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Edward Snowden: Israeli software tracked Khashoggi …

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Technology made by an Israeli company was used to target groups of journalists in Mexico and other problematic areas, including slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Edward Snowden, the infamous whistle-blower who leaked classified NSA information, told a conference in Israel on Tuesday. Snowden spoke via video-conference from an undisclosed location in Russia to the closed audience.

Though he was not physically present due to concerns that he would be handed over to US authorities, Snowden was responded to by former Mossad deputy chief Ram Ben Barak and took questions from other members of the audience.

The event was organized by Israeli media consultancy firm OH! Orenstein Hoshen.

Snowden began by defending his security leaks and defended himself from fans who did not want him to have contact with Israel on a public level.

He said, like most Americans, I am against the occupation [of Israel of the Palestinians.] I support those trying to end it. But I do not think progress can move without dialogue, in explaining why he decided to speak publicly to an Israeli audience.

Snowden accused the Israeli NSO firm of selling a digital burglary tool and said that even if some good actors are using their software, it is not just being used for catching criminals and stopping terrorist attacksnot just for saving lives, but for making moneysuch a level of recklessnessactually starts costing lives.

It was NSOs software, he said, that was used to track Khashoggi, who was killed in the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul last month. The infamous leaker said he had succeeded in pushing the discussion of liberal democratic governments collecting and abusing our data saying it is being talked about morewhen you move from conspiracy theory to fact the conversation changes.

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Furthermore, he said that the approach of regular citizens telephone calls and emails could lead to intelligence agencies making the wrong decisions when there are complex calls to make.

Attacking the surveillance state as not bringing security, he said: Surveillance is not about safety. Surveillance is about control.

Also, he warned that private companies could at some point grab power over regular peoples lives that governments will not be able to restrain.

Questioned over whether his push for reining in surveillance has failed since democracies are making partial limitations, although still accepting the new surveillance state, he said, that is too short-sighted. I think things are getting betterWe are starting to see our human rights being enforced, referring to private companies encryption at resisting government surveillance.

Asked how the NSA surveils Israelis versus Americans, Snowden said, everything that is happening to Americans is happening to you and worse. He was also asked whether Israel surveils the world to a similar extent that the US does and said, Israelis are some of our closest partners. Anything that we are doing that the Israelis arent doing now, they are probably trying to doThey are probably jealous of usand it has to do with that we have more traffic.

Moving into Israels cyber sector, he added, Israel has a phenomenal tech sector. It is something to take pride inBut is it all really cybersecurity?

SNOWDEN SAID that Israel is routinely at the top of the USs classified threat list of hackers along with Russia and China, due to its abilities, even though it is an ally.

Asked if Israeli companies like NSO were unique or whether NSOs activities were happening with the cyber sector around the world, Snowden responded, In the Israeli model, there is closer cooperation between the government and the state.

Pressed that Israelis need and prefer security over certain limitations of government, Snowden referred to Nazi Germany as the origin of this way of thinking, adding that other countries, such as the US were also going down this path.

Addressing Facebooks collection of data, he said, Facebook does not care about you, your country, your politics, what happens to you, - Facebook cares about one thing: your data. They are surveillance people. Their product is you the story of your life and the lives of your neighbors.

Hedad Orenstein and Itamar Hoshen said, Our firm is engaged in advising clientsin the realm of economics, law, technology and high-tech and these are exactly the fields in which Snowden is involved.

They said that Snowden was a fascinating figure because his actions are so controversial and that the audience could work out their own opinions.

Snowden was working for a private contractor of the CIA and NSA when he made international headlines by publishing masses of classified information in the biggest and most sensitive leak in the history of intelligence.

The leak unveiled for the first time the existence of post-9/11 powerful and invasive global surveillance programs, many run by the NSA, with the cooperation of European governments and telecommunication companies, including Google, Microsoft and Verizon. Some of the programs were discontinued, while others were continued but with higher levels of government regulation.

In February 2015, a classified document leaked by Snowden revealed information about the cooperative intelligence-gathering efforts of the US, UK and Israel against Iranian targets. Other previous documents revealed a number of details of the inner workings of the intelligence relationships between the US and Israel, along with other members of the Five Eyes which include Australia, Canada, New Zealand and England.

Those leaks, made mostly in 2013, are related to the NSA eavesdropping on some top Israeli officials and possible Israeli cooperation with the NSA to eavesdrop on other mutual allies.

Another revelation indicated that the NSA may have greater authority to check communications with US citizens living in foreign countries, such as Israel, while yet another revealed that the US may sometimes cooperate with Unit 8200 to review metadata on behalf of the NSA that it cannot review under US law.

SNOWDEN REMAINS one of the worlds most wanted fugitives. He could face life in prison or even the death penalty if he is ever captured. He is both vilified as a traitor and revered as the whistle-blower who altered the playing field on the issue, putting the NSA on the defensive.

From a crowd of around 150 attendees, two-thirds informally voted by a show of hands that he is a freedom fighter and one-third said he was a traitor.

But former Mossad deputy chief Ram Ben Barak rejected Snowdens message, saying that if Snowden had his way, and intelligence agencies were weakened, there would be more terror attacks which would kill people and harm Israels democracy.

The former Mossad deputy chief responded to Snowden, that people should not be confused and mistakenly think, that hes an American patriot, a defender of human rightsIt is far from realityI dont know his real motivesBut you cant overcome a crime by doing a bigger crime. He added that Snowden did not succeed - not because he revealed things that were false and asked if there is an alternative to using surveillance to combat terror.

The NSO firm responded on Wednesday, "Edward Snowden found a refuge and warm welcome in Russia from where he has chosen to deal with issues like the rights of citizens and democracy and to slander Israeli technology companies without having any knowledgeable basis [about them] or familiarity with their operations."

"The NSO firm produces products which are sold to governmental officials for the sole purpose of investigating and preventing crime and terror," said the statement.

It continued, "Not only does the company act in accordance with export-security related laws, but it is also the only company of its kind in the world in that it utilizes an independent ethics board which includes external experts with legal and international relations backgrounds. The purpose is to prevent a situation where its products are wrongfully exploited. Therefore, in contrast to what was published in the media, the company does not sell to them [wrongful actors] and does not permit the use [of its products] in many countries."

"The products of the NSO firm assist on a daily basis with saving the lives of thousands of people: from terrorists and drug barons, children from kidnapping, from pedophiles and from other criminals," concluded the NSO statement.

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Edward Snowden: Israeli software tracked Khashoggi ...

In a court filing, Edward Snowden says a report critical to …

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An unexpected declaration by whistleblower Edward Snowden filed in court this week adds a new twist in a long-running lawsuit against the National Security Agencys surveillance programs.

The case, filed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation a decade ago, seeks to challenge the governments alleged illegal and unconstitutional surveillance of Americans, who are largely covered under the Fourth Amendments protections against warrantless searches and seizures.

Its a big step forward for the case, which had stalled largely because the government refused to confirm that a leaked document was authentic or accurate.

News of the surveillance broke in 2006 when an AT&T technician Mark Klein revealed that the NSA was tapping into AT&Ts network backbone. He alleged that a secret, locked room dubbed Room 641A in an AT&T facility in San Francisco where he worked was one of many around the U.S. used by the government to monitor communications domestic and overseas. President George W. Bush authorized the NSA to secretly wiretap Americans communications shortly after the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001.

Much of the EFFs complaint relied on Kleins testimony until 2013, when Snowden, a former NSA contractor, came forward with new revelations that described and detailed the vast scope of the U.S. governments surveillance capabilities, which included participation from other phone giants including Verizon (TechCrunchs parent company).

Snowdens signed declaration, filed on October 31, confirms that one of the documents he leaked, which the EFF relied heavily on for its case, is an authentic draft document written by the then-NSA inspector general in 2009, which exposed concerns about the legality of the Bushs warrantless surveillance program Stellar Wind particularly the collection of bulk email records on Americans.

The draft top-secret document was never published, and the NSA had refused to confirm or deny the authenticity of the 2009 inspector general report, ST-09-0002 despite that its been public for many years.

Snowden, as one of the few former NSA staffers who can speak more freely than former government employees about the agencys surveillance, confirmed that the document is authentic.

I read its contents carefully during my employment, he said in his declaration. I have a specific and strong recollection of this document because it indicated to me that the government had been conducting illegal surveillance.

Snowden left his home in Hawaii for Hong Kong in 2013 when he gave tens of thousand of documents to reporters. His passport was cancelled as he travelled to Moscow to take another onward flight. He later claimed political asylum in Russia, where he currently lives with his partner.

U.S. prosecutorschargedSnowden with espionage.

EFF executive director Cindy Cohn said that the NSAs refusal to authenticate the leaked documents is just another step in its practice of falling back on weak technicalities to prevent the public courts from ruling on whether our Constitution allows this kind of mass surveillance of hundreds of millions of nonsuspect people.

The EFF said in another filing that the draft report further confirms the participation of phone companies in the governments surveillance programs.

The case continues though, a court hearing has not been set.

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In a court filing, Edward Snowden says a report critical to ...

What is Tokenization vs Encryption – Benefits & Uses Cases …

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Encryption works. Properly implemented strong crypto systems are one of the few things that you can rely on.

Edward Snowden

There are two primary approaches to encryption: symmetric key and asymmetric key encryption. In symmetric key encryption, one key is used to both encrypt and decrypt the information. Symmetric key encryption is analogous to the key used to both unlock and lock the door to a house. The big drawback of this approach is that if the key is compromised, it can be used to unlock, or decrypt, all of the data it was used to secure. For this reason, asymmetric key encryption was developed to allow multiple parties to exchange encrypted data without managing the same encryption key.

In asymmetric key encryption (also called public-key encryption), two different keys are used for the encryption and decryption processes. The public key can be freely distributed since it is only used to lock the data and never to unlock it. For example, a merchant can use a public key to encrypt payment data before sending a transaction to be authorized by a payment processing company. The latter company would need to have the private key to decrypt the card data to process the payment. Asymmetric key encryption is also used to validate identity on the Internet using SSL certificates.

Regardless of what type of key is utilized, users of encryption typically practice regular key rotation in order to reduce the likelihood of a compromised key being used to decrypt all sensitive data. Rotating keys limits the amount of data thats encrypted using a single key. In the event that an encryption key is compromised, only data encrypted with that key would be vulnerable.

Until now, one of the drawbacks of encrypting data within applications is that encryption breaks application functionality such as sorting and searching. Because cipher text is in a different format from the original data, encryption may also break field validation if an application requires specific formats within fields such as payment card numbers or email addresses. New order-preserving, format-preserving, and searchable encryption schemes are making it easier for organizations to protect their information without sacrificing end user functionality within business critical applications. However, there is usually a tradeoff between application functionality and the strength of encryption.

Tokenization is the process of turning a meaningful piece of data, such as an account number, into a random string of characters called a token that has no meaningful value if breached. Tokens serve as reference to the original data, but cannot be used to guess those values. Thats because, unlike encryption, tokenization does not use a mathematical process to transform the sensitive information into the token. There is no key, or algorithm, that can be used to derive the original data for a token. Instead, tokenization uses a database, called a token vault, which stores the relationship between the sensitive value and the token. The real data in the vault is then secured, often via encryption.

The token value can be used in various applications as a substitute for the real data. If the real data needs to be retrieved for example, in the case of processing a recurring credit card payment the token is submitted to the vault and the index is used to fetch the real value for use in the authorization process. To the end user, this operation is performed seamlessly by the browser or application nearly instantaneously. Theyre likely not even aware that the data is stored in the cloud in a different format.

The advantage of tokens is that there is no mathematical relationship to the real data they represent. If they are breached, they have no meaning. No key can reverse them back to the real data values. Consideration can also be given to the design of a token to make it more useful. For example, the last four digits of a payment card number can be preserved in the token so that the tokenized number (or a portion of it) can be printed on the customers receipt so she can see a reference to her actual credit card number. The printed characters might be all asterisks plus those last four digits. In this case, the merchant only has a token, not a real card number, for security purposes.

The most common use case for tokenization is protecting payment card data so that merchants can reduce their obligations under PCI DSS. Encryption can also be used to secure account data, but because the data is still present, albeit in ciphertext format, the organization must ensure the entire technology infrastructure used to store and transmit this data is fully compliant with PCI DSS requirements. In 2011, the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council (PCI SSC), the organization responsible for enforcing PCI DSS, issued a set of tokenization guidelines. While the guidance has not yet been added to the official PCI DSS standard, qualified PCI assessors now accept tokenization as a viable solution to meet requirements under the standard.

Increasingly, tokens are being used to secure other types of sensitive or personally identifiable information, including social security numbers, telephone numbers, email addresses, account numbers and so on. The backend systems of many organizations rely on Social Security numbers, passport numbers, and drivers license numbers as unique identifiers. Since this unique identifier is woven into these systems, its very difficult to remove them. And these identifiers are also used to access information for billing, order status, and customer service. Tokenization is now being used to protect this data to maintain the functionality of backend systems without exposing PII to attackers.

While encryption can be used to secure structured fields such as those containing payment card data and PII, it can also used to secure unstructured data in the form of long textual passages, such as paragraphs or even entire documents. Encryption is also the ideal way to secure data exchanged with third parties and protect data and validate identity online, since the other party only needs a small encryption key. SSL or Secure Sockets Layer, the foundation of sharing data securely on the Internet today, relies on encryption to create a secure tunnel between the end user and the website. Asymmetric key encryption is also an important component of SSL certificates used to validate identity.

Encryption and tokenization are both regularly used today to protect data stored in cloud services or applications. Depending on the use case, an organization may use encryption, tokenization, or a combination of both to secure different types of data and meet different regularly requirements. McAfeeCASB, for example, leveragesan irreversible one-way process to tokenize user identifying information on premises and obfuscate enterprise identity.

As more data moves to the cloud, encryption and tokenization are being used to secure data stored in cloud services. Most notably, if a government agency subpoenas the data stored in the cloud, the service provider can only turn over encrypted or tokenized information with no way to unlock the real data. The same is true is a cyber criminal gains access to data stored in a cloud service.

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Pamela Anderson: on her relationship with Julian Assange

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SCOTT Morrison has taken to the airways to respond to calls for action from former Baywatch bombshell Pamela Anderson.

The one-time Playboy Playmate appeared in an interview on 60 Minutes last night in which she opened up about her relationship with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

After initial confusion about the identity of the Prime Minister, the Hollywood star urged Morrison to intervene to free Assange from the Ecuadorean Embassy in London.

Anderson addressed the PM: Defend your friend, and get Julian his passport back, and take him back to Australia and be proud of him. And throw him a parade when he gets home.

On Gold Coast radio 1029 Hot Tomato today, Morrison made light of the attention he was getting from the blonde beauty.

Ive had plenty of mates whove asked me if they can be my special envoy to sort the issue out with Pamela Anderson, ScoMo said with a laugh.

He continued (this time in serious mode): Putting that to one side our position on that hasnt changed.

The PM not surprisingly rejected a welcome home parade for Assange.

In a letter sent last week, Anderson also urged the PM to ban live animal exports an issue Morrison says his government is acting on.

She has raised some other important issues about live exports. We just had the Moss Review back. Its a bit of a hard policy topic but we are acting on that with an inspector general and an animal welfare branch sitting within the dept of ag. There are some pretty serious issues going on with live sheep and we are acting on them.

During last night's interview, the US-Canadian actress described her situation with Assange as a romantic struggle.

The star is regularly photographed entering and leaving the Ecuadorean Embassy where Assange is holed up.

Anderson, a longtime animal rights activist, said she arranged a meeting with Assange just over two years ago.

I wanted to meet him because I wanted to ask him how to be a more effective activist. Of course, I was fascinated with him, she said.

In the interview at her home in the south of France, Anderson said she was valuable to the Melbourne-born Assange because I think people think hes a computer screen and I humanise him.

She said she visited Assange for three to four hours at a time.

Im exhausted when I leave but Ive got a stack of notes, she laughed.

When asked directly by reporter Liam Bartlett what sort of relationship she had with Assange, Anderson replied: We like to call it a romantic struggle. It is to educate the world.

The enigmatic Anderson said the pairs relationship wasnt about holding hands.

We dont have a romantic relationship like that, but I feel very close to him. And I feel closer to him than a lot of people have and he trusts me.

Now living in Cassis in the south of France with her boyfriend, French World Cup soccer player Adil Rami, Anderson admits to having a famously chaotic romantic history, saying she seems to pick the same kind of men.

She married rocker Tommy Lee she famously wore a bikini to the ceremony in 1995 before a nasty split in 1998. The couple had two sons together, Brandon and Dylan.

In 2006, Anderson married Kid Rock, but they couple split shortly after.

The following year, Anderson married Rick Salomon but they called it quits months after. Six years later, Anderson and Salomon remarried in 2014 but divorced in 2015.

I mean, I love to be married, Anderson told 60 Minutes.

The marriage part is difficult, but I love the weddings I think, yeah, maybe once should have been enough for me.

The stunning star, who has graced the pages of Playboy numerous times, defended the controversial magazine as empowering but dismissed the Me Too movement.

Im a feminist, but I think that this third wave of feminism is a bore, she said.

I think it paralyses men. I think that this Me Too movement is a bit too much for me. Ill probably get killed for saying that.

Referring to the Harvey Weinstein scandal, Anderson appeared to defend the disgraced mogul. She said mother had taught her dont go to a hotel with a stranger.

If someone answers a door in a bathrobe and its supposed to be a business meeting, maybe I should go with somebody else, Anderson told 60 Minutes.

I think that some things are just common sense. Or if you go in, get the job, she laughed. Im Canadian, Im going to speak my mind, okay?

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Pamela Anderson: on her relationship with Julian Assange

Ecuadors government cuts off all access to Julian Assange …

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By Mike Head 2 November 2018

According to the Courage Foundation, which has campaigned against the persecution of Julian Assange, the Ecuadorian Embassy in London has forbidden access to all visitors to the WikiLeaks publisher, including his lawyers, until Monday, amid an urgent lawsuit.

Most immediately, the ban obstructs a legal appeal by Assange against an Ecuadorian judges decision last week to uphold a draconian protocol that President Lenn Morenos government has sought to impose on him, in fundamental violation of the right to political asylum.

The protocol essentially bars Assange from making any political comments whatsoever, because they might be deemed detrimental to the interests of Ecuadors government or any other government.

By ratcheting up the already intolerable conditions of virtual solitary confinement that Morenos government has inflicted on the courageous journalist and editor since March, the ban is another warning of its preparations to terminate Assanges asylum.

Under intensifying pressure from Washington, by Democrat and Republican leaders alike, the Ecuadorian ruling elite is clearly moving to either evict Assange or create such inhuman conditions that he is forced to leave the embassy, in spite of significant protests internationally and in Ecuador itself.

On October 31, two days after the judges ruling to endorse the protocol, a demonstration was held in front of Ecuadors presidential palace against a renewed bid by the right-wing, US-linked Social Christian Party to secure a National Assembly vote to strip Assange of his Ecuadorian citizenship. Article 79 of Ecuadors constitution states: In no case shall extradition of an Ecuadorian be granted.

Brief video footage of the protest, posted on the WikiLeaks twitter account, shows a determined and sizeable demonstration in defence of Assange, flanked by police.

There is considerable public support for Assange, because of WikiLeaks long and continuing record of publishing leaked documents that expose the crimes and machinations of governments and their major corporate partners. Morenos government, however, is intensifying its moves to remove Assange from the embassy building, effectively handing him over to be imprisoned in Britain and then the US.

Ecuadors foreign ministry issued a statement on October 30 immediately hailing the judges ruling and escalating the threat to end Assanges political asylum for making comments critical about the moves against him.

Ecuador will not allow unwarranted untrue assertions or insinuations about the conduct of the National Government concerning the diplomatic asylum that was granted to Mr. Assange, in exercise of the prerogative powers of the State of Ecuador, the statement declared.

This was after Assange had tried to use the court hearing the day before to alert the world to plans to evict him, breaking through the wall of silence that Morenos government has placed around him for seven months.

Speaking via teleconference from the embassy to the court hearing in Quito, Assange said the new protocol was a sign that Moreno had already decided to end his asylum, but had not yet officially given the order. Before he could say more, Ecuadors senior government lawyer, Inigo Salvador cut him off, warning him not to make political statements during the proceedings.

This intervention underscored the travesty of the hearing itself. The judge refused to rule on the constitutionality of the governments actions against Assange, saying it was a matter for the countrys Constitutional Court. She also refused to hear witnesses or accept evidence documenting the extent of the embassys bans on visitors and communications.

In its statement, conscious of the domestic and global support for Assange, Ecuadors foreign ministry reiterated to the public the steadfast adherence of the State of Ecuador to the relevant rules of national and international law that govern asylum.

The self-contradictory statement claimed that the Protocol reestablishes Mr. Assanges access to communications, yet insisted that pursuant to the international treaties that govern asylum, he may not make statements, transmissions or announcements that interfere with other States or that may affect the interests of Ecuador.

Far from recognising Assanges basic right to communication, the protocol prohibits him from making any political comments deemed detrimental to Ecuador or its good relations with any other state and makes clear that his communications and visitors will be subjected to surveillance, with the results shared with US and British spy agencies.

The protocol further stipulates that the WikiLeaks founder undergo a medical examination every three months and that doctors can recommend he be evacuated from the embassy if they conclude that he requires urgent treatment.

The statement falsely asserted that the judges decision confirmed that the protocol is fully consistent with the right of asylum. The fundamental right to political asylum, an essential international protection against anti-democratic oppression, was reiterated in May by the Inter-American Court on Human Rights.

That court, which has jurisdiction over human rights abuses by members of the Organisation of American States, insisted that Assange had to be free of any threats or coercion that would force him into the hands of a government seeking to persecute him, in this case the US.

The inter-American court also warned the British government: If the UK continues to ignore the courts decision by insisting that local police will arrest Assange for a breach of bail conditions if he leaves the embassy, this means that the British government will have wantonly failed to uphold Assanges rights as a legitimate receiver of asylum by Ecuador.

The British government, acting in concert with Washington, has defied the ruling, assisted by the Australian government.

The WikiLeaks founder was forced to seek refuge in the embassy in 2012 after trumped-up Swedish government allegations of sexual misconduct were brought forward as a pretext for his imprisonment in Britain. This would have been followed by extradition to the US to face concocted espionage charges that could see him jailed for life or even executed.

Assange, an Australian citizen, was compelled to turn to Ecuador because the Labor Party-led government in Australia lined up behind the Obama administration and denied Assange his right to assistance and protection.

The US and its allies want to lock away Assange for good in order to intimidate all those who are fighting against militarism, social inequality and the assault on democratic rights. His defence requires the broadest possible mobilisation of the international working class to demand his immediate and unconditional freedom.

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In the face of mounting threats, the working class must defend Julian Assange[25 October 2018]

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Ecuadors government cuts off all access to Julian Assange ...

WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange Is a Terrible Houseguest | WIRED

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If Julian Assange of WikiLeaks denies the Ecuadorian governments stinging charge that hes a disgusting houseguest, hed do well not to deny that charge categorically. As a category, crimes against hospitality are one of Assanges many fortes.

Assange, of course, has spent the better part of the decade hunkered down in the close quarters of Ecuadors embassy in London, avoiding extradition to the United States, where hes wanted on various criminal charges. However, incorrigible rogue that he is, Assange has managed even as an asylee to commit fresh offenses in defiance of a governmentthis time the Ecuadorian one, which has served as his extravagantly forbearing host since 2012.

It seems the foreign service, which originally granted Assange asylum on the grounds that he was a swashbuckling crusader for government transparency, had had enough of Assanges neglect of his cat and its litter box. The embassy is also fed up with his indifference to basic hygiene and bathroom cleanliness; his mooching of food and Wi-Fi; his woodwork-damaging indoor-skateboarding habit; and his general Kato Kaelinstyle freeloading. Assanges six-year tenancy at the embassy has cost the government $6 million. So far.

Virginia Heffernan (@page88) is an Ideas contributor at WIRED. She is the author of Magic and Loss: The Internet as Art, a cohost of Trumpcast, an op-ed columnist at the Los Angeles Times, and a frequent contributor to Politico.

In response, they issued a list of house rules last month. Assange found the rules oppressive, and sued the Ecuadorian government for violating his "fundamental rights and freedoms. His lawyers argued, of all things, that Assange is being treated inhumanely by his hosts in the embassy; that its a privilege to host a mind so great, daring and free; and that such a mind cannot be answerable to litter boxes.

Another bane to the embassy is Assanges relentless opining on Ecuador in ways that might jeopardize its foreign relations, and his audiences with visitors like activist and onetime Baywatch starlet Pamela Anderson, who, like Assange, has been closely linked to the Kremlin and Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Anderson, who airily denies being romantically involved with either Assange or Putin, told Buzzfeed in July that she brings Assange vegan food and checks on his fitness. I was worried about his healthhis skin was transparent. She went on: Hes been in a small room for six years and now hes being squeezedhis internets been taken away, he cant have visitors, he cant have phone calls.

In September, Ecuadorian officials, along with the rest of us, learned that Russian diplomats had considered a scheme to spring Assange from the embassy to get him safely to Russia, where hed be among friends and safe from extradition. The plan was scotched, but the embassy cannot have been pleased that it was almost humiliated by the slob houseguest theyve spent years cleaning up after.

The embassy is fed up with his indifference to basic hygiene; hismooching of food and wifi; his woodwork-damaging indoor-skateboardinghabit

And as of this week, the distinct possibility has surfaced that during his embassy tenure Assange communicated with Roger Stone, Donald Trumps consigliere, via magic decoder rings or the internet. According to The New York Times, dirty trickster Stone billed himself to Trump as a conduit to dirty tricks outfit WikiLeaks, and theres evidence of illicit communication between Stone and the Russia-aligned WikiLeaks. Evidently special prosecutor Robert Mueller has been poking around into the relationship between Roger Stone and WikiLeaks, which of course released thousands of Russian-hacked Democratic Party emails that advantaged Trump in 2016.

Assange says he now fears extradition to the United States, where he believes he will be executed, possibly extrajudicially, possibly for violating the Espionage Act of 1917 by publishing US war logs and diplomatic cables in 2010. Or possibly for conspiring with the Kremlin and Roger Stone to hack American democracy. (Indeed, attorney general Jeff Sessions said last year that arresting Assange is a priority.)

What Assange doesnt seem to fear is insulting his hosts.

That is a fear he has never, ever entertained.

In 2011one year after Assange made his name releasing the classified logs and cablesa video by comedian Allison Silverman accused him of systematic crimes against hospitality (emphasis mine).

As proof, Silverman provided the supposedly true personal testimony of a couple who had once put him up, accompanied by a low-effort reenactment. Julian Assange: Houseguest is extremely funny, but its also an evidentiary exhibit. Silverman had friends connected to Assange who once, like the Ecuadorian embassy, had a terrible time when he came to stay with them. The video has a lot to teach.

First, unnamed friends of friends of Assangea white couple apparently in their twentiesare shown putting fresh sheets on a full-sized bed and placing a small vase of lilacs on a side table, for an impending guest. I was OK with it on the condition that he leave after two days, remembers a sighing young man in what seems to be documentary voice over. I had guests coming to town who needed the guest bedroom.

His lawyers argued that Assange is being treated inhumanely; thatits a privilege to host a mind so great, daring and free; and thatsuch a mind cannot be answerable to litter boxes.

The first visitor turns out to be, of course, Assange, played by a scruffy guy in a silver wig. Were told Assange was in the habit of couch-surfing during some unspecified years, and he would take up the whole couch. The narrator continues: I would kind of hint with my body language that maybe I wanted to sit down, but he never noticed things like that.

The WikiLeaks editor scarfed leftover spaghetti from the fridge without asking; brought home a female stranger and sat around with her wearing only a towel; brought rotten fruit into the house; and didnt respond to friendly questions about his work and sleep habits. Instead, he would produce a wall of words about his trouble with governments, adding that information wants, in his view, to be free.

Hes an ideas guy, says the narrator.

A female narrator then remembers that Assange used her laptop during the stay. Presumably to cover his tracks lest he be pursued by governments opposed to freedom, Assange clogged up the young womans hard drive with a string of random numbers. Were talking 20 gigabytes or something, she says. The narrator offers, in sum: He wasnt the kind of person who was very aware of other peoples needs.

Poignant, this videoand with an admirable pedigree. The videos producer Silverman was at one time executive producer and head writer of The Colbert Report and Portlandia. Colbert writers Michael Brumm and Peter Gwinn, and David Rees, who created Get Your War On, star in it. The artwork is credited to Alyson Shotz, who is among Americas greatest contemporary sculptors.

Ecuadorian lawmaker Paola Vintimilla posted a video to Twitter in which she says Assange has undermined our country more than once and now he has decided to bite the hand that feeds him and sue the Ecuadorian state.

Now this is adding up. Noble figures like Vintimilla are trying to build a case for why Assange should be thrown out of his favorite rent-free secure London crash pad. For the prosecution, it might be worth showing Assanges history of taxing the hospitality of hosting hands that feed him. For that, there isat leastthis YouTube video.

If only there were a way to hack, leak, stage, and securely send the video to Vintimilla and the rest of the Ecuadorian authorities. Oh lookshuffles URLs and hacks and leaks at youtube dot comits right here.

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WikiLeaks' Julian Assange Is a Terrible Houseguest | WIRED

Julian Assange loses court case over cat duties, internet …

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Posted October 30, 2018 13:20:58

A judge has rejected WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's request to loosen new living requirements, including paying for his internet and cleaning up after his cat, that he says are meant to push him into leaving the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

Judge Karina Martinez decided stricter rules recently imposed by the South American nation's embassy do not violate his asylum rights because authorities have the right to decide what is and is not allowed inside the building.

Ecuadorian officials praised the ruling in the latest row between the Australian hacker and the government that has provided him refuge for six years.

Relations between Mr Assange and Ecuador have grown increasingly prickly as the years have dragged on with no solution in sight.

Mr Assange's lawyer, Carlos Poveda, vowed to appeal against the decision.

"The Ecuadorian state has an international responsibility to protect Mr Assange," Mr Poveda said.

Mr Assange argued the new measures, which also include requiring him to pay for his own medical bills and laundry services, are designed to coerce him into ending his asylum.

The rules also make clear that if Mr Assange does not properly feed and take care of his cat, the animal could be sent to the pound.

Ecuador's government contended the requirements are aimed at peaceful cohabitation in tight quarters in the small embassy, where Mr Assange takes up more than a third of the space.

Officials have complained that his soccer playing and skateboarding have damaged the building.

"It's clear this protocol was issued with strict respect for international law," Jose Valencia, Ecuador's foreign minister, said after the ruling.

Mr Assange took refuge in the embassy in 2012 as he tried to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faced rape allegations.

He remains wanted in the United Kingdom for jumping bail, and he also fears a possible extradition to the United States for leaking classified State Department documents.

AP

Topics:world-politics,law-crime-and-justice,internet-technology,hacking,united-kingdom,ecuador

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New Threats to Julian Assange; Consortium News to Broadcast …

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New threats to the safety of Julian Assange, to be disclosed shortly by Consortium News, have prompted an emergency meeting of his supporters.

New Threats Reported

to Assange to Be Revealed

An alarming series of occurrences have unfolded this week that indicate serious, urgent threats to the physical well-being of WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange. Those close to the publisher are swiftly moving to address the recent escalations.

The Unity4J movement is calling an emergency meeting for all movement participants, supporters and the public. This will commence on Saturday November 3rd, 2018 at 3pm EST (midday Pacific), via https://unity4j.com/stream

At the meeting, details of these new threats to Julians life will be presented, along with the unveiling of a new action plan to secure and protect his life, human rights, and freedom.

A special message from Julians mother, Christine Assange will also be broadcasted.

Julian Assange has been arbitrarily detained in the UK for eight years, six of which he has spent as a political refugee in Ecuadors embassy in London. The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has ruled Mr Assange should be immediately freed and compensated. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights has ruled that the UK must facilitate safe passage for him.

#Unity4J is a global mass movement in solidarity with Julian Assange, created in response to Ecuadors gagging of the publisher. Unity4J has been endorsed by more than fifty high profile activists, journalists, celebrities, academics and former US intelligence officials including Chris Hedges, Jimmy Dore, Ray McGovern, Bill Binney and Daniel Ellsberg.

Movement hashtag: #Unity4J Official website: http://unity4j.com/

Official Twitter: @Unity4J

WikiLeaks Legal Defence Fund: https://justice4assange.com/ donate.html

WikiLeaks support website: https://iamwikileaks.org

Courage Foundation: https://couragefound.org/

Other credible accounts for Julian Assange updates: https:// twitter.com/suzi3d/lists/assange-updates

MEDIA INQUIRIES: Media inquiries and interview requests should be made to Suzie Dawson, via DM on Twitter: @Suzi3D, or by emailing info@unity4j.com

Background reading:

Courage Foundation: Assanges protection from US extradition in jeopardy https://www.iamwikileaks.org/2018/05/25/ assanges-protection-from-us-extradition-in-jeopardy/

Conspiracy emerges to push Julian Assange into British and US hands https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/05/16/assa-m16.html

The UKs Hidden Role in Assanges Detention https:// original.antiwar.com/cook/2018/02/12/uks-hidden-roleassanges-detention/

Treatment of Assange is unjust, says former Ecuador minister https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/16/julianassange-treatment-irresponsible-ecuador-foreign-minister- guillaume-long

Ecuadors Ex-President Rafael Correa Denounces Treatment of Julian Assange as Torture https://theintercept.com/ 2018/05/16/ecuadors-ex-president-rafael-correa-denouncestreatment-of-julian-assange-as-torture/

Opinion: Ecuadors Solitary Confinement Of Assange Is Torture https://disobedientmedia.com/2018/04/opinion-ecuadorssolitary-confinement-of-assange-is-torture/

Being Julian Assange: https://contraspin.co.nz/beingjulianassange/

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Chelsea Manning Tried Committing Suicide a Second Time in …

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Since her suicide attempt in October, Ms. Manning, 28, has been released from the special observation unit and returned to the general inmate population, and can again receive mail and make phone calls. Still, two members of the support network said Ms. Manning had told them that she continued to see the attackers who posed as guards around the prison until Oct. 27.

Dr. Stuart Grassian, a psychiatrist who is a specialist in the psychiatric effects of solitary confinement, said it was a mistake to subject people who have exhibited irrational behavior to the stresses of isolation the way the military does in punishing suicidal inmates by placing them in solitary confinement.

Dr. Grassian cautioned that he did not know Ms. Manning and had not examined her, but said that a classic symptom experienced by inmates held in solitary confinement, especially if they were fragile to begin with, is a form of delirium whose characteristics include hallucinations, paranoia, intense agitation and confusion.

While in Iraq, Ms. Manning was cited for responding with disproportionately angry outbursts when she was chastised over minor misconduct; went catatonic at times while talking; and was found in the fetal position with a knife, witnesses said. Yet her supervisor never pulled her from the secure facility where she had access to classified information or recommended filing a report that could have revoked her security clearance.

That supervisor, then a master sergeant, was demoted for failing to alert commanders of the warning signs. At Ms. Mannings trial, he testified that he was reluctant to do more than refer her for mental health counseling because she was performing valuable analysis of intelligence about Shiite insurgents that was helping to save soldiers lives.

After her arrest, Ms. Manning was flagged as a suicide risk and held in the Marine Corps brig in Quantico, Va. She was placed under austere conditions that the military said were necessary to prevent her from harming herself even after military psychologists said it was no longer necessary. A military court-martial judge later ruled the move had been unlawful, and after a high-level Pentagon intervention, she was transferred to Fort Leavenworth.

After her conviction, she announced that she wanted to be known as Chelsea Manning and referred to by female pronouns. In 2014, she legally changed her name from Bradley to Chelsea. In response to a federal lawsuit, the military began letting her receive hormone therapy, but houses her with male inmates and does not let her grow her hair.

Ms. Mannings 35-year sentence is the longest ever imposed for providing government secrets to the public. The documents she disclosed, which made her a hero to open-government activists, included diplomatic cables from American embassies around the world, incident logs from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, intelligence dossiers about Guantnamo Bay detainees and a video of a helicopter airstrike in Baghdad in which two Reuters journalists were killed. WikiLeaks made them public, working with various news organizations, including The Times.

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Chelsea Manning Tried Committing Suicide a Second Time in ...

Chelsea Manning – Interview Magazine

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Growing up, Manning was bounced around, from Oklahoma to Wales and back, cared for as often by her sister, Casey, 11 years her senior, as by her parentsboth of whom Casey has characterized as alcoholics. In Leavenworth, Manning, now 28, has access to psychotherapy sessions, radio, and cosmetics, but is strictly limited in access to visitors and cannot go on the internet. She cannot be photographed, interviewed on camera, or speak with journalists in person or on the phone, but can communicate by post. So, in January, I wrote her to tell her about our special April issue celebrating the pathfinders and conscientious among us who are creating new spaces for themselves and for others, and asked her to be a part of it. She very kindly accepted. Here is our correspondence.

CHRIS WALLACE: First of all, how are you? Is there anything that Ior anyonecan or ought to be doing for you?

CHELSEA MANNING: Thank you. I am pushing myself through at the moment. I have a lot on my plate currently: Im waiting for the judges ruling in my lawsuit challenging the military prisons hair-length restrictions; Im still in the process of challenging what I believe to be an unlawful and discriminatory disciplinary board from last year; Ive challenged the Department of Justice and FBI to release the investigative records related to my case; and, most importantly, Im only weeks away from filing the brief in my court-martial appeal. Its an exhausting schedule. As for you and anyone else, I can only ask of those who care about me and the issues in my case to support me and spread the word about what is going on. Donations to my legal defense fund really help, and I think keeping me motivated and spreading the message are also very important.

WALLACE: You wrote recently about how tough the holidays were. How is your day-to-day life? Are there things you particularly look forward to, dread, or are surprised by?

MANNING: Day-to-day life is as simple as it is routinethough my days are often long and very busy. On weekdays, I wake up at about 4:30 each morning. I get dressed, have a cup of coffee, and go to the prison cafeteria for breakfast. Not long after dawn, we show up for work at our day jobs. I work at the prison wood shop. Any legal or medical appointments are scheduled during the workday, too. We have about an hour and a half break for lunch, which is when I make a lot of my phone calls. The workday ends around 4 p.m. When I get back to my cell, I usually have a stack of mail and laundry at the front of the cell. For about an hour, I sort and neatly fold my laundry and read my mail. On a normal day, this includes dozens of cards and letters from supporters, a newspaper, and a handful of magazine subscriptions. Before the evening starts, I eat dinner. The rest of the day is filled with recreation. This includes the library, where I type up legal papers, letters, and assignments for college correspondence courses. I also like to run and do HIIT-style exercises during gym and outside recreation hoursbut I recently took a break for a few months because of the hormone treatments. I have only just started doing these routines again in the past couple weeks. There are very few distinctions between el bueno and el malo en la prisin militar. Instead of the good and the bad, there is the boring and la repeticinthe repetitive. The routine is as endless as it is numbing. Its like Groundhog Day [1993], except that I am getting older.

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Chelsea Manning - Interview Magazine


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