It has just been revealed that Milo Yiannopoulos has been nominated and is in the running to be Rector at Glasgow University. This once again provides an excuse to publish my evergreen Pat Kane story, which was rescued from the closure of Telegraph blogs. It was first published in February 2014.

What were Glasgows students thinking when earlier this week they elected Edward Snowden as Rector of that ancient and great institution? In Scottish universities the office of Rector is an important role. Not only is it his or her job to represent the interests of undergraduates. A good Rector can also play a key role in the development of the university.

Snowden cannot possibly do the job, because he is in hiding or on the run. Perhaps, from a top secret location, he could be Skyped in virtually to chair the university court, one of the functions of he is supposed to fulfill at the University of Glasgow. The moment I suggested that there I regretted it. Thats what theyre going to do, isnt it? The designer protest Rector of the tech generation, who is at war with the US government over internet spying, can be beamed in remotely, thus sticking it to the man.

In truth, much of the outraged reaction from traditionalists over Snowdens election is hugely overdone. The whistleblower Snowden is merely the latest in a long and quixotic line of choices. All the greats have been Glasgow Rector. Winnie Mandela did the gig, although it was never clear whether she actually knew she had been elected. Questions were asked about the validity of her nomination papers and the authenticity of her signature. Her supporters in the Labour Club always insisted she had signed up.

Make sure you're not missing out on your free, daily Per Diem email & Iain Martin's weekly letter.

Then there was the Think of a Number TV presenter Johnny Ball. Then TV hardman Ross Kemp, following in the footsteps of Disraeli, Palmerston, Gladstone, Asquith, Bonar Law and Baldwin.

But Pat Kane is the one I remember most clearly. I was there when the lead singer of Hue and Cry (1980s band, Labour of Love, Looking for Linda and so on) was elected as Rector. That year I was the editor of the Glasgow University Guardian, the lively student paper. From the moment of his election Kane was, to his credit, a very diligent Rector. He took it (and himself, it was said by some critics) extremely seriously.

One of his first acts was to offer the student paper a column for each edition, so he could talk direct to undergraduates. Our hearts sank at the suggestion. Kane then was a pop heart-throb who fancied himself a postmodern cultural critic. He is now a campaigner for Scottish independence, and if anything his political and cultural musings have become even more impenetrable. When he insults you, you probably have to look the word up. I know I did.

Our gloom deepened on the editorial board of the student paper when Kane filed his first column, which I think was in the form of a letter to students. I dont want to knock another writers work. But the columns were terribly pretentious, involving as they did references to assorted sociologists and Marxist theorists. What could we on the Glasgow University Guardian do to make Kane stop?

It was then that the sports editor came up with an intriguing idea. What if we just changed one key word in every column Kane filed? That way he would be furious at being made to look foolish. Surely he would flounce off after withdrawing his column, blaming poor editing by student journalists or youthful high spirits. In mitigation we could offer our incompetence or blame the typesetters. (Note to anyone born after 1990: Typesetters were the people who put together a newspaper or magazine once you had typed out the words on a typewriter and handed said typesetters some scribbled designs and manually cropped pictures, taken with a camera as there were no smartphones. A typewriter was like the keyboard on your contemporary laptop but without the screen, and with no delete button either, although you could put a line through any words you misspelt, or you could use Tippex to cover your mistake. Tippex is oh, never mind: just Google it.)

Kanes next column contained a reference to the leading Orwell scholar Raymond Williams. It was a simple matter to replace Raymond with Kenneth. I am ashamed to admit that I sanctioned the change. This was the pre-Leveson era.

When the paper hit the streets, Kane was furious. We promised not to do it again. But we were young, and we were performing a public service.

The next column from Pat Kane involved a reference to the leading sociologist Alvin Toffler. Again, the sports editor who went on to edit Smash Hits had an idea. It was obvious, but like many brilliant ideas all the better for being simple. In the next edition, in Kanes column, Alvin Toffler became Alvin Stardust.

On the day of publication, when Kane came looking for me at the office of the student paper, I had to be hidden upstairs, while the sports editor tried to assure him that I wasnt in the building. The sports editor claimed, I think, that I was at a lecture, which was the most improbable lie ever.

I am not proud of what I did. But there were as far as I remember no more Pat Kane columns under my editorship.

Make sure you're not missing out on your free, daily Per Diem email & Iain Martin's weekly letter.

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Milo Yiannopoulos, Edward Snowden, Winnie Mandela: all the greats have been Rector of Glasgow University - Reaction

"I (am) very scared, maybe they can arrest me," said Supun Kellapatha, a Sri Lankan asylum seeker who gave up his family's bed for Snowden. "I don't have (a) normal life now."

For weeks in 2013, the families took turns hiding Snowden in their cramped Hong Kong apartments, when he was trying to evade the authorities after carrying out one of the biggest intelligence thefts in US history. They kept their story secret until going public last year.

Edward Snowden's Hong Kong lawyer, Robert Tibbo, who also represents the asylum seekers, told a news conference on Thursday that he has received information from "multiple sources" that members of the Sri Lankan Criminal Investigation Department (CID) were in Hong Kong on at least two occasions, in November and December.

On the second visit, Tibbo said at least two suspected Sri Lankan CID members took "active steps" to find the families, who don't want to return home because they fear being persecuted.

He says this included approaching another member of the Sri Lankan community on the streets of Hong Kong, where they asked for some of the families by name, and carried "photographs and files" about them.

Supun Kellapatha said that after hearing the reports, he felt he wasn't safe to walk in the streets.

Ajith Puspakumara, another Sri Lankan asylum seeker who helped Snowden, said he is also "very scared," adding that "this situation is not safe for me here."

Tibbo says that when he learned about the situation in late December, he immediately moved the families to "safe locations."

Relatives in Sri Lanka of one of the families had been "questioned, harassed and threatened" by Sri Lankan officials, Tibbo said.

Tibbo called on Hong Kong authorities to protect the families, because he thinks they're at risk of being "unlawfully renditioned" out of Hong Kong.

"We do not believe that the Hong Kong government has provided the protection that our clients are entitled to receive as asylum seekers in Hong Kong," Tibbo says.

Tibbo says he has already reported the issue to the Hong Kong Immigration Department, and says he will ask the Hong Kong Police to investigate the matter and "prevent any illegal cross-border law enforcement activities."

In a statement sent to CNN, Hong Kong's Police Public Relations Branch said that if a person feels threatened, they should seek help from the police.

"The Basic Law only authorizes law enforcement agencies of Hong Kong to enforce laws in Hong Kong."

"If there is any illegal act, the Police will handle in accordance with the law," it added.

CNN has also reached out to the Sri Lankan government's Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a comment, but they have not yet provided a response.

Hong Kong lawmaker James To, a member of the Democratic Party, is supporting the asylum seeker's case, and says he will raise the issue with authorities.

"We must protect Hong Kong's system against any abuse by foreign governments," To said. "So we will take the matter to the Hong Kong government, to the highest level."

Edward Snowden is "aware" of the situation and has "grave concerns" for the families, Tibbo says.

The families went public after their brush with history was immortalized in the Oliver Stone film "Snowden."

"They protected me, they believed in me, and but for that I may have had a very different ending," Snowden later told the New York Times.

"We are part of history because we did good things," Supun Kellapatha told CNN in October last year.

Continue reading here:
Refugees who sheltered Snowden now live in fear in Hong Kong

About This Episode

In this weeks episode, Neil deGrasse Tyson chats with whistleblower Edward Snowden via robotic telepresence from Moscow. The two card-carrying members of the geek community discuss Isaac Newton, the difference between education and learning, and even how knowledge is created. They also dive into the Periodic Table and chemistry, before moving on to the more expected subjects of data compression, encryption and privacy. Youll learn about the relationship between private contractors, the CIA, and the NSA, for whom Edward began working at only 16 years old. Edward explains why metadata tells the government much more about individuals than they claim, and why theres a distinction between the voluntary disclosure of information and the involuntary subversion of individual intent. Part 1 ends with a conversation about Ben Franklin, the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the CIAs oath of service, and government Standard Form 312, which is the agreement Snowden violated.

Go here to see the original:
A Conversation with Edward Snowden (Part 1) : StarTalk Radio ...

Depending on who you ask, American-in-exile Edward Snowden is either a hero or a traitor. His former employers in the U.S. intelligence community take the latter view. As an employee of the National Security Agency, Snowden had access to classified documents dealing with the NSA's surveillance of U.S. citizens. Snowden released reams of them to journalists, then fled to Russia where he has been granted asylum. With "The People's Republic of Edward Snowden," Glenview's Oil Lamp Theater revives a rarely seen drama, and puts the audience smack dab in the middle of the Snowden controversy.

Chicago playwright WC Turck's interactive piece has been done only once before in the Chicago area, when Prop Thtr produced it shortly after Russia granted Snowden asylum in 2013. "I think it's more timely now than ever," says Oil Lamp founder and "People's Republic" director Keith Gerth. "We've actually been considering doing the play for several years, but we wanted to wait until we felt it could really resonate. After the election, we decided that time was now."

Intelligence leaks, questions about Russian connections and the Oval Office's declaration that the country's media is the "enemy of the American people" all make the story of Edward Snowden resonate intensely, says Gerth, of Northbrook. And while the play doesn't take a side on Snowden's actions, it does demand the audience think long and hard about whether surveillance and other post-9/11 security checks are a valid safeguard against terrorism or a threat to civil rights or both.

Snowden's leaks made that debate front page news as reporters around the world penned stories about the National Security Agency's ongoing surveillance of unsuspecting United States citizens. For those who see Snowden as a hero, his actions uncovered a government agency willing to ride roughshod over fundamental privacy rights. For those who see him as a traitor, Snowden's actions created a grave threat to national security and very possibly abetted would-be terrorists.

"I can understand both sides that our information gathering capability can be both a blessing and a curse," says Gerth, "but I've also been thinking that if anybody decided to start monitoring my research lately I might be in trouble. They'd be like, 'Why is this guy so obsessed with Edward Snowden and spying?'"

Oil Lamp's production gives the audience a chance to question the leading players directly. The play is set during a Moscow press conference; the audience becomes the press corps. Ticket holders can ask questions by putting their hand up or via text. As the cast performs on stage, the backstage crew monitors Facebook and Twitter feeds specially set up for the show.

Gerth hopes the audiences leave the show thinking about both sides of Snowden's unauthorized data dump, and pondering a world where finding the balance between safety and unwarranted surveillance is growing ever more difficult.

"I think we gave up a lot of our freedoms with the Patriot Act," says Gerth. "The question now is how much more are we willing to give up? How much do we need to give up to ensure our safety? And how much do we need to know about what the government is doing to us in the name of keeping us safe? I feel like every day, the answers become more complicated."

'The People's Republic of Edward Snowden'

When: March 9 through April 16

Where: Oil Lamp Theatre, 1723 Glenview Road, Glenview

Tickets: $35, includes free soft drinks and refreshments

Contact: 847-834-0738; http://www.oillamptheater.org

See the article here:
Audience becomes reporters in 'Edward Snowden' at Oil Lamp - Chicago Tribune

In an era of state snooping by GCHQ and its five eyes partners, more people want to improve their online security. Concerns include avoiding identity theft and online monitoring by consumer organisations. Journalists also want protection, especially as the Law Commission recommends they be jailed for up to 14 years for publishing state secrets.

The choice of operating system (OS) is fundamental to improving your computer and online security. An excellent choice is Tails, which we have reported on previously.

Another is Qubes, which is free. And whistleblower Edward Snowden recommends it:

Firstly, Qubes has an in-built firewall. This means its incredibly difficult for hackers, including state hackers, to penetrate your computer.

Secondly, Qubes includes a feature called compartmentalisation. This provides greater protection from malware by sectioning off areas of content from other areas. For example, all documents can be quarantined in one compartment. Similarly, images. Or even specified online transactions.

Qubes recommends you run Tor browser via Whonix, which adds safeguards and ensures your online activity remains anonymous. Qubes also provides full disk encryption.

You can choose whether to install Qubes on a PC or laptop, or run it from a USB. With the latter, you can move Qubes from one device to another.

Qubes can be downloaded and installed here.

This is what your new operating system could look like

But dont forget that using a highly secure OS is just one aspect to improving online security. There are a range of other precautions to take.

Heres some excellent advice from Anonymous, German anarchists, and Snowden. Good luck!

Get Involved!

Help crowdfund Edward Snowden and other whistleblowers.

Read up on the latest from Big Brother Watch.

Donate to the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Featured image via Wikimedia Commons

Tom Coburg

Tom Coburg broke a number of stories in the 'underground press' in the 1970s/80s, including a) an unredacted page from the banned 'Spycatcher' book by Peter Wright that named Sir James Goldsmith as a member of the coup plot against Harold Wilson, b) how Lord Chalfont funded a far-right surveillance agency that spied on environmental protesters (included Hilda Murrell, who was murdered) and c) how Rupert Murdoch co-funded the MI6-managed 'British Briefing' bulletin that specialised in smears against Labour and the left. Coburg was also a co-founder of the subversive League Watch, which played a pivotal role in the demise of the 70 year old blacklisting/espionage organisation, The Economic League. More recently, Coburg has published stories in Undercoverinfo (www.undercoverinfo.wordpress.com) on the spycops scandal (revealing confidential police notes/recordings) and on the many links between the Turkish Government and ISIS. Twitter: @Undercoverinfo1

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How to improve your computer security, as recommended by Edward Snowden - The Canary

Speaking to a live audience in San Francisco on Sunday, Edward Snowden, the former intelligence officer whoreleased documents about the National Security Agencys surveillance activities in 2013, saidthat the sole qualificationfor whistleblowingis to be a witness to injustice.

You do not have to be the president to make a difference, he said. Whistleblowers are elected by circumstance. Do what you can if you see injustice. Stand up and say something. Its not enough to believe in something. If you want to see a better world, you must do something to achieve it.

Snowden spoke through live-stream video from Russia at a City Arts & Lectures event in San Francisco. He was joined by Daniel Ellsberg,theformer military analyst who leaked classified documents known as the Pentagon Papers. Efforts to discredit Ellsberg in a plan hatched by the White Housefigured into the impeachment proceedings of President Richard Nixon.

Snowden said he wouldnt have done what he did if not for the precedent set by Ellsberg. Snowden now lives under asylum in Russia. Ellsberg remains in the United States after facing a trial that was dismissed in 1973 on grounds of governmental misconduct.

The two spokewith KQEDs Scott Shafer about whistleblowing and the state of privacy and truth under the Trump presidency.

When you look at the situation of this White House, of this administration, their relationship to the press, their policy positions. These are all callbacks to a time when domestically and internationally our lives were fraught with the insecurity and instability that we thought we left behind and shouldve left behind, said Snowden.

When asked about recent memo leaks, including one that led to the resignation of Donald Trumps national security adviser, Michael Flynn, Ellsberg expressed concern over the reaction from the administration.

Leaking, and even illegal classified leaking, has been a big problem in Washington for years. Failing @nytimes (and others) must apologize!

The real scandal here is that classified information is illegally given out by intelligence like candy. Very un-American!

Itll be very interestingto see with these leak investigations that are going on now just exactlywhat Donald J. Trumps people and Jeff Sessions do with the [security] capabilities they just inheritedfrom Barack Obama, Ellsberg said.

There was also a sense ofoptimism about the state of resistance by ordinary people post-election. Ellsberg referredto the recent airport protests denouncing President Trumps ban on refugees worldwide and on travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries, calling the protests encouraging.

Its been awhile since Ive seen anything like this, he said.

Snowden also referred to post-election protests, the rise in donations to the American Civil Liberties Union and reported swells in newspaper subscriptions after Trumps election.

People are realizing afresh that democracy is not an inheritance, said Snowden. I see the seed being planted and the very first shoots we will see dark days ahead but we will learn again what it means to resist injustice and how to do so effectively.

Edward Snowden on the silver linings of the Trump administration https://t.co/IGy60wOQgy

Snowden also spoke of living life in anonymity in Russia, and the possibility ofgetting snatched by the CIA.

Its always a possibility. Much earlier on, it was much more realistic.

Snowden said he regularly rides the metro in Russia, and that its relatively easy to go unrecognized except in computer stores.

In my situation, I dont want a lot of my day-to-day to be known, he said. I dont want my persona to follow me home One of the places I used to go very frequently is now much riskier for me, and that would be computer stores.

Asked what he saw looking 20 years into the future, Snowden said everyone wants a happy ending to their life, adding that what happened to him wasnt nearly as important as what happened to the country in terms of preserving liberty and freedom.

When asked if not being able to return to the United States was worth it, Snowdensaid this:

I would do it again, and I would do it sooner.

Ericka Cruz Guevarra is an on-call interactive producer for KQED News. She was an intern with NPR's Code Switch team in Washington, D.C., where she assisted with production for the Code Switch podcast. Ericka was alsoKQED's first Raul Ramirez Diversity Fund intern, and is an alumna ofNPR's Next Generation Radio project at member station KJZZ in Phoenix. She currentlystudies international relations at San Francisco State University. You can follow her on Twitter @erkagvra or email her at ecruzguevarra@kqed.org

Here is the original post:
Edward Snowden and Daniel Ellsberg on the State of Security and Freedom Under Trump - KQED

Former CIA director Michael J. Morell told the media recently that Russian President Vladimir Putin should consider turning Edward Snowden, the former CIA contractor who currently remains in exile in Russia, over to the US authorities as a token of Moscows goodwill to the Trump administration.

The suggestion is being considered by the Kremlin,NBC reports, citing Russian sources.

I doubt whether Moscow would really turn Snowden over to the US at least in the short run, because it is obviously against Russian interests to do so.

Even though President Putin had implied that his government would take the initiative and improve relations with Washington once the Trump administration assumed office, I dont think Putin is likely to repatriate Snowden, whom President Donald Trump calls a traitor, as the young American defector remains a valuable asset to Russia.

On the intelligence level, despite the fact that the spy war between the US and the former Soviet Union, and now Russia, has been going on for decades, over the years Russian spies have been largely unsuccessful in their attempts to infiltrate the National Security Agency (NSA), Americas leading government institution overseeing national security.

However, the defection of Snowden and the secret information in his possession in fact have offered Moscow an extremely rare glimpse into the heart and soul of US intelligence.

Snowden has reiterated that he hasnt handed over any US state secret to the Russian authorities but as long as he remains on Russian soil, there is always a way for the Russian authorities to make him talk.

On the other hand, as far as propaganda value is concerned, Snowden could prove even more invaluable in this sense.

Over the years, Putin has been strongly criticizing the hypocritical nature of American democracy as a way to justify his personal dictatorship in Russia.

Given that, what is a better proof of American hypocrisy than project PRISM unveiled by Snowden?

In fact, the more ferociously the US comes after Snowden, the stronger the impression both within Russia and in the international community that he is a dissident and victim of political persecution, thereby enhancing Putins image as a protector of human rights and freedom.

Perhaps one should take notice that shortly after former US president Obama had pardoned Chelsea Manning, the US soldier who had been convicted of turning over highly classified information on Washingtons mass surveillance program on its own citizens to WikiLeaks, Russia announced that it would extend Snowdens length of stay to 2020, suggesting that Moscow is desperate to keep Snowden on its soil.

However, while Snowden might still prove a valuable asset to Moscow, he might become a liability or even a source of trouble in the eyes of the Kremlin if he stays in Russia indefinitely, not least because he has been critical of Russias human rights record and Putins dictatorship.

Besides, Snowden has also been criticizing Moscows own mass surveillance program, calling it not cost-effective, not necessary, and obviously oppressive.

Given Snowdens potential for becoming a vocal critic of Moscow, perhaps the best outcome for the Kremlin is for him to leave Russia after his visa expires and seek asylum somewhere else.

Turning Snowden over to the US will not only undermine Putins international image but may also scare off US billionaires and celebrities who have sought asylum in Russia in order to dodge heavy taxes.

Losing these rich and influential foreign guests might eventually turn out to be an even bigger loss than losing Snowden.

This article appeared in the Hong Kong Economic Journal on Feb. 23

Translation by Alan Lee

[Chinese version ]

Contact us at [emailprotected]

RT/RA

Continued here:
Why Russia might let Edward Snowden go - EJ Insight

"I (am) very scared, maybe they can arrest me," said Supun Kellapatha, a Sri Lankan asylum seeker who gave up his family's bed for Snowden. "I don't have (a) normal life now."

For weeks in 2013, the families took turns hiding Snowden in their cramped Hong Kong apartments, when he was trying to evade the authorities after carrying out one of the biggest intelligence thefts in US history. They kept their story secret until going public last year.

Edward Snowden's Hong Kong lawyer, Robert Tibbo, who also represents the asylum seekers, told a news conference on Thursday that he has received information from "multiple sources" that members of the Sri Lankan Criminal Investigation Department (CID) were in Hong Kong on at least two occasions, in November and December.

On the second visit, Tibbo said at least two suspected Sri Lankan CID members took "active steps" to find the families, who don't want to return home because they fear being persecuted.

He says this included approaching another member of the Sri Lankan community on the streets of Hong Kong, where they asked for some of the families by name, and carried "photographs and files" about them.

Supun Kellapatha said that after hearing the reports, he felt he wasn't safe to walk in the streets.

Ajith Puspakumara, another Sri Lankan asylum seeker who helped Snowden, said he is also "very scared," adding that "this situation is not safe for me here."

Tibbo says that when he learned about the situation in late December, he immediately moved the families to "safe locations."

Relatives in Sri Lanka of one of the families had been "questioned, harassed and threatened" by Sri Lankan officials, Tibbo said.

Tibbo called on Hong Kong authorities to protect the families, because he thinks they're at risk of being "unlawfully renditioned" out of Hong Kong.

"We do not believe that the Hong Kong government has provided the protection that our clients are entitled to receive as asylum seekers in Hong Kong," Tibbo says.

Tibbo says he has already reported the issue to the Hong Kong Immigration Department, and says he will ask the Hong Kong Police to investigate the matter and "prevent any illegal cross-border law enforcement activities."

In a statement sent to CNN, Hong Kong's Police Public Relations Branch said that if a person feels threatened, they should seek help from the police.

"The Basic Law only authorizes law enforcement agencies of Hong Kong to enforce laws in Hong Kong."

"If there is any illegal act, the Police will handle in accordance with the law," it added.

CNN has also reached out to the Sri Lankan government's Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a comment, but they have not yet provided a response.

Hong Kong lawmaker James To, a member of the Democratic Party, is supporting the asylum seeker's case, and says he will raise the issue with authorities.

"We must protect Hong Kong's system against any abuse by foreign governments," To said. "So we will take the matter to the Hong Kong government, to the highest level."

Edward Snowden is "aware" of the situation and has "grave concerns" for the families, Tibbo says.

The families went public after their brush with history was immortalized in the Oliver Stone film "Snowden."

"They protected me, they believed in me, and but for that I may have had a very different ending," Snowden later told the New York Times.

"We are part of history because we did good things," Supun Kellapatha told CNN in October last year.

Originally posted here:
Refugees who sheltered Snowden now live in fear in Hong Kong - CNN

Home Online Security Edward Snowden on How to Protect Your Online Privacy

If youre using the Internet without being worried about how to protect your online privacy, I salute you. But take it from someone who knows a thing or two about privacy, Edward Snowden you need to protect yourself when going online.

To an average person, this may sound paranoid, but every move you make on the web, whom youre friends with on Facebook and so on is all monitored. This data is collected not just by the government, but also by companies, advertisers, and others.

Does that mean that you should leave the Internet for good and toss out your smartphone? No, it just means you (and we all) need to learn to better protect your online privacy

In a recent interview with The Intercept, Edward Snowden outlines five ways to protect yourself online.

The first step to protecting yourself online, says Snowden, is to make sure your phone calls are encrypted. Snowden recommends using an app called Signal for this. Signal was developed by Open Whisper Systems and is available for both Android and iOS devices. Another good way to protect your online privacy when using a smartphone is to buy a Blackphone from Silent Circle.

Imagine this scenario (not at all that unlikely): You signed in for a service somewhere five years ago. Since then, you have long stopped using it and have completely forgotten about it. However, it gets hacked and your password along with it. If youve been negligent and used the same password as your Gmail account, this is a big problem. It is a problem because the hackers may try your password on other popular websites. If you use the same password many places, eventually, they will be able to hack some of your accounts.

Fortunately, you can sleep more easily if you use a good password manager like LastPass or 1Password.

As much as todays browsers such as Google Chrome or Firefox are good for average users, the very fact that they follow your every move online can be a cause for worry. If youre not keen on revealing this information around and want to remain anonymous, Snowden recommends installing and using Tor. Although its creators recently admitted it wasnt 100% impenetrable, this is one of the most efficient ways to keep your online browsing anonymous.

Lets say you were careless and someone manages to steal your password. If you have 2-factor authentication enabled, theres not much they can do with it. If you have it on, 2-factor authentication will enable the provider to send you another means of authentication. This can be a text message, a code or something like that. Since whoever stole your password doesnt have that, youre safe.

Even if you do all of the above, your online privacy is still not secure if your computer gets physically stolen. Since we all keep both personal and business-related information on our computers, its not a very pleasant prospect if someone steals your computer and gains access to it. This could put your address, kids names, where you work or maybe your social security number in unwanted hands. This is why installing a secure operating system like Linux is a good idea.

If youre running a recent version of macOS, youll likely have disk encryption on by default, while on Windows 10 you can find it by typing Encryption in the Start Menu, selecting Change Device Encryption Settings and turning on Manage BitLocker.

Thats it. If you want to know more about how to protect your online privacy, go ahead and visit our Complete Guide to Online Privacy.

Photo: Speaking via telepresence robot, Snowden addresses the TED conference from Russia.

Read the original:
Edward Snowden on How to Protect Your Online Privacy - VPN Creative

GETTY

Representatives from the European Parliament said the former NSA analyst had fulfilled a vital democratic role by leaking a series of hugely damaging intelligence documents and that he needed protection.

His disclosures in 2013 revealed for the first time the extent to which government agencies across the globe were spying on ordinary citizens and sparked a furious backlash.

Mr Snowden is currently living in exile in Russia but European politicians fear that the Mr Trumps cosy relationship with Vladimir Putin could put him in grave danger.

But their call for him to be granted asylum within the EU will surely enrage the White House administration and comes at a tricky time for relations between Brussels and Washington.

GETTY

GETTY

The Republican has previously called the whistleblower a terrible traitor and called for his immediate incarceration, pointing out that in times gone by he would have been executed for his actions.

In July last year, before his shock election victory, the billionaire tycoon said: I think he's a total traitor and I would deal with him harshly. And if I were president, Putin would give him over."

The Presidents pick for Director of the CIA, Mike Pompeo, also described Mr Snowden as a traitor in a statement last month and called more directly for him to be put to death.

Reports have already emerged in US media that the Kremlin is considering sending the former data analyst back to the US, where he is likely to face a life sentence at the very least.

The activities of Mr Snowden have greatly helped US and European citizens to finally gain access to transparent information

MEPs' letter

Mr Putin is apparently considering handing him over as a gift to the new US President to curry favour with his administration, although Moscow has strongly denied the claims.

Brussels parliamentarians have also previously had their say on the issue, passing a resolution back in 2015 calling on Europe to protect Mr Snowden from Barack Obamas government, which was seeking his extradition.

It said member states should drop any criminal charges against Edward Snowden, grant him protection and consequently prevent extradition or rendition by third parties, in recognition of his status as whistleblower and international human rights defender.

And now four influential left-wing MEPs have penned an open letter to European leaders calling on them to come good on the pledge and offer Mr Snowden asylum within the bloc in spite of American objections.

Getty Images

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It is believed that Julian Assange chooses to live in Sweden because the country's media laws are among the world's most protective for journalists

They wrote: On 24 January 2017, Mike Pompeo, Donald Trumps candidate for Director of the CIA, was sworn in by the US Senate.

In February 2016 the former congressman had called for the traitor Edward Snowden to be executed.

Donald Trump had expressed similar remarks in 2013, referring to Snowden as a terrible threat and terrible traitor and pointing out that there was a time when countries would execute those considered traitors.

The activities of Mr Snowden have greatly helped US and European citizens to finally gain access to transparent information a core element of democracy.

Given the gravity of the statements emanating from the USA and the worsening political climate surrounding the Snowden case, what steps will the Council of Ministers take in order to urge its members to respond to the recommendations enshrined in Parliaments resolution of 29 October 2015?

The letter was signed by Italys Barbara Spinelli, German Jan Philipp Albrecht, Portuguese MEP Ana Gomes and the British Labour partys Claude Moraes.

Link:
Is Edward Snowden set to be given asylum by Europe? MEPs push EU to take in whistleblower - Express.co.uk