Edward Snowden
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Edward Snowden's NFT sold for $5.5 million at auction for charity
Edward Snowden's NFT has sold for a whopping 2,224 Etherium or around $5.5 million at an auction that lasted for a day.
Hitting the Books: The media's role in history's most damaging data dump
Disinformation efforts — the organized spread of lies — have proven especially effective in the modern media landscape.
Brazil charges journalist Glenn Greenwald for colluding with hackers
Brazilian federal prosecutors have charged Glenn Greenwald with violating the country's cybersecurity laws, reports The New York Times. According to a 95-page complaint, Greenwald was part of the "criminal organization" that hacked into the phones of several public officials and prosecutors in 2019. The charges come after Greenwald's website, The Intercept Brasil, published multiple reports last year that exposed unethical behavior from some of Brazil's highest public officials, including current Justice Minister Sérgio Moro.
Everything in our holiday gift guide that you can buy for $50 or less
Depending on your budget and how many people are on your gift list this year, you might only have a modest amount to spend on each person. Even if you instill a cap of fifty bucks, though, you still have plenty of options. In Engadget's 2019 holiday gift guide, we have nearly 50 under $50, with picks running the gamut from toys, to video games, to books and movies, to mobile and gaming accessories. As it happens, today is Black Friday in the US, so chances are, many of the items here will cost you even less than the list price. Happy deal hunting!
The US is suing Edward Snowden over his memoir
The United States is suing whistleblower Edward Snowden over his memoir, Permanent Record. It claims the former Central Intelligence Agency employee and National Security Agency contractor violated non-disclosure agreements with both agencies because he didn't submit the book to them for review before publication.
US could soon end mass phone surveillance program exposed by Snowden
The US government might put an end to the controversial NSA phone surveillance program Edward Snowden exposed by the end of 2019. Republican congressional national security adviser Luke Murry revealed during a Lawfare podcast that Congress might not renew the USA Freedom Act, which authorizes the agency's call data bulk collection, when it expires later this year. He also said that the NSA hasn't even been using the system for the past six months, putting into question the agency's previous claim that data collection is vital to national security.
Julian Assange: I'll turn myself in if Chelsea Manning walks
America's most wanted hackers apparently think they've got some leverage over the US government. The ACLU last week began petitioning the Obama administration for a full pardon for Edward Snowden and, on Thursday, Julian Assange announced that he would willingly hand himself over to US authorities. But that's if, and only if, the Feds drop their court-martial conviction of Chelsea Manning.
New Snowden docs suggest Shadow Broker leak was real
On Monday, a group of hackers calling themselves the Shadow Broker put up a number of cyber-espionage tools reportedly stolen from NSA-associated hacking outfit, the Equation Group. Edward Snowden has already publicly speculated that the intrusion and theft was actually just another salvo in the ongoing Digital Cold War happening between the US and Russia. However, nobody was 100 percent certain that the tools for sale really were NSA property. Now, Snowden has released documentation to The Intercept that suggests the tools really are what the Shadow Brokers say they are.
Edward Snowden speaks out against new Russian law
Whistleblower Edward Snowden has spoken out against Thursday's law introduced by Vladimir Putin, referring to the anti-terror legislation as "repressive" and noting that it's a "dark day for Russia."
The world as a work of digital art
As curious creatures, we attempt to understand the world around us in many ways and nowadays that usually boils down to big data visualization. Whether we're creating models of large-scale systems or breaking down reality into wireframes and exposing the digital bones beneath, the data-rich internet and open-source tools are helping people map and explore the world in new ways. People are leveraging technology to make their voices heard in political realms and using digital expression to bypass physical conflict. Indeed, in this digital age, the lines between life and art are becoming blurred. Don't believe us? Then explore the gallery below for just a few examples.
Spying case against UK government heads to Europe's highest court
While it's public knowledge that the UK government has secretly monitored the communications of the British public, questions over the legality of these practices still remain. After an independent UK court first ruled that security agencies, including GCHQ, had partly infringed on human rights laws, only to be overruled by a Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) report a month later, privacy groups campaigning for clarity are taking their fight to Europe.
Snowden shows John Oliver how the NSA can see your dick pics
In a surprise interview with Edward Snowden, John Oliver made NSA spying revelations more relatable to the American public through the topic of dick pics. The HBO comedian, who gives his satire a sharp bite via exhaustive research, traveled to Moscow for a sit-down with the infamous whistleblower. Oliver wasn't joking around at first when he called a Snowden leak that put al-Qaida intelligence at risk "a fuck up." He added, "You have to own that. ... You're giving documents with information you know could be harmful." After an awkward pause, Snowden said, "In journalism, we have to accept that some mistakes will be made."
Laptop destroyed over Snowden leaks is now an art exhibit
Remember how, after the initial Snowden revelations, the Guardian newspaper was forced to destroy all of its computers that held the whistleblower's leaked documents? It was a strange moment; a small group of editors, under the watchful eye of two GCHQ officials, laying waste to hard drives and other internal components with industrial angle grinders and drills. Now, some of the remains -- a busted MacBook Air and a Western Digital hard drive, to be precise -- are on display at the Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum in London. It forms part of a new exhibition called "All of This Belongs to You," which runs from now until July 19th. The hardware itself isn't particularly old or unusual, but its role in cybersecurity journalism and the Snowden leaks should make it a provocative exhibit nonetheless.
Snowden in talks to come home -- still holding out for a fair trial
After blowing open the NSA's secret surveillance plans and spending the past few years in Russia, former NSA contractor Edward Snowden is now in talks with lawyers to make his way back to the U.S., reports Russia Today. But, according to his Russian lawyer Anatoly Kucherena, he'll only return if he's guaranteed a "fair and impartial trial." That's a demand Snowden has mentioned in several interviews, but it'll likely be tough to achieve. Even Daniel Ellsberg, the man who leaked the Pentagon Papers and revealed the U.S. government's many lies about the Vietnam War, doesn't have much hope that Snowden will be treated fairly.
Edward Snowden left behind clues so the NSA would understand his motives
So much for trying to dodge unwanted attention. In a wide-ranging interview with Wired, the enigmatic Edward Snowden claimed that he wanted the US government to know what he was up to when he started collecting all that sensitive information to release unto the world. His plan? To leave behind a trail of clues for NSA investigators so they'd be able to suss out the rationale behind his actions.
Snowden: The NSA's building Skynet to fight wars online
More than a year after Edward Snowden first spilled the beans on the NSA's digital surveillance practices, you wouldn't think that he had much left to reveal. In an interview with Wired, however, the former spy has revealed that the agency is building an autonomous online defense system that will, not only crush digital attacks on the US, but could also launch digital retaliations in the blink of an eye. The in-no-way-ominously-named MonsterMind is designed to scour metadata databases, analyzing the traffic patterns in a way that'd make malicious traffic stand out. Foreign attackers launching DDoS or malware attacks against financial institutions, infrastructure or government systems could then be identified, and blocked.
China bans Apple products for government use
China has apparently decided to blacklist Apple products including the iPad and MacBook lines for official use, according to Bloomberg. The report says that the government has instructed its procurement arm not to purchase desktops, tablets and laptops from the company because of those oft-cited "security concerns." It's the latest in a series of attacks on western tech companies in the wake of the Snowden revelations -- with Windows 8, IBM, Apple, Google, Kaspersky, Symantec and the iPhone all getting singled out for criticism. According to Bloomberg's analysts, the move is to ensure that the US doesn't have too much influence in China, and in no way will distract people from China's own sordid history of snooping. Update: China's head of procurement has moved to deny the original report, saying that Apple never applied to be on the list in question.
UK spies using foreign loopholes to monitor Google, Facebook and Twitter users
GCHQ, the UK's intelligence agency, has yet to confirm whether it taps undersea network cables to gather content from ISPs, but we now know how it would justify access if it did. Charles Farr, the Director General of the Office for Security and Counter Terrorism, revealed that spies could intercept British users' Google searches, Facebook updates and Twitter posts when servers are located outside of the country. The information came to light after Privacy International, Liberty, Amnesty International and a number of civil liberties organizations issued a legal challenge against GCHQ in an attempt to unravel the secrets of agency's Tempora data-tapping program, which were revealed as part of Edward Snowden's NSA document leaks.
Oliver Stone is making his own movie about the Edward Snowden saga
Between W., Nixon, JFK, Born on the Fourth of July and Platoon, it's safe to say that Oliver Stone has a reputation as being a political film-maker. It shouldn't come as a surprise, therefore, to see that the director has signed up to helm a movie based on Edward Snowden and Glenn Greenwald's exposure of the NSA's PRISM program. The Snowden Files is based upon Luke Harding's account of the story, and will compete with No Place to Hide, which is based on Greenwald's book of the same name. In a statement, Stone said that "this is one of the greatest stories of our time," which explains why we need two films on the same subject -- just like Armageddon and Deep Impact, or Volcano and Dante's Peak, or Mission to Mars and Red Planet, or Mirror/Mirror and Snow White and the Huntsman...
Watch Edward Snowden's interview with NBC right here
Did you miss last night's epic Brian Williams interview with Edward Snowden? Well you can catch it in all its six-part glory after the break. We can't say that anything particularly revelatory came out of the conversation, but it does give you a chance to get to know the world's most famous whistle blower.
