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Edward Snowden issues ‘call to arms’ for tech companies in …

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NSA whistleblowerEdward Snowden was a highlight of last year's SXSW, where he gave one of his first public speeches. This year, Snowden was back at SXSW but only a few people even knew it was happening. Snowden held a streamed question-and-answer session with roughly two dozen people from across the technology and policy world, which participant Sunday Yokubaitis, president of online privacy company Golden Frog, described as a "call to arms" for tech companies to foil spying with better privacy tools.

According to Yokubaitis, Snowden said that as policy reform lagged, companies should adopt more secure technology that could block surveillance altogether or make it too difficult to pursue en masse. A big focus was end-to-end encryption, which would mean no one (including companies) could see the contents of communications except the sender and recipient. "The low-hanging fruit is always [the] transit layer," he reportedly said. "It raises the cost. Every time we raisethe cost, we force budgetary constraints." This is especially relevant as tools that are originally built for targeted use overseas slowly grow into broader programs. "We hope that they start with North Korea and by the time they end up in Ohio, they run out of budget."

Snowden described common security systems like SSL, meanwhile, as "critical infrastructure" that didn't receive enough investment and became vulnerable as a result. And if encryption isn't common enough, simply using it can mark a message as suspicious, which is part of the reason companies should be working on better encryption options. "Him saying that validates that companies should try and fill the holes, and not wait for policy," said Yokubaitis after the meeting.

"Spying programs are worth more than the interests of justice."

On the policy side, Snowden criticized proposals to expand rules that make phone companies open their networks for government wiretapping. FBI director James Comey has warned that internet services and tech products need similar backdoors to stop cases from "going dark" as criminals moved to the internet. "We can't haveCALEA Part 2," he said, according to Yokubaitis. He also said that penalties were too light for NSA employees whospied on spouses or lovers informally referred to as LOVEINT."This proves that spying programs are worth more than the interests of justice." And he thought that the public should pay more attention to NSA programs thattried to discredit enemies by spying on their online sexual activities. "How does using porn habits to discredit people make us much different than [the] Turkish government? We need to maintain moral leadership."

"I really got the sense that I'm helping to improve lives."

Contacted for comment, Hugh Forrest of SXSW said that the meeting was kept private to create a more "intimate" atmosphere. "Last year, having Edward Snowden in the big room was fantastic. But for 2015, we wanted to do something a lot more intimate," he said. "So, this morning's event was an invite-only session with about 30 tech leaders who are attending SXSW. The smaller group allowed for more in-depth questions, answers, ideas, brainstorms and discussion that simply can not be done in the kind of space where we hosted his talk in 2014." Besides Yokubaitis, the meeting was reportedly attended by between 20 and 30 people, including Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince, Twitter senior product counsel Matthew Zimmerman, and Evernote CEO Phil Libin, among others. There was no directive to keep the meeting secret after the fact, so some participants, like Center for Democracy and Technology director Nuala O'Connor, tweeted Snowden selfies.

Snowden made clear that he wasn't leaking any new information in his meeting. But according to Yokubaitis, he did speak on a slightly more personal note, saying that he would like to see enough public support to safely return home. "[The] government hasn't felt the pressure; they don't care about petitions, they need higher-level pressure. It is not a legal issue, it is a political issue."He also said, as he had before, that he'd do it again. "I have gained so much. I have the ability to contribute in a much more meaningful way. I really got the sense that I'm helping to improve lives. It gives me a reason to get up in the morning. And that's something that you can't get from almost anything other than maintaining a guiding principle that you believe in very strongly."

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Edward Snowden holds secret meeting with tech experts at SXSW

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AUSTIN, Texas, March 15 (UPI) -- Edward Snowden organized a private meeting with a handful of people at this year's SXSW.

Snowden did not appear in person, of course, as he faces criminal charges in the United States for leaking government information to the public. He instead appeared as he usually does, by doing a live video chat.

The focus of the meeting was Snowden advising tech company leaders to start focusing on making software that can't be broken into for government surveillance, like using encryption for emails, according to The Verge. Snowden said he wants them to make it so hard to break into private communications that the government runs out of its intelligence budget before it can get any information on American citizens.

Some of the roughly 20 people who attended the meeting took selfies with Snowden before it was over. One of those people was president and CEO of The Center for Democracy & Technology, Nuala O'Connor.

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Edward Snowden holds secret meeting with tech experts at SXSW

Edward Snowden held a secretive invite-only talk at SXSW

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REUTERS/Mark BlinchFormer U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden appears live via video during a student organized world affairs conference at the Upper Canada College private high school in Toronto, February 2, 2015.

The exiled NSA whistleblower can't attend tech conferences in person because he'll likely be arrested if he leaves Russia. That means that he has to make virtual appearances instead.

The session on Sunday morning saw Snowden speak to a group of invited privacy campaigners and technology experts.

The Verge says that "roughly two dozen people" attended Snowden's SXSW call. It was described as a "call to arms" that came in the form of a question and answer session.

Snowden used the session to call on companies to introduce technology that blocks mass surveillance, and pushed for more investment in web security technology SSL.

SXSW told the Verge that the Snowden call was kept private to create an "intimate" feeling for the call. The attendees included CloudFlare CEO Matthew Prince, Twitter's Matthew Zimmerman, and Evernote CEO Phil Libin.

Snowden also appeared at a conference in London on Saturday - but that didn't go smoothly. He used Google Hangouts for the video call, and the call was left public. That meant that anyone on the internet could join the call and interrupt him, and several people did.

Business Insider/James CookEdward Snowden speaking at FutureFest in London.

After one intruder loudly swore during the call, Snowden looked annoyed. Eventually he got through the panel discussion without too much disruption.

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Edward Snowden held a secretive invite-only talk at SXSW

Edward Snowden’s speech was ruined by a bunch of random people that joined in on his video call

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Business Insider/James Cook

Speaking at FutureFest, a conference in London held by a charity named Nesta, he used Google Hangouts to participate from Moscow.

Since leaking NSA documents in 2013, Snowden can't travel in person to events around the world (he'll likely be arrested), so this is the next best thing.

Google Hangouts allow multiple people take part in online video calls. Snowden was in the video call using a Google profile under the name of "Ben," but whoever set up the call hadn't locked down the privacy settings. That meant that anyone could join and they did.

First up was a man sitting on his bed, who started laughing when he realised that he was on a video call with Edward Snowden. It looked like he was chatting to someone on the phone, too. Snowden joked about the unexpected visitor, remarking "I see a guy in his bed."

Business Insider/James Cook

Snowden didn't seem to mind, but then the visitor unmuted his microphone to talk and his phone started loudly ringing, drowning out Snowden's comments. He was quickly booted from the call.

All was well, for a while. Snowden explained that governments use long words to describe mass surveillance, which he argues is a trick to make people accept widespread privacy violations. But then someone else joined the video call. They seemed surprised to be there, shouting "holy sh*t!"

Business Insider/James Cook

Snowden looked annoyed. He was in the middle of a key point, and suddenly someone had appeared on the call and swore at him. A Nesta employee scrambled to mute the intruder before he could make anymore noise.

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Edward Snowden's speech was ruined by a bunch of random people that joined in on his video call

Snowden ‘ready to return to America’

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MOSCOW: Edward Snowden, the fugitive whistleblower who has been given refuge in Russia, is willing to return to the United States if he is given a fair trial, his lawyer said Tuesday. He is thinking about it. He has a desire to return and we are doing everything we can to make it happen, Anatoly Kucherena, the Russian lawyer who represents the former National Security Agency contractor, told a news conference. Snowden was given political asylum in Russia in the summer of 2013 after the US revoked his passport. He now leads a reclusive life there. With a group of lawyers from other countries, we are working on the question of his return to America, Kucherena said.

Snowden is ready to return to the States, but on the condition that he is given a guarantee of a legal and impartial trial, he said. The lawyer said Snowden had so far only received a guarantee from the US Attorney General that he will not face the death penalty. He said that Snowden is able to travel outside Russia since he has a three-year Russian residency permit, but I suspect that as soon as he leaves Russia, he will be taken to the US embassy. Kucherenas comments came at a presser where he presented a thriller loosely based on his encounters with Snowden. US filmmaker Oliver Stone has bought the rights to the book as he prepares to shoot a biopic about Snowden starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

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Snowden ‘ready to return to America’