ?
Reminds me of the time the house I was renting with a bunch of other international students was broken into and obviously searched, but nothing was taken, not even cash.
I'm starting to think the freakout we've seen in the media up to now is for much more than the Prism disclosure. This guy is the real thing, he's got serious insurance to bargain for his life & he's taken all precautions to safeguard it. No wonder they're scared shitless.
The "freakout" in the "media" outside of the HN/reddit/internet bubble is mostly obsessed with "Where in the World is Carmen, I mean Edward, Snowden?" and not so much in the whole PRISM, constant universal wiretapping scandal.
It seems pretty clear that this isn't an insurance policy for his personal well-being, but rather an insurance policy for the data eventually being published.
As he's mentioned several times, Glenn Greenwald is not the only one with access to all the material Snowden has released. There are several other people at the Guardian and perhaps elsewhere, so targeting him in that way makes little sense.
Instead, they've wisely chosen the strategy of trying to discredit him.
“When I was in Hong Kong, I spoke to my partner in [Rio de Janeiro] via Skype and told him I would send an electronic encrypted copy of the documents,” Greenwald noted. “I did not end up doing it. Two days later his laptop was stolen from our house and nothing else was taken. Nothing like that has happened before. I am not saying it’s connected to this, but obviously the possibility exists.”
Your title suggestion is too much of an assumption and accusation.
While the disclosure of Prism has confirmed what many tech minded people I know have always assumed, it does not stand to reason that other countries do not monitor chatter and would not act on intel that is valuable.
Basically, what I'm saying is to keep our minds open while reading these articles...an example of why would be if you remember Huawei Routers not being allowed in certain US infrastructure [0], or Clinton lobbying China to remove it's firewall [1].
Open minds can then start speculating past motivations in old articles.
What do you people think intelligence agencies do? I'm surprised how far some people are taking the feigned ignorance/outrage. The NSA is reading the traffic from the biggest web communities in the world? Major shocker there. And now we're trying to make a scandal of an intelligence agency discreetly taking an object that may contain data that compromises national security? Things like that are why clandestine services exist in the first place: making sure we have a way into major communication channels when necessary, and making sure sensitive information is kept from prying eyes. These are basic functions for meaningful intelligence. Do we think the CIA just sits around in Langley all day?
This is definitely the only reason I think he is still alive. The NSA has probably done forensic analysis on the workstation that he utilized to transfer the intel...and as Snowden has noted, he does not want to be careless with the information or it's distribution in contrast to Manning.
To make it simple, I think he released to the public the appetizer, and has withheld any main course or desert (sorry for the analogies...lunch time).
Wikileaks made their "insurance" available to everyone via torrent... in other words they have safety in numbers. Snowden having distributed to file to "many different " people is vague and if the # is small could put them in real danger.
On the other hand, he's been to both Hong Kong and China now. Government officials from either country may be among those people with the encrypted data. Whether or not they release the encrypted data when/if the key is publicized doesn't really matter.
Publicly distributing the encrypted data does seem to be better to me, but making it ambiguous as to whether or not foreign governments have it seems like it could be a decent second best.
I wonder to what degree Wikileaks held Snowden's hand through all of this? For those who remember, Assange's organization distributed a large encrypted archive through bittorrent around the diplomatic cable leaks, presumably with a dead-man's switch [1] set up to reveal the key. I'm sure that Snowden had some procedures in place before departing to Hong Kong, but I also recall Assange saying they were trying to reach out to Snowden a week or two ago, and perhaps (hopefully!) they were able to give him some insurance tips, including potential pitfalls that Snowden may not have thought of.
So all anyone that wants access to the whole of what he has recovered needs to do is kill him and then it will all be released? That doesn't seem like a good position to put ones self in.
Snowden isn't carrying military secrets or anything. Details about internet/phone surveillance are of relatively little consequence to foreign governments, who certainly have a good idea of what's going on already.
This is the kind of thing which may help keep him physically safe, but massively hurts him both in the court of public opinion (which matters a lot, if his actions are to have any positive effect for the public), and should he stand trial in the United States (although, one could argue that if it gets to that he's lost either way). It puts the people arguing for a pardon for him in a much tougher position.
Why? The data is encrypted so unless he divulges the key, it's useless to whomever has it.
Also, we don't know what the data contains. So even if he does give out the key and the media start publishing, who's to say what comes out wont be in the public interest?
I think it's a bit early to say this strategy has massively hurt him.
And just like Wikileaks the trickle of information will gradually dry up and we never hear anything again. The thing I hate most about these leakers is that they have huge stores of documents but only release a tiny fraction.
That makes sense. As Snowden said in one of the interviews, the reason he doesn't want to release everything is so that other countries don't have a blueprint from which to develop their own PRISM.
This is double-edged sword!
While USA/NSA does not want Snowden dead to keep secrets for as long as possible - suddenly half of the world might become more interested in exactly that to happen rather sooner than later.
If it was known (assumed) that Snowden sent Greenwald files, don't you think every intelligence group in the world with an interest in obtaining US classified information would be very motivated to obtain that chip?
Agreed and I think the move to travel through China and Russia had to have been part of his plans at the start as this just drags all of the International parties into the fray whether they want to keep it quiet or not. It also then behooves everyone to keep him safe so they don't get escalate the finger pointing game on who might have had him killed.
I'd personally like to see less focus on the guy and more on the message though.
I wonder how he was able to amass thousands of documents within two months of being in his current position while still screening them for information beyond the scope of what he was trying to leak. The possibility that there is confidential information about foreign operations outside of the internet surveillance makes me lose a great deal of respect for him. I also don't trust someone who wasn't even able to manage a GED to read through thousands of intelligence documents... just putting that out there. I feel like many have been too quick to give this guy a free pass.
[+] [-] rosser|12 years ago|reply
“When I was in Hong Kong, I spoke to my partner in [Rio de Janeiro] via Skype and told him I would send an electronic encrypted copy of the documents,” Greenwald noted. “I did not end up doing it. Two days later his laptop was stolen from our house and nothing else was taken. Nothing like that has happened before. I am not saying it’s connected to this, but obviously the possibility exists.”
[+] [-] vinhboy|12 years ago|reply
If the government really did break in and just stole his laptop, this is like the least cool spy thriller ever.
[+] [-] e3pi|12 years ago|reply
How?
So, there are these remote backups/sites out there, encrypted. Say, every week ES has somebody Bob post a keyword somewhere, a forum, pastebin, etc. The owner(s) Alice, Doreen, Glen, etc... of these backup sites manually or 'auto-crontab' for this keyword, or coded sequence of keywords, if so, fine, steady as Edward goes.
If not, .... ES released his hand(See hyperventilated Dyson's DMS in Terminator II film) sprung trigger. NOT good:
This interrupts the auto-cron periodic keyphrase(word) update and the toothpaste tubes are vigorously flattened, and you can't get the toothpaste back in.
(How? ie, How does EDMS trigger release become known to remote system trigger manager Bob or crontab daemon?)
Neighbor Bob check's local lampposts for Ed's new white tape once a week?
Can Bob be automated?
[+] [-] codex|12 years ago|reply
"The high level of residential burglary has made most residents opt to reside in apartments where the “porteiro” (doorman) ensures 24/7 access control for the building. Having effective access control is critical."
[1] https://www.osac.gov/Pages/ContentReportDetails.aspx?cid=139...
[+] [-] thomasjoulin|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] GI8A|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] o0-0o|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sami36|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Tichy|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] drivebyacct2|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jpdoctor|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] quackerhacker|12 years ago|reply
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/06/21/email-sent-by-mic...
[+] [-] baddox|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] TillE|12 years ago|reply
Instead, they've wisely chosen the strategy of trying to discredit him.
[+] [-] contingencies|12 years ago|reply
“When I was in Hong Kong, I spoke to my partner in [Rio de Janeiro] via Skype and told him I would send an electronic encrypted copy of the documents,” Greenwald noted. “I did not end up doing it. Two days later his laptop was stolen from our house and nothing else was taken. Nothing like that has happened before. I am not saying it’s connected to this, but obviously the possibility exists.”
[+] [-] Kylekramer|12 years ago|reply
Makes it very easy to dismiss.
[+] [-] quackerhacker|12 years ago|reply
While the disclosure of Prism has confirmed what many tech minded people I know have always assumed, it does not stand to reason that other countries do not monitor chatter and would not act on intel that is valuable.
Basically, what I'm saying is to keep our minds open while reading these articles...an example of why would be if you remember Huawei Routers not being allowed in certain US infrastructure [0], or Clinton lobbying China to remove it's firewall [1].
Open minds can then start speculating past motivations in old articles.
[0] http://www.dailytech.com/Huaweis+CEO+and+Former+PLA+Officer+...
[1] http://www.salon.com/2010/01/22/hillary_clinton_internet_fre...
[+] [-] cookiecaper|12 years ago|reply
I don't get it, is all.
[+] [-] quackerhacker|12 years ago|reply
To make it simple, I think he released to the public the appetizer, and has withheld any main course or desert (sorry for the analogies...lunch time).
[+] [-] wyck|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jlgreco|12 years ago|reply
Publicly distributing the encrypted data does seem to be better to me, but making it ambiguous as to whether or not foreign governments have it seems like it could be a decent second best.
[+] [-] pvnick|12 years ago|reply
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_man's_switch
[+] [-] spiek|12 years ago|reply
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/24/world/offering-snowden-aid...
[+] [-] mpyne|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pmorici|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] TillE|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] babesh|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mratzloff|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] corford|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] thufry|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] corford|12 years ago|reply
Also, we don't know what the data contains. So even if he does give out the key and the media start publishing, who's to say what comes out wont be in the public interest?
I think it's a bit early to say this strategy has massively hurt him.
[+] [-] darkarmani|12 years ago|reply
How? Oh, look he isn't an idiot and he knew the CIA would try to assassinate him to silence him.
[+] [-] smegel|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kintamanimatt|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gesman|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ryanhuff|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rdouble|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] leeoniya|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bcRIPster|12 years ago|reply
I'd personally like to see less focus on the guy and more on the message though.
[+] [-] thomasjames|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|12 years ago|reply
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