I'm in Washington, D.C. today with the Freedom of the Press Foundation for a day-long event, "News Organizations and Digital Security, Solutions to Surveillance Post-Snowden."
Heavy hitters are present, talking about encryption and security in real-world practice–including including Dana Priest, investigative reporter, Washington Post; James Risen, investigative reporter, New York Times; Christopher Soghoian, principal technologist and senior policy analyst, ACLU; Julia Angwin, investigative reporter, ProPublica; all of The Intercept's security team and others. — Read the rest
The event will focus on how news organizations and reporters can use technology and encryption to better protect their sources in the post-Snowden age.
Micah Lee, the former EFF staffer whom Edward Snowden reached out to in order to establish secure connections to Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras, shares the methodology he and Snowden employed to stay secure and secret in the face of overwhelming risk and scrutiny.
Leaked Snowden documents published by Laura Poitras and Peter Maass in The Intercept describe the NSA's SENTRY EAGLE program describe six programs aimed at weakening the capacity of people all over the world to communicate in private.
A newly released set of slides from the Snowden leaks reveals that the NSA is harvesting millions of facial images from the Web for use in facial recognition algorithms through a program called "Identity Intelligence." James Risen and Laura Poitras's NYT piece shows that the NSA is linking these facial images with other biometrics, identity data, and "behavioral" data including "travel, financial, behaviors, social network." — Read the rest
The NSA and US DEA trick contractors working for the Bahamian phone companies into letting them record the full audio of every call placed in the Bahamas, according to newly published Snowden leaks released in an article in The Intercept. The NSA exploits the "lawful interception" system for conducting wiretaps without having to notify phone companies in order to harvest the full run of cellular calls, apparently as an engineering proof-of-concept in order to scale the program up to larger nations. — Read the rest
I am grateful to the committee for their recognition of the efforts of those involved in the last year's reporting, and join others around the world in congratulating Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras, Barton Gellman, Ewen MacAskill, and all of the others at the Guardian and Washington Post on winning the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. — Read the rest
Newly disclosed documents from the trove Edward Snowden provided to journalists reveal the existence of the "Nymrod" database that listed 122 world leaders, many from nations friendly to the USA, that were spied upon by the NSA. Included in the list is German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was already known to have been wiretapped by the NSA thanks to an earlier disclosure. — Read the rest
Border agents detain American citizens for hours and seize laptops and phones without evidence or suspicion, Moreover, reports Trevor Timm, journalists are a frequent target.
Rolling Stone's loss is Pierre Omidyar's gain. Matt Taibbi is joining First Look Media, the same organization where Glenn Greenwald, Jeremy Scahill, and Laura Poitras are on the masthead at The Intercept— but Taibbi will lead his own publication focused on financial and political corruption. — Read the rest
The Intercept is a new news-site created by Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras and Jeremy Scahill, through their Omidyar-funded startup First Look Media. Its mission is "fearless, adversarial journalism across a wide range of issues." (Thanks, John!)
In a Senate Judiciary Hearing on NSA surveillance today, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper insinuated dozens of journalists reporting on documents leaked by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden were "accomplices" to a crime. His spokesman further suggested Clapper was referring to journalists after the hearing had concluded. — Read the rest
Here's a guide to the charities the Boingers support in our own annual giving. As always, please add the causes and charities you give to in the comments below!
A new report in the New York Times by James Risen and Laura Poitras details how National Security Agency officials seeking dominance in intelligence collection, "pledged last year to push to expand surveillance powers," according to a top-secret strategy document leaked by Edward Snowden. — Read the rest
A new Snowden leak, reported by Laura Poitras in Der Spiegel, shows that the UK spy agency GCHQ used fake versions of Slashdot and LinkedIn to attack tech staff at Global Roaming Exchanges — interchange points where large networks meet up. — Read the rest
A Snowden leak, discussed in detail in Der Spiegel, shows how the NSA broke into the email servers of the Mexican president Felipe Calderon's public account, and used that access to wiretap the president, cabinet members, and senior diplomats. The NSA described the program, called "Flatliquid" as "lucrative." — Read the rest
I am grateful to the committee for their recognition of the efforts of those involved in the last year's reporting, and join others around the world in congratulating Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras, Barton Gellman, Ewen MacAskill, and all of the others at the Guardian and Washington Post on 
Rolling Stone's loss is Pierre Omidyar's gain. Matt Taibbi is joining 
