Edward Snowden and his people have to be the most savvy whistle-blowers in history! Every time the government comes out with more lies, half-truths, and obfuscation, Bam! a new set of revelations is released.
Before I go on, let me just state that from now on I'm going to steal this new word from one of our fellow kossacks, Dumbo: Pre-distrusted.
I don't trust anything that the government says (or most of it); I don't trust anything the NSA, or Google, or Yahoo, or Verizon, or any number of corporate accomplices to the crimes being committed by the Orwellian spy network, and so any information they release from now on will be automatically "pre-distrusted."
Now, just to be clear, that doesn't mean that I'm not willing to evaluate the information on a case by case basis, and if evidence show it is truthful, I will consider it as such. But by and large, I will consider any pronouncements related to the ongoing illegal spying on Americans as suspect, and untrustworthy.
Today it was revealed that the NSA has been spying on Aid (non-profit) agencies.
Here's are reactions from representatives of some of these agencies, as reported by The Guardian:
Kenneth Roth, executive director at Human Rights Watch, has responded to the latest surveillance revelations:
No one should be surprised that governments spy on each other, but when they start spying on humanitarian groups, the pretense of counterterrorism is stripped away, and the need for strict limits on these mass invasions of our privacy becomes glaring.
Leigh Daynes, the UK executive director of the GCHQ and NSA targeted French charity organization Médecins du Monde (Doctors of the World), said the group was "bewildered" by the latest report.
If substantiated, snooping on aid workers would be a shameful waste of taxpayers’ money; money that would be better spent vaccinating Syrian children against polio, or rebuilding the Philippines’ shattered health system.
Our doctors, nurses and midwives are not a threat to national security.
And after repeated denials about the NSA not being used for industrial/corporate espionage, the report
now reveals that that not be the case:
Almunia is in charge of major anti-monopoly investigations and approving mergers of companies with significant presence in the EU. He has been involved in a long-running investigation into Google over complaints about the company's alleged stranglehold on online advertising. He has also clashed with Google and Microsoft over privacy concerns and was prominent in the EU's response to the global financial crisis.
Surveillance on such a senior EU official with a major role in economic affairs is bound to alarm other European nations, and raise concerns as to whether intelligence produced from Almunia or others is shared with the US – the NSA has a number of personnel at the base in Bude and contributes millions of pounds to its budget.
And this of course comes after
a recent report revealing that a vast corporate spy network has been recruiting both, current and former national security agents from both, the CIA and the FBI, to spy on nonprofits and activists (on behalf of corporations):
One of the troubling aspects of recent corporate espionage against nonprofits is the use of current and former police, current government contractors, and former CIA, NSA, FBI, Secret Service and other law enforcement officers.
Even active-duty CIA operatives are allowed to sell their expertise to the highest bidder, "a policy that gives financial firms and hedge funds access to the nation's top-level intelligence talent," writes Eamon Javers. Little is known about the CIA's moonlighting policy, or which corporations have hired current CIA operatives..
~Snip~
Hiring former intelligence, military and law enforcement officials has its advantages. First, these officials may be able to use their status as a shield. For example, current law enforcement officials may be disinclined to investigate or prosecute former intelligence or law enforcement agents. They may be more likely to get a "pass" because of their government services. In effect, corporations are hiring "pass" and sometimes using it to conduct unethical or even illegal intelligence gathering against nonprofits.
What these people and agencies are doing is criminal... And the interesting thing is that the
central recommendation from the presidential panel on NSA abuses is to have the data collected and stored by guess who? Private corporations. Think about the implications. I've argued for a long time that that has been the intent all along: to build dossiers on social justice activists and non-profits who may be seen as threat to corporate bottom lines.
In fact, here's what I wrote in my second diary here, on June 8th, 2011:
Almost every single technological tool you are using is being used by the corporatist police state to enslave you. Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, etc., Yahoo mail, etc., by themselves are just technology tools and services, and are not inherently bad. But the problem is that with your acquiescence (even if you don't know it), they are mainly being used to enslave you further and further.
It's like a drug. These tools are put out there, and because of their convenience, and because they fulfill one of human beings strongest desires (connect with other, validation), millions and millions of people open themselves up and share all kinds of thoughts, photos, content, views, likes, dislikes, etc.
In the meantime, "somebody" is collecting every single piece of data being generated by you, and in turn that information is being sent up to the corporate masters, and to the government.
This information in turn is used to control you. Say something "wrong", and you are blacklisted from employment. Express a strong political view, and you are branded as a potential radical (or wors[e]).
We are being lied to. This is what happens when corporate interests take over our national security.
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Market For The People |Ray Pensador | Email List | Twitter | Facebook
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