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Trumps DOJ tries to rebrand weakened encryption as …

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A high-ranking Department of Justice official took aim at encryption of consumer products today, saying that encryption creates "law-free zones" and should be scaled back by Apple and other tech companies. Instead of encryption that can't be broken, tech companies should implement "responsible encryption" that allows law enforcement to access data, he said.

"Warrant-proof encryption defeats the constitutional balance by elevating privacy above public safety," Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said in a speech at the US Naval Academy today (transcript). "Encrypted communications that cannot be intercepted and locked devices that cannot be opened are law-free zones that permit criminals and terrorists to operate without detection by police and without accountability by judges and juries."

Rosenstein was nominated by President Donald Trump to be the DOJ's second-highest-ranking official, after Attorney General Jeff Sessions. He was confirmed by the Senate in April.

Rosenstein's speech makes several references to Apple, continuing a battle over encryption between Apple and the US government that goes back to the Obama administration. Last year, Apple refused to help the government unlock and decrypt the San Bernardino gunman's iPhone, but the FBI ended up paying hackers fora vulnerabilitythat it used to access data on the device.

"Fortunately, the government was able to access data on that iPhone without Apple's assistance," Rosenstein said. "But the problem persists. Today, thousands of seized devices sit in storage, impervious to search warrants."

"If companies are permitted to create law-free zones for their customers, citizens should understand the consequences," he also said. "When police cannot access evidence, crime cannot be solved. Criminals cannot be stopped and punished."

We asked Apple for a response to Rosenstein's speech and will update this story if we get one.

Separately, state lawmakers in New York and California have proposed legislationto prohibit the sale of smartphones with unbreakable encryption.

Despite his goal of giving law enforcement access to encrypted data on consumer products, Rosenstein acknowledged the importance of encryption to the security of computer users. He said that "encryption is a foundational element of data security and authentication," that "it is essential to the growth and flourishing of the digital economy," and that "we in law enforcement have no desire to undermine it."

But Rosenstein complained that "mass-market products and services incorporating warrant-proof encryption are now the norm," that instant-messaging service encryption cannot be broken by police, and that smartphone makers have "engineer[ed] away" the ability to give police access to data.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has argued in the past that the intentional inclusion of vulnerabilities in consumer products wouldn't just help law enforcement solve crimesit would also help criminals hack everyday people who rely on encryption to ensure their digital safety.

Rosenstein claimed that this problem can be solved with "responsible encryption." He said:

Responsible encryption is achievable. Responsible encryption can involve effective, secure encryption that allows access only with judicial authorization. Such encryption already exists. Examples include the central management of security keys and operating system updates; the scanning of content, like your e-mails, for advertising purposes; the simulcast of messages to multiple destinations at once; and key recovery when a user forgets the password to decrypt a laptop.

No one calls any of those functions a "back door." In fact, those capabilities are marketed and sought out by many users.

It's not clear exactly how Rosenstein would implement his desired responsible encryption.

Rosenstein's"key recovery when a user forgets the password to decrypt a laptop" reference seems to refer to Apple and Microsoft providing the ability to store recovery keys in the cloud. But users who encrypt Mac or Windows laptops aren't required to do thisthey can store the keys locally only if they prefer. To guarantee law enforcement access in this scenario, people who encrypt laptops would have to be forced to store their keys in the cloud. Alternatively, Apple and Microsoft would have to change the way their disk encryption systems work, overriding the consumer's preference to have an encrypted system that cannot be accessed by anyone else.

Rosenstein gave some further insight into how "responsible encryption" might work in this section of his speech:

We know from experience that the largest companies have the resources to do what is necessary to promote cybersecurity while protecting public safety. A major hardware provider, for example, reportedly maintains private keys that it can use to sign software updates for each of its devices. That would present a huge potential security problem, if those keys were to leak. But they do not leak, because the company knows how to protect what is important. Companies can protect their ability to respond to lawful court orders with equal diligence.

Of course, there are many examples of companies leaking sensitive data due to errors or serious vulnerabilities. The knowledge that errors will happen at some point explains why technology companies take so many precautions to protect customer data. Maintaining a special system that lets third parties access data that would otherwise only be accessible by its owner increases the risk that sensitive data will get into the wrong hands.

Rosenstein claimed that "responsible encryption can protect privacy and promote security without forfeiting access for legitimate law enforcement needs supported by judicial approval." But he doubts that tech companies will do so unless forced to:

Technology companies almost certainly will not develop responsible encryption if left to their own devices. Competition will fuel a mindset that leads them to produce products that are more and more impregnable. That will give criminals and terrorists more opportunities to cause harm with impunity.

"Allow me to conclude with this thought," Rosenstein said just before wrapping up his speech. "There is no constitutional right to sell warrant-proof encryption. If our society chooses to let businesses sell technologies that shield evidence even from court orders, it should be a fully-informed decision."

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Julian Assange Marks 5.5 Years Inside Ecuadorean Embassy as …

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This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. Im Amy Goodman. Were talking to Julian Assange, who has taken refuge, got political asylum in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, for the last five-and-a-half years has lived in this tiny embassy in London. Julian, talk about the status of your case. In fact, you were holed up there so that you wouldnt be extradited to Sweden, fearing then you would be extradited to the United States. But Sweden has dropped its case against you.

JULIAN ASSANGE: Yeah, of course. It never had a case. I was never charged. It was a, quote, preliminary investigation, which had been reopened, which had already been closed. So, yeah, but the United States continues its grand jury formally. Its expanded it now to include our CIA publications. And CIATrumps CIA Director Pompeo and the DOJ has been, at least in their statementsand we know from some internal matterspursuing that aggressively.

AMY GOODMAN: Why do they want you here in the United States? And what role is Britain playing right now? I mean, they dont have to respond. There is not a known arrest warrant for you.

JULIAN ASSANGE: Well, the U.K. says they refuse to confirm or deny whether they have already received a sealed extradition order. And the U.S. says that they refuse to confirm or deny whether they have already issued one.

AMY GOODMAN: I want to turn to Mike Pompeo in his first public address as CIA director. He was speaking at a Washington, D.C., think tank earlier this year, blasted WikiLeaks as a hostile intelligence service, in a stark reversal from his previous praise for WikiLeaks. This is what he said.

MIKE POMPEO: Its time to call out WikiLeaks for what it really is: a nonstate, hostile intelligence service, often abetted by state actors like Russia. In reality, they champion nothing but their own celebrity. Their currency is clickbait, their moral compass nonexistent. Their mission, personal of aggrandizement through destruction of Western values.

AMY GOODMAN: Mike Pompeo, CIA director, his first major address as CIA director, takes on WikiLeaks and you, Julian. Your response?

JULIAN ASSANGE: Well, its a bit flattering, isnt it? I mean, hes saying that, essentially, that were a nonstate intelligence agency. Those are his words, which, of course, is completely absurd. Look, the media, media organizations, cultivate sources, protect their identities, if theyre doing their job well, and publish their material. The Central Intelligence Agency collects information for a different reasonto exploit it for interstate power, its own powerand then doesnt publish it. So, the intentionality in obtaining information is to publish it, in the case of a media organization, and then it is published, hopefully. It is, with WikiLeaks. And the intelligence agencies collect information with a different intentionality, and they dont publish. So, itsyeah, its absurd. I think its kind of funny. It comes from our, you know, incredible CIA publications. Its our ongoing series called Vault 7. Now, its very, very rare that a current CIA document to be released in full. In fact, Im not aware of it ever having occurred, at least in the last decade, except for our publications, publications prior to this year that weve done a few and this year, as well. So, its deeply humiliating for the CIA, in front of other intelligence agencies it has to deal with, and the FBI, to be perceived as incompetent in that way.

AMY GOODMAN: Were you

JULIAN ASSANGE: Which it is, dangerously incompetent.

AMY GOODMAN: Were you surprised to hear the Trump administration attacking you? This is Pompeo. Now, of course, Trump also attacks his own people and has different points of view on issues, like Rex Tillerson, who hes supposedly having lunch with, who supposedly called him a moron. At least he said heat least Tillerson did not deny that he had done this. So, do you think that Pompeo and Trump disagree? Trump talked about loving WikiLeaks when he was on the campaign trail, as he was talking about calling for the release of email.

JULIAN ASSANGE: Well, everyone loves WikiLeaks when were publishing information about those that they politically oppose. I mean, thats inevitable. And when we start publishing information about, you know, Trumps CIA, of course, the attitude changes.

AMY GOODMAN: Do you understand if there is still a grand jury open that is weighing your case in the United States? And for people who havent followed the case for five-and-a-half years with you being inside the embassy, what you understand is an arrest warrant or what you understand is out there as a result of a grand jury, a secret grand jury?

JULIAN ASSANGE: The U.S. government and the U.K. government behave as if there is a sealed indictment, in terms of their refusal to talk about it, their interactions with our lawyers and so on. So they either have one or they have a virtuala virtual one.

AMY GOODMAN: Do you see yourself

JULIAN ASSANGE: The grand jury has been expanded now from our war crimes publications about Iraq and Afghanistan, the ones that are alleged to have been associated with Chelsea Manning, to now include the CIA publications.

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Edward Snowden | Biography & Facts | Britannica.com

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Edward Snowden

American intelligence contractor

Edward Snowden, in full Edward Joseph Snowden (born June 21, 1983, Elizabeth City, North Carolina, U.S.), American intelligence contractor who in 2013 revealed the existence of secret wide-ranging information-gathering programs conducted by the National Security Agency (NSA).

Snowden was born in North Carolina, and his family moved to central Maryland, a short distance from NSA headquarters at Fort Meade, when he was a child. He dropped out of high school and studied intermittently between 1999 and 2005 at a community college; he completed a GED but did not receive a college degree. He enlisted in the army reserve as a special forces candidate in May 2004, but he was discharged four months later. In 2005 he worked as a security guard at the Center for Advanced Study of Language, a University of Maryland research facility affiliated with the NSA. Despite a relative lack of formal education and training, Snowden demonstrated an aptitude with computers, and he was hired by the Central Intelligence Agency in 2006. He was given a top secret clearance and in 2007 was posted to Geneva, where he worked as a network security technician under a diplomatic cover.

Snowden left the CIA for the NSA in 2009. There he worked as a private contractor for the companies Dell and Booz Allen Hamilton. During this time, he began gathering information on a number of NSA activitiesmost notably, secret surveillance programs that he believed were overly broad in size and scope. In May 2013 Snowden requested a medical leave of absence and flew to Hong Kong, where during the following month he conducted a series of interviews with journalists from the newspaper The Guardian. Footage filmed during that period was featured in the documentary Citizenfour (2014). Among the NSA secrets leaked by Snowden was a court order that compelled telecommunications company Verizon to turn over metadata (such as numbers dialed and duration of calls) for millions of its subscribers. Snowden also disclosed the existence of PRISM, a data-mining program that reportedly gave the NSA, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Government Communications HeadquartersBritains NSA equivalentdirect access to the servers of such Internet giants as Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Apple.

On June 9, 2013, days after stories were initially published in The Guardian and The Washington Post without revealing the identity of their source, Snowden came forward, stating that he felt no need to hide because he had done nothing wrong. In a subsequent interview with the South China Morning Post, he claimed that the NSA had been hacking into Chinese computers since 2009 and that he had taken a job with Booz Allen Hamilton expressly to obtain information about secret NSA activities. The U.S. charged Snowden with espionage on June 14, and Justice Department officials, including Attorney General Eric Holder, began negotiating with authorities in Hong Kong in an attempt to initiate extradition procedures. The Hong Kong government declined to act, and Snowden, with the assistance of the media organization WikiLeaks, flew to Moscow, where his exact whereabouts became the source of intense speculation. Russian Pres. Vladimir Putin confirmed that Snowden, whose passport had been revoked by the U.S., remained within the confines of the international transit zone of Moscows Sheremetyevo airport.

Putin resolutely stated that Russia would take no part in his extradition to the United States, and Snowden applied for asylum in some 20 countries, including Russia. Putin also made clear that he did not wish for Snowdens presence to damage relations with the United States, and he said that if Snowden wished to remain in Russia, he must stop his work aimed at bringing harm to our American partners. After having spent more than a month in the Sheremetyevo transit zone, Snowden was granted temporary refugee status by Russia, and he left the airport in the company of a WikiLeaks staffer.

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Although U.S. Pres. Barack Obama was critical of Snowdens methods, in August 2013 he announced the creation of an independent panel to examine the U.S. governments surveillance practices. That panels findings, published in December 2013, recommended that the mass collection of telephone records be suspended and advised greater oversight of sensitive programs, such as those targeting friendly foreign leaders. Obama acted on a number of these suggestions and recommended congressional review of others, but the role of the NSA and its data-collection efforts remained a bone of contention between the intelligence community and privacy advocates. In April 2014 The Guardian U.S. and The Washington Post were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for public service for their roles in reporting on the NSA leaks. Snowden characterized the award as a vindication of his efforts to bring the secret surveillance programs to light.

In August 2014, as Snowdens grant of temporary asylum expired, the Russian government awarded him a three-year residence permit (effective August 1), which would allow him to leave the country for up to three months. He was also granted the opportunity to request an extension of that permit and, after five years of residence, to apply for Russian citizenship should he choose to do so.

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Cryptocurrency Alternatives to Bitcoin – due.com

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When you think of cryptocurrency, chances are the first thing that comes to mind is Bitcoin.

By now, Bitcoin is something that most people are aware of even if they arent exactly sure what it is.

Accepting cryptocurrencies can make sense for your business, whether you sell physical goods or whether youre a freelancer. But using a cryptocurrency as a medium of exchange doesnt mean you have to go with Bitcoin.

In fact, there are a surprising number of cryptocurrency alternatives to Bitcoin.

One of the cryptocurrency alternatives to Bitcoin thats gaining a lot of ground right now is Dash. Thats because Dash is open source and very centered on privacy.

On top of that, there are low fees that come with Dash. To tell the truth, most cryptocurrencies are going to come with lower fees than what you pay with bank and credit card transactions. However, there are cases where its even free to send Dash.

Its also nice that Dash is an instant peer-to-peer cryptocurrency. You dont have to worry about it because payments are private, and instantly appear to the person on the other side of the transaction anywhere in the world.

Theres a reason Dash is one of the most popular Bitcoin alternatives out there.

One of the oldest cryptocurrency alternatives to Bitcoin is Litecoin. This cryptocurrency has been around for several years. Interestingly enough, even though it is capable of handling a higher transaction volume than Bitcoin, it still isnt as well-known.

Litecoin makes use of open source software and the decentralized network makes use of mathematics for security. Litecoin also comes with some cool features:

Due to its availability and other features, its no surprise Litecoin is on the rise.

Peercoin is one of the most potentially inflationary cryptocurrency alternatives to Bitcoin. Theres a lot that goes into rewarding miners and there is no upward limit to how many will be mined. Minting uses Proof of Stake for security in the network, which means that Peercoin security is not impacted the same way that Bitcoin mining is when it comes to Selfish Mining.

Its also worth noting that Peercoin is derived from Bitcoin. So if you have hardware that works with the Bitcoin network, it will also work with Peercoin.

This is great for mining, but it can also allow you to accept payment for more than one cryptocurrency without the need to use different networks.

The peer-to-peer technology used for feathercoin is designed to create borderless payments. One of the cool things is that feathercoin is somewhat unique among cryptocurrency alternatives in that it has a number of features to really bypass banking.

In fact, feathercoin is working on open source projects for ATMs and Point of Sale equipment. Right now, it can be cumbersome to use cryptocurrencies. In many cases, its hard to use cryptocurrencies in real world transactions that take place offline.

That might change if feathercoins projects come to fruition. Physical, laser-etched coins and access to the cryptocurrency easily at Point of Sale terminals and ATMs really set this digital currency apart.

When it comes to mining, Quarkcoin offers the opportunity to just about anyone with a CPU. It doesnt give the advantage to special equipment or server farms. So, if you are looking for a way to mine a little bit more, the Quarkcoin can help.

Like Bitcoin and cryptocurrency alternatives to Bitcoin, Quarkcoin is peer-to-peer. You can make payments directly to the person you want to, almost instantly. Plus, there is a high level of security with Quarkcoin. Were talking nine rounds of hashing, as opposed to one hash used by most cryptocurrencies.

One of the interesting things about Digitalcoin is that it is accepted by a number of businesses. Sometimes, it can be difficult to find someone willing to accept your cryptocurrency payment if it isnt Bitcoin or Dash. Digitalcoin offers stability as well, with a block rewards produced at a lower rate than many other digital currencies.

Digitalcoin, like other cryptocurrencies, is decentralized and secure. You can send and receive the currency anywhere in the world, and its free to use.

This is another of the highly private cryptocurrency alternatives to Bitcoin. Stablecoin is distinguished by the fact that the transactions are not only encrypted, but also untraceable. While this currency isnt quite as well-used as many others, it is working hard to move forward, especially in China. If this catches in China, which is a huge economy, it could grow elsewhere.

The essential question is whether or not you should buy cryptocurrencies with the idea of capital appreciation in mind. Do you buy (or mine) these cryptocurrencies in the hope that you can sell them on an exchange and make a profit?

There are those who look at the widely-accepted Litecoin and refer to it as silver to Bitcoins gold. But does that really make sense in the long term?

While it can be tempting to think of cryptocurrencies as investments, the reality is that they might not be solid. Sure, mine cryptocurrencies. But they might be most useful as mediums of exchange. They are inexpensive, and blockchain technology allows for almost instant transfer so its possible to set up a low-cost global payment system.

The real value might be in the way Bitcoin and the way cryptocurrency alternatives to Bitcoin are changing the way we think about money and do business.

Some of the more interesting blockchain developments are Ethereum and Namecoin.

Ethereum is interesting because it is at once a digital currency and an application layer. If you are hoping to get involved with smart contracts, one of the best choices is Ethereum.

The decentralized, open source Ethereum allows developers to create their own applications. This includes smart contracts, as well as token systems. The systems can be used as part of the smart contract process. Its possible to layer on the applications using Ethereum, which means that this blockchain development could change the face of business.

Namecoin is another interesting blockchain development. Namecoin technology isnt about currencies and money. Its all about decentralizing the Internet itself. Namecoin is about increasing privacy, resisting censorship, and improving the security of the infrastructure of the Internet. This is an interesting open source project that could change the way the Internet itself works.

Innovation in the way we see money and the way we do business are the main results of blockchain technologies. Bitcoin really brought the blockchain and cryptocurrencies into the mainstream consciousness. However, what comes next in terms of the way we conduct business on a global scale could be even more exciting.

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Learn BitCoin and master the world of cryptocurrency

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It's about time you learned how Bitcoin works.

Image: pixabay

By Team CommerceMashable Shopping2017-10-04 16:47:54 UTC

You may think youre too late to invest in cryptocurrency like Bitcoin and wear suits made of money but youre actually just in time.

Cryptocurrency has been growing in popularity, but only a tiny percentage (.01 percent) of people have gotten wind of how to make money from it. And thats not because that goal is out of reach. Those who know their way around cryptocurrency know that the high-risk investment has a huge potential for getting you up to your elbows in hundred-dollar bills. Not to mention, you dont have to worry about high bank fees or fluctuations based on government regulations.

Interested in being one of the .01 percent? The #1 cryptocurrency investment course can help you get there. Youll learn different buying strategies for making gains in the short, medium, and long terms and strategies for protecting the money you make. And since its not just about Bitcoin anymore, youll also learn which cryptocurrencies are worth investing in.

The course also gives you access to a private community of like-minded investors, so you can learn from others, get your questions answered, and get live updates on the market. Get the #1 cryptocurrency investment course for $15 here.

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Cryptocurrency Flash Crash Is Said to Draw Scrutiny From CFTC …

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A popular digital-coin exchange isdrawing scrutiny from U.S. regulators over a June flash crash that erased most of the value in thesecond-largest cryptocurrency before traders had time to blink their eyes.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has requested information from Coinbase Inc. about a June 21 incident on its GDAX platform in which the ether digital token suffered a precipitous drop, falling to 10 cents from $317.81 in milliseconds before quickly recovering, said two people familiar with the matter.

Among the issues the agency is focused on is what role leverage might have played in the plunge, as Coinbase allowed traders to use borrowed money to make bigger wagers than would have otherwise been possible, said the people, who asked not to be named because the review isnt public.

The CFTC inquiry is the latest sign that federal authorities aregrowing worried about a market with scattershot oversight that has attracted big money. Coinbase, which says it has served 10.6 million customers and facilitated $20 billion in digital currency transactions, is regulated by various states through a patchwork system.

Its not registered with the CFTC, the main U.S. watchdog of currency futures. Coinbase doesnt allow traders to buy and sell derivatives, and firms dont typically fall under the regulators direct jurisdiction unless they allow swaps trading. Coinbase does hold licenses with financial agencies in dozens of states, as well as Puerto Rico, according to its website.

The CFTC sent San Francisco-based Coinbase a letter with a list of questions, including queries about margin trading, one of the people said. Coinbase began offering margin accounts in March, as it sought to attract institutional investors by providing them loans to amplify their bets. The company disabled the service after the June crash.

As a regulated financial institution, Coinbase complies with regulations and fully cooperates with regulators, the company said in an emailed statement. After the GDAX market event in June 2017, we proactively reached out to a number of regulators, including the CFTC. We also decided to credit all customers who were impacted by this event. We are unaware of a formal investigation.

CFTC spokeswoman Erica Elliott Richardson declined to comment.

Coinbases ether plunge was caused by a single $12.5 million trade -- one of the biggest ever -- that prompted selling by other investors. The decline triggered automatic sell orders from traders whod requested to bail on the currency if prices dropped to certain levels, and led GDAX to liquidate some margin trades.

While the drop was dramatic, it was also temporary. Computer algorithms quickly started issuing buy orders that drove prices back up to $300 within 10 seconds.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have surged this year. But regulators and financial executives are concerned that investors are inflating a bubble thats destined to pop. South Korea banned margin trading in bitcoin and ether Sept. 29 after China earlier cracked down on digital currencies. Last month, JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon likened cryptocurrencies to the infamous Dutch tulip bulb mania of the 17th Century.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has been grappling with how to police digital currencies. SEC Chair Jay Clayton warned lawmakers last week that initial coin offerings are probably full of fraud. The next day, the agency sued a company for misrepresentations tied to a bitcoin offering purportedly backed by diamonds and real estate.

One risk of allowing margin trades is that in a sharp market reversal, trading platforms could run into problems if investors cant repay the money theyve borrowed.

Thats what happened in January 2015 when the currency brokerage FXCM Inc. almost toppled after Switzerland shocked markets by letting its currency appreciate. When the franc jumped, FXCM customers lost more money than they had in their accounts, forcing the company to seek a $300 million bailout from Leucadia National Corp.

Coinbases GDAX had a margin funding limit of $10,000.To qualify, investors had to meet at least one of several qualifications laid out under federal law.

For instance, individuals can only trade with borrowed money if they have more than $5 million invested in various financial markets and are using their margin accounts purely to hedge risks. Individuals are exempt from the hedging requirement if they have more than $10 million invested. The rules are looser for institutional investors, such as hedge funds and corporations.

Last year, the CFTC sanctioned a different digital token market, Bitfinex, for allowing investors who didnt meet the $10 million threshold to make margin trades. Bitfinex also broke the law because it didnt deliver some bitcoins that investors had bought using leverage within a required timeframe, the CFTC said. Instead, it held the tokens in accounts that it owned and controlled, according to the regulator. Bitfinex agreed to pay $75,000 to settle the case, without admitting or denying the allegations.

Coinbase has suffered outages and other performance problems as its struggled to handle the surge in volume thats accompanied skyrocketing cryptocurrency prices. It has also faced a sharp increase in customer complaints. Almost 500 consumer grievances have been flagged about the company this year on a database maintained by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, compared with just six for all of 2016.

Coinbase and investors who use it to trade have piqued regulators interest in the past. In 2016,the Internal Revenue Service asked a court for permission to serve a summons against Coinbase, seeking records about taxpayers who have traded digital currencies.

It also has attracted prominent investors including Marc Andreessens venture capital firm and the New York Stock Exchange. In August, Coinbase received $100 million from a group led by Institutional Venture Partners, a Menlo Park, California-based venture capital firm.

With assistance by Nick Baker, and Matthew Leising

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Sweden Drops Rape Investigation into Julian Assange – Rolling …

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Swedish prosecutors announced Friday that they have dropped their rape investigation against Julian Assange. An arrest warrant for Assange was also revoked.

Since 2012, the WikiLeaks founder had sought asylum in the Ecuadorean embassy in London, avoiding extradition to Sweden to face allegations of sexual assault and rape stemming from a 2010 incident.

In 2015, the sexual assault charges against Assange were dropped after the statue of limitations expired, but the rape investigation remained open until Friday.

"Detained for 7 years without charge by while my children grew up and my name was slandered. I do not forgive or forget," Assange tweeted Friday morning.

Swedish director of public prosecutions Margaret Ny said the decision to drop the rape investigation had been made after all possibilities for charges had been "exhausted." "In order to proceed with the case, Julian Assange would have to be formally notified of the criminal suspicions against him. We cannot expect to receive assistance from Ecuador regarding this. Therefore the investigation is discontinued," Ny said.

"If he, at a later date, makes himself available, I will be able to decide to resume the investigation immediately," he added. Sweden has until 2020 to charge Assange with rape.

"This is one of the happiest days of my legal career," Assange's lawyer Per Samuelson told reporters Friday. "The decision was taken because he was interrogated in November 2016 and could give a good explanation of what happened This is obviously about consensual sex between two adults." The alleged victim told the press through her lawyer that she maintains her allegations. "It's a scandal that a suspected rapist can avoid the judicial system and thus avoid a trial in court," the lawyer said.

Assange still faces immediate arrest in the U.K. for breaching bail conditions after he failed to attend a magistrates court session while in the Ecuadorian embassy. Assange could face a year in prison if he's found guilty of that charge.

"The Metropolitan police service is obliged to execute that warrant should he leave the embassy," London police said in a statement, the Guardian reports.

In 2015, when the sexual assault charges were dropped, Assange suggested that even if the rape investigation were to end, it was unlikely he would leave the Ecuadorian embassy because he feared the United Kingdom would extradite him to the United States, where he could be tried for WikiLeaks' public dispersion of top-secret documents; the U.K. is legally obligated to extradite Assange to the U.S. if given the opportunity.

As recently as April, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said arresting Assange was a "priority," the BBC reported, even though formal charges against Assange and WikiLeaks hadn't been filed.

"This is a matter that's gone beyond anything I'm aware of," Sessions said at the time. "We have professionals that have been in the security business of the United States for many years that are shocked by the number of leaks and some of them are quite serious."

Sessions added, "We've already begun to step up our efforts and whenever a case can be made, we will seek to put some people in jail."

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Julian Assange: Sweden Drops Rape Investigation Against …

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Swedish officials dropped their seven-year rape investigation into WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Friday; a prosecutor said there is no possibility of arresting him in the foreseeable future, according to the Associated Press.

Assange no longer faces sex crime allegations in Sweden but hes not completely in the clear, as he is still wanted for jumping bail in Britain back in 2012.

This is a total victory for Julian Assange. He is now free to leave the embassy when he wants. We have won the Assange case. He is of course happy and relieved. He has been critical that it has lasted that long, Attorney Per E. Samuelsson told Swedish Radio.

Also Read: James Comey Already Has Potential Job Offer... at WikiLeaks

Samuelsson isnt totally accurate with his comments. British police are no longer seeking him for extradition to Sweden but Londons Metropolitan Police force said that it is obliged to execute that warrant should he leave the embassy, according to the AP.

Assange could face a year in prison for the charges in Britain.Hehas been holed up in Ecuadors embassy in London since 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where officials wanted him to discuss allegations from two women that he committed sex crimes.

WikiLeaks tweeted about the situation quickly after Sweden dropped the investigation.

Assanges WikiLeaks site famously published a series of leaked classified U.S. documentsthat were damaging to the Hillary Clinton campaign. Then-candidate DonaldTrumpsaid at one campaign rally in October, WikiLeaks has provided things that are unbelievable.

However, during a news conference last month, U.S. attorney general Jeff Sessions said that the arrest of Assange is a priority.U.S. officials are also upset with Assange because WikiLeaks released sensitive documents related to military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

For the first time since 1993, a U.S. president has fired a director of the FBI. Comey's finalyear as head of the Bureau before his dismissal Tuesday was wrought with controversy, as Democrats and Republicans alike criticized him for his handling of the FBI's investigations into Hillary Clinton's emails and possible connections between Donald Trump's campaign and Russia. Here's how we got to this point:

July 2013: Disgraced former NY Congressman Anthony Weiner sees his campaign for New York mayor derailed when screenshots of explicit conversations between him and several women are leaked. His wife, Huma Abedin, who was deputy chief of staff to Hillary Clinton while she was Secretary of State, stands by him.

September 2013: President Barack Obama appoints James Comey as FBI Director. Comey served as U.S. Deputy Attorney General from 2003-2005 and had worked in the intervening years at Lockheed Martin and HSBC, among other private sector jobs.

April 2015: Hillary Clinton announces her campaign for the president just weeks after The New York Times reported that she used a personal email server as Secretary of State. Abedin is named vice-chairwoman of her campaign.

July 2016: After investigating Clinton's emails, Comey announces that the FBI does not recommend charging Clinton in connection to the personal server. Two days later, Comey is questioned by a Republican-led House Committee about his recommendation.

August 2016: Anthony Weiner and Huma Abedin announce their separation after reports surface that Weiner had sent explicit text messages to another woman.

September 2016: Reports surface that Weiner had sent illicit text messages to a 15-year-old girl in North Carolina, prompting a federal investigation. During the investigation, authorities seize a laptop belonging to Weiner and Abedin.

Oct. 28, 2016: Comey sends a letter to Congress informing members that Abedin's laptop may contain emails linked to the Clinton investigation. Clinton calls on the FBI to release all the information they have.

Nov. 6, 2016: Comey writes another letter saying that nothing new was found on Abedin's laptop, with Newsweek reporting that most of the emails found were ones forwarded by Abedin so she could print them. Two days after Comey sends the second letter, Hillary Clinton loses the presidential election to Donald Trump.

March 2017: Comey reveals during a House Intelligence Committee hearing that the FBI is performing an investigation into possible connections between the Kremlin and members of Trump's campaign.

May 3, 2017: Comey testifies in Congress again, this time before a Senate Committee about the details of the FBI's investigation into Clinton's email server. He says that Abedin had forwarded "forwarded hundreds and thousands of emails, some of which contain classified information" to Weiner to print out of convenience.

May 9, 2017: ProPublica and the Associated Press report that Comey had exaggerated the number of emails found in the laptop and that none of the emails were classified when sent. Later that day, Comey is fired from his position by Donald Trump.

Comeys four-year tenure as FBI director ends 10 months after recommending Hillary Clinton not be charged for his email investigation

For the first time since 1993, a U.S. president has fired a director of the FBI. Comey's finalyear as head of the Bureau before his dismissal Tuesday was wrought with controversy, as Democrats and Republicans alike criticized him for his handling of the FBI's investigations into Hillary Clinton's emails and possible connections between Donald Trump's campaign and Russia. Here's how we got to this point:

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Julian Assange: Sweden Drops Rape Investigation Against ...

Video of Julian Assange Speaking After Sweden Halts Rape …

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Updated: 12:37 p.m.

As my colleague Glenn Greenwald reports, Swedens top prosecutor, Marianne Ny, said on Friday that she has discontinued an investigation into allegations that Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, raped a woman in Stockholm in 2010, and withdrawn an international warrant for his arrest.

Assange responded to the news in a 10-minute statement delivered from a balcony at Ecuadors embassy in London, where dozens of reporters had assembled.

He began his remarks by calling the Swedish decision an important victory for me, and for the U.N. human rights system. But, he added: it by no means erases seven years of detention without charge in prison, under house arrest and almost five years here in this embassy, without sunlight.

Seven years without charge, while my children grew up without me. That is not something that I can forgive; it is not something that I can forget.

He went on to say that the decision was also an important vindication. But, he added, he remains under threat from the United States.

At this point, all possibilities to conduct the investigation are exhausted, Ny had said in her statement earlier in the day. Ecuadors decision to grant Assange political asylum in its embassy in London nearly five years ago, shielding him from extradition, Ny said, had also made it impossible for her to formally notify the Australian of the charges against him.

If he, at a later date, makes himself available, I will be able to decide to resume the investigation immediately, Ny added.

The end of the investigation thrilled Assanges supporters, but dismayed others, including his accuser.

Assange still faces arrest in Britain, however, for failing to surrender to a court in London in 2012, when he lost his appeal against extradition to Sweden and took refuge in the embassy. The Metropolitan Police Service in London said that its officers would be obliged to execute that warrant should he leave the Embassy.

A more serious concern for the WikiLeaks founder is the fact that Attorney General Jeff Sessions recently called arresting Assange a priority, and the Justice Department has reportedly reopened discussions about bringing charges against Assange for publishing government secrets.

Asked at an earlier news conference in Stockholm about the WikiLeaks founder declaring that the end of the investigation was a victory, Ny said, It is possible that he still hasnt had time to read through the entire decision.

Writing about the Swedish news conference for Motherboard, Kim Zetter reported:

During the press conference Ny asserted that the US had applied absolutely no pressure on Swedish prosecutors about the case. Asked after the conference if they had received any communication or inquiries from the US government about the case, Isgren and Ny said that at the end of March, they received an email from someone purporting to be from the FBI seeking information about the case. They said the inquiry was vague and they simply directed the person to the prosecutors web site for public information about the case.

Asked who the FBI person was, both said they had no memory of the name and had deleted the email. They asserted that because the email did not have anything to do with advancing the case, they had no reason to retain it.

The WikiLeaks founder was originally wanted for questioning on accusations of rape, sexual molestation and unlawful coercion brought by two Swedish women in 2010. He strenuously denied those allegations, casting them as part of a politically motivated plot to stifle his work by distorting the circumstances of what he called consensual sex. Three of the four counts were dropped in 2015 when statutes of limitations expired on all but the rape allegation.

The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said in an opinion released in late 2015 that Assange had been arbitrarily detained by the Governments of Sweden and the United Kingdom since the legal case against him began in 2010. The Ecuadorean embassy, where Assange has resided since losing his appeal against extradition to Sweden in 2012, is surrounded by British police officers 24 hours a day.

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Video of Julian Assange Speaking After Sweden Halts Rape ...

Chomsky: CIA Targeting of Julian Assange of WikiLeaks is …

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AMY GOODMAN: Noam, I wanted to, before we get to your book, your latest book, ask you about this latest development in the United States. The director of the Central Intelligence Agency gave his first major address, and he focused on WikiLeaks. And it looks like now the U.S. is preparing an arrest warrant for Julian Assange, whos been holed up in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London for almost five years now. Pompeo calling WikiLeaks a hostile non-state intelligence service, calling Julian Assange himself a demon, and said hes not protected by the First Amendment. Your thoughts?

NOAM CHOMSKY: Well, I think it speaks for itself. WikiLeaks has released lots of information that governments dont like. Its overwhelmingly information that citizens should have. Its information about what their governments are doing. And perfectly natural that systems of power dont want to be exposed, so theyll do what they can to prevent exposure. I think its a disgraceful act. In fact, I think its disgraceful even to keep Julian Assange holed up in the Ecuadorean Embassy. I did visit him there once, but you can guess yourself. Its, in many ways, worse than imprisonment. At least if youre in prison, you can see other prisoners, and you can get out and look at the sunshine now and then. Hes in a small apartment, where he cant go out. You know, he can go to the balcony, but thats about it, a smallbasically, a couple of rooms inside a small apartment. Its not a big embassy. The embassy is like a kind of an apartment in London, surrounded by police and so on. Theres been no credible basis for any of this. And to go on to try to raise it to the level of criminal prosecutions, I think, is, again, one of these efforts to look tough at home, and the kind of effort that a government would carry out that is dedicated to trying to protect itself from exposure of facts that citizens should have, but systems of power dont want them to have. I think thats the crucial issue.

AMY GOODMAN: The suggestions are it has to do with his aiding and abetting perhaps Chelsea Manning and also Edward Snowden, doing that with Edward Snowden, which he openly admits, while hes trapped in the Ecuadorean Embassy.

NOAM CHOMSKY: If the charge is true, he should be honored for it. Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden carried out heroic, courageous acts. They fulfilled the responsibility of somebody who takes citizenship seriouslythat is, who believes that the people of a country ought to know something about what their government is up to. OK? Like if their government is carrying out murderous, brutal attacks in Iraq, people should know about it. Takes us back to Martin Luther Kings talk in 1967. If the government is, and corporations, too, incidentally, are listening in to your telephone conversations and what youre doing, you know, tapping this discussion and so on, we should know about it. Governments have no right to do things like that. And people should know about it. And if they think its OK, fine, let them decide, not do it in secret. And I think people wouldnt agree to it. Thats why its kept secret. Why else keep it secret? You know? And these are people who exposed it at great risk to themselves. So those are heroic, courageous acts. If WikiLeaks was abetting them, more power to them. Thats what they should be doing.

AMY GOODMAN: I mean, President Trump endorsed WikiLeaks, right? He said, I love WikiLeaks, during the campaign.

NOAM CHOMSKY: Yeah, when it was releasing things that he liked, yeah. Any system of power will do that. You release information that I like, its great. But I dont want to be exposed.

AMY GOODMAN: Thats MIT professor Noam Chomsky speaking on Monday at the First Parish Church in Cambridge. To see our full conversation, go to democracynow.org.

That does it for our show. Ill be speaking at Middlebury College in Vermont today at noon, then on to the Vermont College of Fine Arts in Montpelier at 7:00. Tomorrow, Thursday, at noon, Ill be at Bennington College, tomorrow night at the Unitarian church on Pearl Street in Burlington, Vermont. Then, on Saturday night, after Democracy Now!'s 5-hour broadcast of the People's Climate March in Washington, D.C., Ill be speaking at the Plymouth Congregational Church.

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