Glenn Greenwald's must-watch 30C3 keynote

[NorthCarolina]

Yesterday in Hamburg, Glenn Greenwald gave an astounding, must-watch keynote address to the gathered hackers at the 30th Chaos Communications Congress, or 30C3 (Greenwald starts at 4:36). Greenwald excoriated the press for failing to hold the world's leaders to account, describing what he did with the Snowden leaks as challenge to the journalistic status quo as well as the political status quo. This is a leaping-off point for an extended riff on the active cooperation between the press and the national security apparatus, an arrangement calculated to give the appearance of oversight on surveillance activities without any such oversight (for example, BBC reporter expressed shock when he said that the role of the press should be to root out lies from senior spies, saying that generals and senior officials would ever lie to the public).

Greenwald draws a connection between private companies and spying, expressing hope that Internet giants will finally understand that their profitability is endangered by their collaboration with spies. He describes these companies as having "unparalleled power" to curb state spying.

He exhorted the hackers at 30C3 to do their best to make the Internet as secure for its users as possible, saying that without their contributions, all is lost. He urges them to strike back at Silicon Valley intelligence collaborators like Palantir, who pose as hip and technie to attract bright young people to help with their mission to attack privacy.

The whole speech is important; it praises Chelsea Manning, Wikileaks, and Daniel Ellsberg, as well as other brave whistelblowers, and said that the Snowden project built on their work. He said that the heavy-handed attacks on whistleblowers by the US government have only revealed the state's corruption and inspired more insiders to go public.

Link: http://boingboing.net/2013/12/28/glenn-greenwalds-must-watch.html

The video is 60 minutes long, but well worth watching.

[cantbeserious]

1. Thank You Snowden - Thank You Greenwald - Please Keep Up The Good Work

eom

[wildbilln864]

44. seconded! n/t

[radiclib]

2. Hmm..

Two hours and counting, and still no "Fuck Greenwald" responses!
Where is everyone? At church?

[cantbeserious]

3. The Anti Greenwald Army Is Probably Awaiting Orders From On High - Have To Polish The Talking Points

eom

[Enthusiast]

16. You got that right!

It has become all too obvious.

[sabrina 1]

26. The Private Security Agency they most likely hired to smear Greenwald assuming HB Gary lost the

contract after Anonymous exposed them, probably needs a day or so to get their talking points prepared.

By tomorrow I'm sure we'll begin to see them. I'm sure it's a priority.

[Titonwan]

31. Now that's funny!

They're sorting out priorities from their "Hillary is EVIDENT!1!" campaign or their denial that Obama is a major fail on our civil rights (h/t Edward Snowden).
I find it extremely amusing

[MrMickeysMom]

5. Use this card, in the event you read one...

"Fuck the NSA"

[20score]

12. Personally i have hated that crowd from day one. But maybe they are realizing the mindless, fascist

attacks are backfiring. They look so bad in comparison to their targets.

Just a possibility. They may be here later to prove me wrong.

[MrMickeysMom]

4. GIANT ASS DU REC!

This was a great watch.

I caught Glenn on the interview he mentioned (BBC's "Hard Talk&quot and I absolutely agree with the sentiment of who is supposed to be shocked (shocked!, I tell you!) when the proverbial finger points to and acknowledges government officials who lie.

Of COURSE, government officials lie. What in the HELL do we think has being going on when George Bush and Tony Blair lied to their respective countries? Does anyone wonder about the COST of their lies?

And, finally… what is it going to cost US in the long run to perpetuate this belief that the American people CAN be spied upon 24/7/365, minus the number of minutes we might being using cell phones and internets in the air space the NSA so badly wants to also infiltrate?

Wake up, Wake up, Wake up…. Enough is enough is enough is ENOUGH!

[MrMickeysMom]

6. And… this sums it up...

[cantbeserious]

7. Standing Ovation From The Hackers - They Understand The Present Harm And Future Threat Quite Clearly

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[NorthCarolina]

11. The standing ovation stood out to me as well.

Went on for a long time too. Wonder how our authoritarian overlords will rationalize such a positive reaction to someone that they deem a traitor.

[bvar22]

8. DURec for the protectors of Democracy.

Rampant Government Secrecy and Democracy can not co-exist.

Persecution of Whistle Blowers and Democracy can not co-exist.

Government "surveillance" of the citizenry and Democracy can not co-exist.

[NorthCarolina]

10. Do you believe that the US is a Democracy?

Personally, I believe the US has been reduced to an Oligarchy for some time now.

To the extent that we, the people, are removed from control over our lands, marketplaces, central banks, and media we are no longer empowered. In practice, those few who do control the land, central bank, media and "free market" are the real rulers of our corrupt and declining "democracy."

Due to propaganda from a corporate-owned and edited media we are kept from knowing, much less debating, the nature of our system. Due to a central bank owned by bankers, media owned by a few global concerns, and trade regime controlled by global corporations (i.e., one designed to remove the people from control over their markets and environments) the vast majority have become little more than latter-day serfs and neo-slaves upon a corporate latifundia.

To restore a semblance of effective democracy and true freedom Americans, and people around the world, need to re-educate themselves as to the true nature of their political and economic systems.

OligarchyUSA.com
- And You Thought You Lived In a Democracy -

[George II]

9. Just to make you guys happy......

.....were the Target criminals at the convention too?

[JDPriestly]

13. How long do you think it will take the NSA, FBI and Interpol to apprehend the Target criminals?

All the money and time and effort and all the violations of our rights that go into their surveillance scheme and will they catch this big hack?

I think they will do it not by using the data they have amassed in their surveillance activities but through ordinary law enforcement techniques. In fact the credit card security departments will probably find out who did it before the NSA could.

The NSA surveillance is mostly, as Greenwald points out, for giving a big advantage to the cronies in big business of those in the NSA and the executive branch of our government. I'm guessing that Greenwald is right. This is about terrorists and war but more important about finding out what our competition in the "free" world market are doing.

[George II]

14. Everyone here is crowing about this convention of hackers. essentially lawbreakers...

....I wonder how many here who revel in this convention were victims of the Target hacking? No doubt just about anyone who has any kind of credit card will be affected, either directly (with bogus charges on their cards) or indirectly (with increased costs by the banks and credit card issuers)

Yet it seems that hackers are heroes around here.

[cantbeserious]

17. Not Everyone Shops At Target - And Fewer Still In Europe

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[George II]

19. 40 Million is a lot. It could very well be that those who stole those 40 million cards....

....and who knows ultimately how many millions of dollars was in Europe.

They're common criminals, and a convention like this is celebrating their "profession".

[cantbeserious]

20. That Is A Big Assumption That The Crooks That So Incense Were In Attendance

Further, the NSA recruits people like this to spy on US Citizens.

So who are the crooks and who are the bad guys?

The line between good and bad is not so clearly discernible.

However, some can continue to see Greenwald and Snowden as evil.

In doing so they are supporting the desecration of the 4th Amendment to US Constitution.

Those that undermine the US Constitution are generally considered traitors.

Defenders of the Constitution are considered patriots.

Time to choose sides.

[George II]

21. You should do some research on the Convention and the group that puts it on....

...it has been held for 30 years. Edward Snowden was a year old at the time and Glenn Greenwald was a teenager.

It is a convention of hackers, not whistleblowers, and last year there were 6000 attendees. I'd venture a guess that a very small percentage of those were altruistics whose motives are to save the Republic.

[cantbeserious]

22. Bypassing The Main Argument - We Now Know Were One Stands On The 4th Amendment

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[George II]

23. Yawn....a simplified and childish generalization...

...so because I don't condone mass thievery and potential grand larceny I don't respect the 4th Amendment? Surely you can't be serious!

[cantbeserious]

24. Nice Try At Deflection - Not Buying What One Has To Sell

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[2naSalit]

29. You know

the term "hacker" is being misused as a broad-brush description of all those thousands of people at that convention... and I don't think you are aware of the implications you are making in comparing what little you know to what the term actually implies within the genre. If you aren't a hacker or know a few really well, you are missing a large portion of the meaning of the term and, therefore, mischaracterizing a lot of people you not only don't know but know little to nothing about.

You know what they say about making assumptions...

[George II]

35. I'm sure there are legitimate programmers and "activists" among those 6000....

...or even more this year. But there are also dozens if not hundreds of downright criminals in that group, too.

Do you subscribe to McAfee or Norton or any other internet security software? Do you know why? Because there are malicious criminals out there that don't give a damn about politics or "freedom", and they want to do is wreak havoc on large groups of people.

As for some claiming that the attendees are mostly from countries other than the US? Very true, and history has shown that the majority, if not a HUGE majority, of those breaking into financial institutions' systems are from countries other than the US.

I have zero respect for anyone who anonymously and purposely steals people's financial information for selfish gain.

[JDPriestly]

25. I dislike all hackers whether they be the NSA stealing information all over the world or

the commercial hackers who steal people's credit card information. I don't think that those who hack computers for personal profit are any worse than those who hack computers for the profits of big business, and that is what I think the NSA is doing. If the NSA was really just hacking computers to fight terrorists, they would not have such a huge enterprise. Both the NSA hackers and the hackers for personal profit are acting illegally in my view. I wish they would all stop. I wish the NSA would limit its hacking to terror suspects and would more clearly tell us how they define a terror suspect. All the definitions I have seen of "terrorists" are extremely vague and allow for a very subjective decision as to who is or is no a terrorist. Are the NRA crazies terrorists? Are the Occupy people terrorists? Making that decision requires a subjective political decision. So we get back to the question whether the hackers for the NSA are mostly very right-wing people or mostly very liberal people. Because their decisions about who they hack and hassle will depend on their personal political view.

[2naSalit]

30. Perhaps

there is something you are missing here. The term "hacker" as in the case of the attendees at this convention isn't what you think it means and there is a big difference between the character of these people and what you are accusing them of.

Just to help you a little; the NSA = bad... Hackers in general = okay to good. (Sure, three are some folks who are knowledgeable about computer programming and take advantage of others but they are few compared to the number of folks who are quite savvy and are not thieves... and they can all be described as "hackers".)

You are probably an American but does that mean you, too, are just like the RWnj's who are trying to take your rights away by spying on everyone in the world for fun and profit, approved by your government and paid for by you?

[JDPriestly]

32. By hackers, I do not mean computer nerds, I mean people who hack into the computers of others

in order to steal personal information. So, I'm sorry if I offended you. I do not consider computer nerds to be hackers.

[DisgustipatedinCA]

39. You're not in IT, are you?

It shows.

[George II]

40. I used to be.

[sabrina 1]

27. Surey the NSA knows who they are by now. All that meta data they have been collecting on every

single person, and 'storing' for just such an event, to 'protect' the American people, and I forget the convoluted reasoning they they gave about it works when they need it? How long has it been now, a week?

But as we found out this week, they have not caught ONE single terrorist with all their spying.

Maybe they should focus on criminals like the Boston Bomber who should have stood out like a sore thumb instead of innocent people going about their daily lives.

But then I've always suspected that all this 'data mining' is really for the Big Corps, who got the tax payers to pay billions so they could study people's shopping preferences etc and then target them with their products. It's clever, to use 'terror' for everything, if you can get away with it. And they have, so far.

[zeemike]

15. Big K and major R

This is what a hero looks like...and what heroes do....not go around killing people but seating them free.

[Enthusiast]

18. Recommended 1000X and kicked too.

Great clip!

Does the government know they are on the wrong side of history? Apparently they believe they will have the upper hand forever. Perhaps they must maintain the upper hand forever. Because if we ever find out what they have done, the extent of it..........

[sabrina 1]

28. 'If the people ever found out what they are doing, they would be very angry'. Ron Wyden who tried to

warn us for the past several years. It turns out he was right after all.

[Enthusiast]

33. I really like Ron Wyden.

[sabrina 1]

37. He has always been a voice against the creeping security state, sometimes the only one during the

Bush years. I wondered why he was so vigilant regarding our Civil Rights and violations of the Constitution. Then I read his father's book which someone had recommended to me. And I understood. His father was born in Germany and lived there until his family saw the writing on the wall and managed to leave before it was too late. He went back when the Allies were in Germany after defeating the Nazis.

His story is mostly about a woman who had been his high school crush whose family did not get out. It is a fascinating book. But growing up in a family who knew the dangers of ignoring signs of diminishing rights etc gives him a real perspective on the price of apathy and the enormous importance of protecting people's rights BEFORE it is too late.

[Enthusiast]

38. Thanks. I had no idea.

[mitty14u2]

34. NSA Surveillance in Europe - European Parliament Hearing on NSA Surveillance and EU Citizens C-Span

Journalist Glenn Greenwald testifies before a European Parliamentary Committee about National Security Agency surveillance practices, civil liberties of European citizens, and privacy concerns.

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/316863-1

This is riveting with true concerns for all, reminding us of the FBI back in the day of J Edger Hoover.

[BelgianMadCow]

41. thanks for posting that, mitty

had missed that, and I'm VERY interested in which turn the EU makes on privacy. Eithet this line of inquiry is followed, or the TTIP, not both.

[mitty14u2]

42. Your Welcome

[cantbeserious]

43. Interesting That This News Received Little Play In The US - Wonder Why - Oh, Don't Bother

eom

[Douglas Carpenter]

36. knr

[pam4water]

45. NSA and Aperture Science: "We do what we must because we can." ;)