wltx 7:10 PM. EDT July 21, 2017

(Photo: Hater)

COLUMBIA, SC (WLTX) - A new dating app is matching people on a different kind of interest -- things they hate.

The app, called Hater, says its makes online dating more more approachable by replacing surveys and bios with a fun, alternative way to find things in common. Are you curious yet?

This week, Hater released a map of the United States that shows what people in each state hate the most based on their data. While they didn't release the details on their data, we know the company was founded in 2016 so it stands to reason the data is no older than that.

So, what do South Carolinians hate the most according to the app? Edward Snowden, apparently.

Our neighbors in North Carolina hate DUI checkpoints. In Georgia, they hate tuna salad. And folks in Florida apparently hate workout couples. (You know the ones.)

Here's the full map.

So, what do YOU hate? And would you try the app?

2017 WLTX-TV

Link:
South Carolinians Hate . . . Edward Snowden? - WLTX.com

JUDY WOODRUFF: Now to another in our Brief But Spectacular series, where we ask people to describe their passions.

Tonight, we hear from Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras. Her latest film is Risk, which looks at WikiLeaks and Julian Assange.

LAURA POITRAS, Documentary Filmmaker: Its a bit surprising that I do documentaries, because I consider myself to be a really shy person.

And theres something about the documentary form that I guess it sort of it kind of gives you an invitation, maybe, to go places you wouldnt go otherwise or to take risks you wouldnt take otherwise.

My filmmaking is kind of comes in a tradition of observational cinema or cinema verite. Legendary founders of it is D.A. Pennebaker, Albert Maysles, Frederick Wiseman. They capture human stories. They capture drama, and they capture history as it unfolds.

When you talk to people and who they tell you who they are is oftentimes different than their actions. And so Im interested in peoples actions and choices.

So, for instance, sitting in a hotel room with Edward Snowden, as hes making this monumental decision to leak this information, is an example of the type of cinema that Im interested in doing.

The last two films I have done, Citizenfour and Risk, I became a participant. There were things that were happening that were happening because of work that I was doing, reporting on the NSA.

I mean, if you expose the deepest levels of intelligence agencies, they do tend to pay attention to what youre doing. I was placed on a government terrorist watch list in 2006, and was detained at the U.S. border for probably 50 times, interrogated. I have had computers confiscated. I have had notebooks photocopied.

They have subpoenaed my records. They would send FBI agents to my film screenings to see what I said in Q&As.

MAN: Theres a filmmaker named Laura Poitras. Laura Poitras is known through the defense community as a documentary filmmaker who is anti-U.S.

LAURA POITRAS: I became really interested in WikiLeaks and Julian Assange in 2010, like a lot of people, first when they published the video of Collateral Murder, the Apache helicopter footage that showed killings of Iraqis, by U.S. military.

And having made a film about the war in Iraq, I knew that this was the kind of thing that was happening every day there. I reached out to WikiLeaks and Assange during that time and then started filming in 2011.

And I was interested in how they were changing journalism. I had somewhat of a falling out with him over the film, where he wanted me not to use scenes in the film.

One of the scenes that Julian wanted removed from the film is the scene where his lawyers are giving him advice about how to speak publicly of around these allegations of sexual assault.

JULIAN ASSANGE, Founder, WikiLeaks: Its just a thoroughly tawdry, radical, feminist, political positioning thing. Its some stereotype.

LAURA POITRAS: I still have enormous respect for, like, the project of WikiLeaks and its importance, because I think they have done extraordinary publishing.

Im always interested in access. Like you know, like, I would love to have access to Robert Muellers investigation into Donald Trump, or James Comey.

But I think those are going to be pretty tough to get access to that. But, yes, Im really looking forward to like the really good documentary thats capturing whats happening right now in our politics.

I hope its being documented by someone.

My name is Laura Poitras, and this is my brief take on documentary filmmaking.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And you can watch additional Brief But Spectacular episodes at pbs.org/newshour/brief.

Read more:
What it's like to turn the camera on Snowden and Assange - PBS NewsHour

Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr heads to a committee meeting on Capitol Hill on July 18, 2017.(Photo: Mark Wilson, Getty Images)

WASHINGTON Two of President Trump's nominees for high-level intelligence jobs promised the Senate Intelligence Committee to cooperate with the panel's Russia investigation, even if the information they uncover proves damaging to Trump.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., asked the presidents nominee for assistant secretary of Treasury for intelligence and analysis whether she will make it a top priority to investigate Russia's use of shell corporations to launder money in the U.S. even it leads to "ties to the president's business, family or campaign."

"I will take the intelligence wherever it goes," promised nominee Isabel Patelunas, a longtime analyst for the CIA, at a committee hearing Wednesday.

The Senate Intelligence Committee, along with the Senate Judiciary Committee and the House Intelligence Committee, are investigating Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election and possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russian officials.

Both Patelunas and Susan Gordon, the president's nominee for principal deputy director of national intelligence, were asked by Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., whether they would commit to working with the committee on its Russia investigation.

"I certainly will, sir," Patelunas responded. Gordon, who is also acareer CIA officer, promised to do the same.

Committee Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., also pressed Gordon and Robert Storch, Trump's nominee to be inspector general of the National Security Agency, about how they can stop leaks of classified information by NSA contractors.

The most famous of those leaks came in 2013, when former NSA contractor Edward Snowden leaked classified information about NSA surveillance programs, including the mass collection of phone records from millions of Americans who weren't suspected of any terrorist activity.

While members of Congress generally denounced Snowden's actions, his revelations led lawmakers in 2015 to pass the USA Freedom Act, which ended the controversial bulk collection of data.

In addition to the Snowden case, there have been two other major leaks by NSA contractors. In early June, a 25-year-old federal contractor was arrested in Georgia in connection with a classified NSA report on Russian election interference published by the online publicationThe Intercept.

The report said that Russian military intelligence conducted a cyber attack on at least one supplier of voting software and sent phishing emails containing malicious software to more than 100 local election official just days before the 2016 election,The Interceptreported.

"Do you commit to us ... to try to figure out how to plug this problem?" Burr asked Gordon, who said yes.

"I believe unauthorized leaks of classified information are always damaging," she said, adding that they are "not in this nation's interest."

Storch also promised Feinstein that he would look into the problem and evaluate the NSA's security.

"I absolutely would pledge to you that it is something we would explore," Storch said.

Read more:

Mueller now investigating Donald Trump Jr.'s Russia meeting

House Intelligence Committee boosts its own cyber defenses

Democrats target Ivanka Trump security clearance amid Kushner scrutiny

Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2vjm1Pn

Originally posted here:
Senators ask Trump nominees to aid in Russia probe even if it damages president - USA TODAY

The refugee families in Hong Kong, China on Monday. Photograph: ZUMA Wire/REX/Shutterstock

For two weeks they sheltered the worlds most wanted man, ferrying Edward Snowden between tiny apartments in Hong Kongs poorest neighborhood.

Now the four refugees are at the centre of a court battle in Canada, as lawyers frantically work to bring them and their children to the country amid concerns that they face grave reprisals over their actions.

It seems like the families connection to Snowden has made them radioactive and put them in a uniquely vulnerable situation, said Michael Simkin, one of the lawyers behind a motion filed this week in federal court and aimed at expediting asylum claims for the group in Canada.

The families lived in obscurity until last year, when Oliver Stones film on the whistleblower revealed that Snowden had been protected by asylum seekers in Hong Kong.

After journalists tracked them down, the refugees three from Sri Lanka and one from the Philippines came forward, explaining that they had been introduced by their mutual lawyer and that their actions had come before the US demand for Snowdens arrest was recognised in Hong Kong.

Since then, the asylum seekers claim theyve been routinely questioned by authorities to find out what they know about Snowden. Their lawyers have spoken out about relocating their clients several times over suspicions that members of Sri Lankan security forces are attempting to find them.

In May, Hong Kong rejected their asylum claims, paving the way for deportation to their home countries, where the claimants say they could face imprisonment, torture and even death. Lawyers are now appealing the decisions; though they believe they have little hope of success.

Two weeks ago, the asylum claimants who include a former Sri Lankan soldier who alleges he was tortured by the army and a single mother from the Philippines who said she fled the country after being kidnapped and sexually assaulted were ordered to report to a detention centre in Hong Kong in early August. Their lawyers fear their children will end up in foster care as the parents await deportation.

Every development in their cases is being carefully tracked in Montreal, where a team of lawyers have launched For the Refugees, a non-profit organisation dedicated to bringing the families to Canada as privately sponsored refugees.

Using funds collected from donors to cover the expenses of settling the families, the paperwork to bring the four adults and their three children to Canada was filed in January. We are encouraged by prime minister Trudeaus commitment in taking a clear lead internationally in welcoming refugees, lawyer Marc-Andr Sguin said in April.

But months later, it appears that little progress has been made in processing the Canadian claims, said Simkin. Canada today is truly their last and only hope, added the lawyer. Once the families are arrested, it will severely compromise our ability to ever relocate them to Canada. Our clients lives are at stake, and this may be their last chance to escape a horrific fate.

In recognition of the urgency facing their cases, Simkin said that Canadas minister of immigration, Ahmed Hussen who came to Canada as a teenaged refugee from Somalia had committed in May to expedite the asylum claims. Two months later, consular officials said the files had not been fast-tracked, leaving the families at the whim of a process that could take years.

Simkin questioned why the Canadian government had seemingly changed its mind. We dont know if the US has put any kind of pressure on Canada, we dont know why Minister Hussen has reversed his decision What we do know is that the families and their three, stateless children who are under six years old are being punished, and thats just not right, he said. We cannot use these families as a proxy for punishing Edward Snowden.

After attempts to seek answers from the ministry proved fruitless, the lawyers said they were left with no other option but to file a legal challenge and hope that a federal court judge will force the Canadian government to fast-track the claims.

On Tuesday, the office of the minister of immigration said that the government is committed to ensuring every case is evaluated in a fair manner. The Minister has not made any commitment to expedite this application, said a spokesperson for the minister, declining to comment further due to privacy reasons.

The legal saga that has entangled the refugees has also attracted attention from Human Rights Watch, who noting that Hong Kong has accepted fewer than one percent of refugee claims in recent years urged Canada to open its doors to the families.

The compassionate act of letting Edward Snowden into their homes should never have landed these families in peril, the organisations Dinah PoKempner said in a statement. No one should have to risk a return to torture or persecution because they opened their door to another who feared the same.

Continue reading here:
Refugees who helped Edward Snowden now look to Canada as their only hope - The Guardian

Asylum seekers who housed NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden in Hong Kong are set to sue the Canadian government for failing to expedite their refugee claims. They say their role in Snowdens escape to Russia has led authorities to repeatedly question them.

Before escaping to Russia, Snowden hid with families from Sri Lanka and the Philippines who sought asylum in Hong Kong. They hosted Snowden for short periods having been introduced to him by their mutual lawyer, Robert Tibbo.

Read more

They said they willingly helped Snowden who, like themselves, was seeking safety as a refugee. A US demand for his arrest in Hong Kong was not recognized and disclosed until after he had lawfully left the territory.

Once their connection with Snowden became known, the asylum seekers say Hong Kong authorities repeatedly questioned them to find out what they knew about Snowden, and denied them benefits for their basic living needs when they referred such questions to their lawyer.

The group includes four adults and three stateless children born in Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong government has sent the adult asylum seekers detention notices, indicating that they could soon be deported to their home countries where they say theyd face a credible risk of persecution and abuse.

The young children face separation from their parents if the adults are detained and deported.

According to a report in the South China Morning Post, the asylum seekers legal team in Canada is preparing to file an order of mandamus, an injunction in which they will ask the federal court to order the government to expedite their claims, based on the fact that the seven are in an extremely vulnerable situation in Hong Kong.

A lawyer for the group, Marc-Andr Sguin, said the average processing time of claims at the Canadian consulate in Hong Kong is more than four years. He argues that they need the claim processed much quicker than that because theyre very vulnerable to being deported.

We repeatedly tried to convey the urgent needs of our clients. There is no time, given that they are particularly vulnerable at the moment. We have to get them before they are deported, Sguin said.

In May the Immigration Department in Hong Kong rejected the seven claims. Their lawyer believes the decision was because of their link to Snowden.

READ MORE: Hong Kong denies asylum to refugees who sheltered Snowden in 2013

The seven people are now at further risk of detention and eventual deportation to their home countries, where they claim they face violence and persecution.

Canadian Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen has discretionary powers to speed up the screening.

Read more

In a statement on Monday Human Rights Watch called on Canada to expedite the claims.

The compassionate act of letting Edward Snowden into their homes should never have landed these families in peril, said Dinah PoKempner, general counsel at Human Rights Watch.

Canada should move quickly on these cases and safeguard these people from the prospect of detention and deportation, PoKempner continued.

No one should have to risk return to torture or persecution because they opened their door to another who feared the same. Canada has a unique opportunity to provide these people and their children both safety and a future.

See the original post here:
Asylum seekers who housed Snowden suing Canada over refugee claims - RT

The seven refugees who harboured American whistle-blower Edward Snowden in Hong Kong are attending their first appeal hearings on Monday, as the prospect of detention and deportation looms.

The seven four adults from Sri Lanka and the Philippines, and three stateless children born in the city had their protection claims rejected in May, whereupon they all appealed.

Authorities want me removed from case, lawyer for asylum seekers who helped Snowden claims

The group became well known for having hidden the former US National Security Agency contractor Snowden in their homes for about two weeks in 2013, after he leaked a trove of classified documents revealing the extent of electronic spying by the United States and other governments.

They will attend directions hearings on Monday, preliminary meetings at the Torture Claims Appeal Board, before the actual hearing begins.

Like many asylum seekers in the city, the seven used to report to the Immigration Departments branch office in Ma Tau Kok, Kowloon, every six weeks. But this month, after their protection claims were rejected, they were told their cases had been transferred to Castle Peak Bay Immigration Centre in Tuen Mun, a facility for detainees awaiting repatriation or deportation. Officers told them to report there instead.

Help the refugees who saved me: Snowden hits out at Hong Kong government in damning video

We were told that was a collective decision by immigration, their lawyer, Robert Tibbo, said. No further explanation was offered and the officer did not deny that they could be detained then.

I am concerned because there is no reason to transfer them to the Castle Peak Bay Immigration Centre. They will have to make three times the distance with young children and at a greater cost, he said.

The prospect of reporting at the centre, although there is no official indication they will be detained, alarmed the claimants.

Ajith Pushpakumara, a former soldier from Sri Lanka who was detained for about five months for identity verification in 2006, was visibly shaken by the news.

I am very upset. I cannot sleep or eat I dont know what to do now, he said. I think they will detain me I cannot go back to Sri Lanka.

Hong Kong rejects asylum claims by refugees who sheltered Edward Snowden

Pushpakumara said he feared for the safety of his mother and daughter back home.

There were reports early this year that Sri Lankan police had been in Hong Kong looking for the Sri Lankan refugees who sheltered Snowden, and that their relatives were under pressure back home. Authorities there denied that.

If the Torture Claims Appeal Board rejects their appeal, they can still request a judicial review with the High Court. If such attempts fail, claimants are detained and then deported to their countries of origin.

The director of the Immigration Department holds the discretionary power to order their detention at any moment.

Another of the seven, Vanessa Mae Rodel, from the Philippines, said she was very afraid of being separated from her five-year-old daughter. Rodel was detained in 2010 for almost two months for overstaying a visa before being able to file a protection claim.

Hong Kong does not grant asylum, but the local government is obliged to screen torture and persecution claims. Those whose claims are substantiated are referred to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees for resettlement in another country.

Read the original here:
Asylum hearings begin for deportation-threatened seven who sheltered Edward Snowden in Hong Kong - South China Morning Post

Australia #Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull wants to have access to encrypted messages of tech companies such as Apple, Facebook and others to assist the rule of law even as he warned that encrypted messaging apps could be used by terrorists and criminals, the BBC reported.

Mr. Turnbull made a recent pitch to reporters about his interest in prying into encrypted messages but he seems instead to be reviving the alleged spy leaks by Edward Snowden, who is still in asylum in Russia after facing espionage charges in 2013 by the U.S. government. Lancaster Online reported this week that "#Edward Snowden's leaks still has NSA in damage-control mode."

Encrypted messages are considered secure online messages that could not be easily intercepted by hackers, terrorists, and criminals.

The encrypted messages cannot be handed over by messaging companies as they do not receive a legible copy.

WhatsApp, for one, uses end-to-end encryption, and its encrypted messages if ever they are intercepted are unreadable. Mr. Turnbull wanted for these encrypted messages be accessed by government spies, an action which could not possibly have any headway without earning a backlash on its citizens freedom of privacy.

There are fears from Australian authorities that this type of messaging has been used by terrorists and criminals.

Mr. Turnbull told journalists that he is not seeking a backdoor by the government into the systems of the tech companies but only wanted the encrypted messages to be accessed and understood like information processed offline.

He said that the access to encrypted messages would assist the rule of the law but tech experts are saying that giving into this would mean that criminals and terrorists could also use the same.

Turnbull's "backdoor" talks have revived government spy talks after Snowden exposed the U.S. governments snooping activities while tech experts and legal communities favoring privacy are again bracing for repercussions as the Australian government presses to have access to encrypted messages.

Snowden, a former contractor for the CIA, leaked to the media the extensive surveillance activities by American intelligence in internet and phone companies in the U.S. in June early June 2013.

He exposed that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) was collecting telephone records of tens of millions of U.S. citizens. #The Guardian newspaper published a secret court order favoring NSA for the telecommunications company Verizon to provide it with its telephone data on a daily basis.

Subsequent exposes of the Washington Post and the Guardian bared that the NSA tapped directly into the servers of nine internet companies such as Facebook, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Google, like a backbone to monitor communications via a surveillance program named Prism.

But Prism was also cracked by a British electronic eavesdropping company named GCHQ. Snowden was later uncovered to be the one behind the leak. There was a widespread search for him until he was found to be already in Russia, where he was granted asylum.

See original here:
Australia wants FB, other tech firms to give access to encrypted messages - Blasting News

A high-ranking official of the National Security Agency said in a talk here Wednesday that the electronic surveillance agency is working to improve its public relations in the wake of Edward Snowdens damaging leaks.

Jonathan Darby, the NSAs deputy chief of cybersecurity operations, said the agency realized it had to get out and talk more about what we do after Snowden in 2013 revealed ways in which U.S. spy agencies collect phone, email and other communications.

Darby contended that most of the Snowden-related stories in 2013 were twisted or dead-out wrong, and he pushed back on a movie glorifying the former NSA contractors actions, saying the leaks put peoples lives at risk.

Snowden fled to Moscow in June 2013 after he was identified as the source of information several newspapers printed about previously undisclosed NSA surveillance programs. Snowden remains in Russia, where he was granted asylum until 2020.

Before an audience of 180 at a Lancaster Rotary Club luncheon, Darby portrayed the NSA as scrupulously law-abiding and completely accountable to Congress and the courts.

If the law does not affirmatively give us the authority to take an action, we can not and we will not do it, said Darby, a Montana native who joined the NSA in 1983 as a foreign language analyst. We do not independently decide what to collect.

He said the $11-billion NSA is a joint military-civilian spy agency with the dual mission of intercepting foreign communications and protecting U.S. government communications.

This spy agency spies. Thats what we do, legally and within policy guidelines, he said.

Darby stressed that the NSA does not spy on Americans at home or abroad unless a federal judge approves it.

Also, if the communications of an American are intercepted incidentally through the valid targeting of a foreigner, the Americans communication is masked, he said. The procedures, in place for decades, have government and court approval, he said.

Darby defended a program, up for Congressional renewal this year, that allows the NSA to compel a U.S. communications company to turn over communications of noncitizens outside of the United States.

Saying the program prevents terrorist attacks, Darby pointed to the 2009 arrest of a man who planned a bombing on a New York City subway.

Darby pushed back against the perception that the NSA indiscriminately vacuums up all communications around the world.

He said the quantity of data the NSA collects is analogous to a dime on the floor of a basketball court.

Darby said NSA employees take an oath to defend the Constitution, including its guarantees of civil liberties.

Some will say that (strict oversight and legal restrictions) ties one arm behind our back, Darby said. As an NSAer, I say, Damn straight. Thats fine. Thats who we are as a country.

Asked about allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, Darby said the NSA joined with the FBI and CIA in coming to that assessment.

It goes back to, Heres the facts, Darby said. We laid out the facts.

On cybersecurity, Darby said the country increasingly understands the threats to the nations computer networks and that existing security measures arent adequate for the long term.

View original post here:
Edward Snowden's leaks has NSA in damage-control mode, spy agency official tells Lancaster audience - LancasterOnline

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Edward Snowden on Trump, Petraeus, Having 'No Regrets' Video ...

WASHINGTON National Security Agency whistleblowerEdward Snowdensays aphotographer managed to capture the politics of an era when he snapped a photo of New Jersey Gov.Chris Christie(R) lounging with his family and friends on an otherwise empty stretch of beach.

Rarely does a photographer capture the politics of an era in one frame, Snowden posted Monday on Twitter, along with The Star-Ledgers front page showing Christiekicked back on a state beachthat hed ordered closed to the public amid a state government shutdown.

Snowden also retweeted a post from Steve Politi, the newspapers sports columnist, showing throngs of beachgoers crowded at one end of a long stretch of sandy shore.

On Sunday,NJ Advance Mediapublished several aerial photostaken by Andrew Mills showing Christie, along with family and friends, at New Jerseys Island Beach State Park, the site of an official governors residence.The park was one ofseveral closedover the holiday weekend after lawmakers failed to pass a state budget.

Inan interview with Fox 5in New York on Monday, Christie mocked local media, saying, What a great bit of journalism by The Star-Ledger and I really wonder about journalists who spend money flying planes to look whether people are actually where they said they would be. He said he announced his plans to vacation at the New Jersey residence regardless of whether a shutdown occurred and dismissed the idea that the beach closure was in any way his fault.

In a separate interview Monday withFox 29in Philadelphia, Christie was asked about people who are upset about not being able to enjoy the beach over the holiday weekend.

Im sorry theyre not the governor, he said. This is a residence.

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Edward Snowden On Chris Christie Sunbathing Pic: 'The ...