Why Edward Snowden Is Telling Users to Skip Dropbox
Oct. 13 (Bloomberg) - CrowdStrike Chief Risk Officer Steven Chabinsky discusses Edward Snowden #39;s latest claims. He speaks on Street Smart. (Source: Bloomberg) -- Subscribe to Bloomberg...
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Why Edward Snowden Is Telling Users to Skip Dropbox - Video
Snowden slams Dropbox, Facebook as threats to privacy
Dropbox, Facebook and Google are a few of the biggest threats to individuals #39; privacy, Edward Snowden warned at a forum this weekend. Advising consumers to only use encrypted services that...
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Snowden slams Dropbox, Facebook as threats to privacy - Video
James Risen on NSA Whistleblower Edward Snowden: He Sparked a New National Debate on Surveillance
http://democracynow.org - New York Times investigative reporter James Risen faces jail time if he refuses to name a whistleblowing source, but he insists the actual whistleblowers, including...
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James Risen on NSA Whistleblower Edward Snowden: He Sparked a New National Debate on Surveillance - Video
TIME Business Careers & Workplace Top 10 Inspiring TED Talks for 2014 Justin SullivanGetty Images Bill Gates, Edward Snowden, Larry Page, and the inventor of the World Wide Web converged on the year's hottest topics
This post is in partnership with Inc., which offers useful advice, resources and insights to entrepreneurs and business owners. The article below was originally published at Inc.com.
If youve yet to accumulate enough frequent-flier miles to dash off to this innovation conference, you can get inspired at home by watching the following top TED Talks of the year.
In 1993, Bill and Melinda Gates took a trip to Africa that changed the way they viewed what was truly valuable. The extreme poverty they witnessed then instigated a lifelong commitment to give back 95 percent of their wealth.
In this TED Talk, the mega-philanthropists talk to Chris Anderson about marrying Bills affinity for big data with Melindas global-minded intuition to help save millions of children from hunger and disease around the world. The always-ambitious Gates are now trying to persuade other business leaders and wealthy entrepreneurs to give back. Warren Buffett recently donated 80 percent of his fortune to the Gates Foundation.
These are people who have created their own businesses, put their own ingenuity behind incredible ideas. If they put their ideas and their brain behind philanthropy, they can change the world, Melinda Gates said.
Using the plight of painters, archers, and Arctic explorers as an extended metaphor, art historian Sarah Lewis makes a case for celebrating the near win: missing the mark but never losing sight of the target.
Mastery is in the reaching, not the arriving. Its in constantly wanting to close that gap between where you are and where you want to be, Lewis said.
Lewiss near win theory has been the driving force behind some of our cultures greatest minds, from Michelangelo to Franz Kafka. Almost succeeding gives leaders and competitors the focus and tenacity required to try again. According to Lewis, it is by harnessing these near wins that we can master a more fulfilling path.
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Top 10 Inspiring TED Talks for 2014
The word "risky" is thrown around often in the film world, usually when personalities embark on a new direction or a commercially challenging project.
But Oscar-nominated director Laura Poitras faced a different type of hazard with her latest film, "Citizenfour": the possibility of arrest, attack and harassment.
The filmmaker, after all, was making a documentary about one of the most-wanted fugitives: secret-spilling National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.
"I'd worked in conflict zones, and there's a kind of fear there," Poitras, who has made movies in places such as Iraq and Yemen, said in an interview Saturday. "But this is a different kind of fear. The intelligence world operates in the shadows. You don't know where the dangers lie."
Poitras was a key person Snowden reached out to when he decided to go public with documents detailing massive U.S. and British surveillance operations. She was one of three journalists who traveled to Hong Kong to hole up in a hotel room over eight days in June 2013 as Snowden revealed much of what he knew as a high-level NSA consultant. She also shot the 12-minute video of Snowden that went viral at the time and in turn made him, at 29, perhaps the most important and polarizing figure of his kind since Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel Ellsberg.
"Citizenfour," which had its world premiere at the New York Film Festival over the weekend to a standing ovation and will hit theaters Oct. 24, is Poitras' original video writ large. The movie is a look at how Snowden decided to pull back the curtain on the government surveillance operations and what happened to him when he did, often through never-before-seen footage. The film could reignite the debate over how Snowden should be viewed and shine a light anew on the surveillance apparatus.
Whether Snowden is a whistle-blower or a traitor is a question that has captivated security and foreign-policy thinkers since his leaks reached the public. With "Citizenfour," Poitras has made a movie that argues for his heroism, emphasizing the risks he took to step forward.
She also lays out in often startling detail the extensive surveillance operations of the U.S. and British governments including facilities that are believed to process data (possibly emails, phone calls or other information) of millions of citizens also layering in voices such as those of former NSA official-turned-critic William Binney and activist Jacob Appelbaum. Clips from the strange bedfellows of President Obama and former George W. Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer decrying Snowden are meant primarily to show an establishment's panic and defensiveness about Snowden's actions.
Telling at once a story both broad and personal, the film begins with Poitras' voice-over describing how she had been contacted anonymously by a man identifying himself as "Citizenfour," who claimed to have proof of illegal government surveillance.
The source turns out to be Snowden, but before Poitras gets to him, she details the extensive national security apparatus that he will soon expose. The director has activists explain how the government uses so-called metadata to track phone calls and movements of ordinary citizens, and she shows clips of James Clapper, director of national intelligence for the NSA, testifying before Congress that the government does not spy on millions of Americans.
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In 'Citizenfour,' Laura Poitras feels heat of telling Snowden's story
NSA leaker reunited with dancer Linsday Mills, with whom he lived in Hawaii The two are together again in Moscow, where Snowden is claiming asylum A picture shows the two enjoying a trip to a theatre in the Russian capital Vladimir Putin has granted the wanted man permission to stay for 3 years
By Will Stewart for MailOnline
Published: 13:58 EST, 14 October 2014 | Updated: 15:26 EST, 14 October 2014
A picture of U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden and his American girlfriend at a Moscow theatre has emerged - and the possibility of the pair marrying in Russia has been raised.
The former National Security Agency contractor is 'happy' that Lindsay Mills is with him in Moscow.
The pole dancer was recently shown with America's most wanted man cooking in his flatin a fly on the wall documentary.
'Edward Snowden is happy that his girlfriend Lindsay Mills came to Russia and that she is supporting him,' said lawyer Anatoly Kucherena.
Reunited with America's most wanted man: The former National Security Agency contractor is 'happy' that girlfriend Lindsay Mills is with him in Moscow
'It's hard to predict if they are going to have a wedding in Russia.'
He spoke as the new picture was issued by state-owned news agency RIA Novosti of the couple on a night out at the theatre.
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Ed Snowden enjoys date with pole dancer girlfriend Linsday Mills
Edward Snowden in Laura Poitras's 'Citizenfour'
Many rave reviews of Laura Poitrass new documentary Citizenfour have already been written. The film tackles the large and difficult subject of government information collection, which can no longer be easily referred to as the sprawling surveillance state because it involves so many different states, often acting in concert. Documentaries on the subject such as PBS Frontlines recent United States of Secrets usually involve a series of interviews with people staring into the camera and telling you what they know. But that is not the Poitras style. She seeks to capture events as they happen rather than interviews, so her film features Congressional testimony, a speech at a hacker conference, arguments before a federal court about warrantless wiretapping, journalist Glenn Greenwald typing away in Brazil surrounded by his famous dogs, and the active construction site for the NSAs famous datacenter in Utah. But as the New Yorkers George Packer notes in his profile of Poitras, the heart of the film is the hotel room in Hong Kong. That would be the hotel room where NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden holed up for a week last year with Poitras, Greenwald, and Guardian journalist Ewen MacAskill and started the leak that launched a global debate about the intelligence communitys information binging in the digital age.
It is incredible that this historic week is captured on film. It is as if the Washington Posts Bob Woodward were accompanied by a cameraman for his meetings with Deep Throat, or Daniel Ellsberg tailed by a reality TV film crew as he made the momentous decision to share the Pentagon Papers with the press. Not only is the week captured, it is captured in minute and humanizing detail. Such close detail that one of my viewing companions suggested Snowden visit the dermatologist as he worried about some of his moles. It gives the TV show Big Brother a serious run for its money. The three participants (plus Laura Poitras, off screen) bond. Snowdens hotel room steadily gets messier. You see the famous Tor and EFF stickers on Snowdens laptop, but also that he has a copy of Cory Doctorows Homeland in the room a meta touch given that the novel is about a protagonist with a thumbdrive of incriminating government documents who is trying to decide how to leak them. Everyone starts making more jokes as they get more comfortable with one another, even as the bags under Snowdens eyes get darker as the stories he unleashed and his identity go viral. Poitras films Snowden at length simply watching the news, as anchors and experts debate the meaning of the government programs revealed such as the mass collection of telephone metadata and Snowdens own motivations. It is riveting.
Edward Snowden and Glenn Greenwald at the Mira in Hong Kong. A historic week, captured on film.
It is also hilarious at times. Snowden was convinced of the danger of his coming forward. I appreciate your concern for my safety, but I already know how this will end for me and I accept the risk. I ask only that you ensure this information makes it home to the American public, he wrote in an email to Poitras before meeting her, when he signed his emails only as Citizenfour. It was a serious enterprise, and Snowden was convinced of dire results for him, but the tension was lifted by moments of levity. At one point, a fire alarm keeps going off, interrupting their discussions of intelligence programs, awakening first paranoia is someone trying to interrupt their session? and then, after a call to the front desk that reveals its maintenance, simple annoyance.
Snowdens paranoia about being watched is at first laughable to the journalists. Snowden dons the famous red hood, covering himself and his computer to enter his passwords so that an observer or camera cant catch it, while Greenwald looks away trying not to smirk at the absurdity, calling the red blanket Snowdens magic mantle of power. We have all heard the story of Snowden originally reaching out by email to Greenwald but then turning to Poitras instead because Greenwald refused to learn how to use encryption. In the film, Snowden continues to dog Greenwald for his poor security practices, looking shocked when he realizes Greenwald has casually left an SD card with classified documents in his computer. Lets remember to change this out every once in a while, he says. Itll be public soon, Greenwald responds. When Snowden hands Greenwalds computer back to him to type in his password, Greenwald quickly dashes it off and hands the computer back. Well, looks like your password is about 4 characters, Snowden says humorously. I type fast, responds Greenwald. It makes you wonder what jokes Woodward and Mark Felt (a.k.a. Deep Throat) exchanged in that parking garage.
The preternatually composed Snowden is so focused on making sure the journalists understand whats in the documents that he sometimes forgets small gestures. As seen in the trailer, MacAskill has to interrupt Snowdens real-life information download to tell him he has no idea who this guy is. When Snowden launches into his resume, MasAskill interrupts him again. I dont even know your name, he says.
It is a movie about the spread of surveillance, that documents not just the power of the governments surveillance in the digital age but our own power when we capture moments that matter: Snowdens capture of documents at the NSA and Poitrass memorializing this meeting between a whistleblower and the journalists who would bring his secrets forward.
Though sometimes the surveillance in the film is not as sprawling as we would like: at the end of the hotel interviews in Hong Kong, Snowden walks out the door with a lawyer bound for the U.N. and then disappears. We dont get to see the rest of his time in Hong Kong or how he got onto a flight to Russia or his multi-week stay at the Moscow airport. He appears again only in two scenes at the end, revealing calm domesticity as we learn that his girlfriend Lindsay Mills has joined him in Russia and joyousness when Greenwald reveals to him that another leaker of government secrets has come forward with information about the U.S. drone strike program being run out of Germany and the 1.2 million people on the terrorist watchlist (though the Intercept, of which Poitras and Greenwald are founders, reported in August it was only 700,000 people).
There are many, especially in the intelligence community, who believe Snowden is an agent of a foreign power, turned against the U.S. by another countrys spy a plot laid out by a former NSA employee (who met Snowden in a kung-fu class years ago) in a blog post entitled How I Believe Things Went Down. The film serves as a rebuttal.
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The Best Part Of The Snowden Documentary 'Citizenfour'
Edward Snowden has some advice for maintaining online privacy in an age of widespread NSA surveillance. Snowden called Google and Facebook dangerous while praising Apples encryption efforts.
"We're talking about encryption. We're talking about dropping programs that are hostile to privacy, Snowden said inan interview published Saturday by theNew Yorker.For example, Dropbox? Get rid of Dropbox; it doesn't support encryption, it doesn't protect your private files. And use competitors like SpiderOak that do the same exact service, but they protect the content of what you're sharing."
Snowden, the former NSA analyst who revealed the extent of U.S. government surveillance in 2013, did so from a hotel in Hong Kong before leaving for Russia. Having ditched his Hawaii apartment and $122,000 annual salary earlier that summer, he said in the interview he intended only a brief stay in Russia before leaving for Latin America, only to face visa issues that prevented him from leaving. Snowden is now actively sought by the U.S. to face espionage charges.
Dropbox defended itself in a June blog post after Snowden bashed the services security. All of the files its users send and receive are encrypted while traveling between you and our servers and when they are at rest on Dropboxs servers. SpiderOak encrypts data locally on a users computer as well, as opposed to only when it is in transit or in the cloud.
Snowden said Facebook and Google have improved their methods of protecting user privacy but were still dangerous services that should largely be avoided. Ironically, the interview was conducted remotely over Google Hangouts and streamed live on the tech giants YouTube.
Consumers should also be wary of standard text-messaging services from wireless providers, Snowden said. Silent Circle for iPhone and Android and RedPhone, which is currently Android-only, were better replacements because they encrypt texts -- but require that both users install the app to communicate.
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Edward Snowden Offers Online Privacy Tips: Drop Dropbox, Facebook And Google
Edward Snowden being interviewed by Jane Mayer at the MasterCard stage at SVA Theatre during The New Yorker Festival 2014 on October 11, 2014 in New York City.Getty Images
Edward Snowdenhas claimed that if people care about their privacy, they should steer clear from Internet social media sites, like Facebook, Dropboxand Google.
In a remote interview conducted yesterday, as part of the New York Festival, Snowden suggested some of his privacytips.
American people don't have to know the name of every individual that's under investigation. We don't need to know the technical details of absolutely every program in the intelligence community. But we do have to know the bare and broad outlines of the powers our government is claiming ... and how they affect us and how they affect our relationships overseas. Because if we don't, we are no longer citizens, we no longer have leaders. We're subjects, and we have rulers.
- Edward Snowden
Snowdencalled for a reform of government policies and said people who take certain defined positions, where they, "don't have anything to hide," are in fact, "inverting the model of responsibility for how rights work."
"When you say, 'I have nothing to hide,' you're saying, 'I don't care about this right.' You're saying, 'I don't have this right, because I've got to the point where I have to justify it.' The way rights work is, the government has to justify its intrusion into your rights," said Snowden.
Importance of Encryption
Snowden advised individuals to guard their privacy by using encryptedtools and discontinue services that are "hostile to privacy."
He called for a boycott of Dropboxand suggested the use of alternatives, like SpiderOak.
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Edward Snowden's Privacy Tips: 'Get Rid Of Dropbox' and Avoid Facebook
Edward Snowden has some advice for maintaining online privacy in an age of widespread NSA surveillance. Snowden called Google and Facebook dangerous while praising Apples encryption efforts.
"We're talking about encryption. We're talking about dropping programs that are hostile to privacy, Snowden said inan interview published Saturday by theNew Yorker.For example, Dropbox? Get rid of Dropbox; it doesn't support encryption, it doesn't protect your private files. And use competitors like SpiderOak that do the same exact service, but they protect the content of what you're sharing."
Snowden, the former NSA analyst who revealed the extent of U.S. government surveillance in 2013, did so from a hotel in Hong Kong before leaving for Russia. Having ditched his Hawaii apartment and $122,000 annual salary earlier that summer, he said in the interview he intended only a brief stay in Russia before leaving for Latin America, only to face visa issues that prevented him from leaving. Snowden is now actively sought by the U.S. to face espionage charges.
Dropbox defended itself in a June blog post after Snowden bashed the services security. All of the files its users send and receive are encrypted while traveling between you and our servers and when they are at rest on Dropboxs servers. SpiderOak encrypts data locally on a users computer as well, as opposed to only when it is in transit or in the cloud.
Snowden said Facebook and Google have improved their methods of protecting user privacy but were still dangerous services that should largely be avoided. Ironically, the interview was conducted remotely over Google Hangouts and streamed live on the tech giants YouTube.
Consumers should also be wary of standard text-messaging services from wireless providers, Snowden said. Silent Circle for iPhone and Android and RedPhone, which is currently Android-only, were better replacements because they encrypt texts -- but require that both users install the app to communicate.
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NSA Leaker Edward Snowden Offers Online Privacy Tips