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Snowden nominated for Nobel Prize

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By Laura Smith-Spark, CNN

updated 11:23 AM EST, Wed January 29, 2014

An image of Edward Snowden on the back of a banner is seen infront of the US Capitol in October 2013.

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(CNN) -- Two Norwegian lawmakers have jointly nominated National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden for the Nobel Peace Prize, they said Wednesday on their party website.

Snowden has "revealed the nature and technological prowess of modern surveillance," and by doing so has contributed to peace, said a joint statement by Bard Vegar Solhjell and Snorre Valen of the Socialist Left Party.

Nominations for this year's Nobel Peace Prize -- whose previous winners include such figures as the late South African President Nelson Mandela, Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and President Barack Obama -- close on Saturday, with the winner announced in October.

According to the Norwegian Nobel Committee's rules, Solhjell and Valen are qualified, as national lawmakers, to make a nomination. The names of each year's nominees are not revealed until 50 years later.

"There is no doubt that the actions of Edward Snowden may have damaged the security interests of several nations in the short term. We do not necessarily condone or support all of his disclosures," said the statement by Solhjell and Valen.

"We are, however, convinced that the public debate and changes in policy that have followed in the wake of Snowden's whistleblowing has contributed to a more stable and peaceful world order.

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Snowden nominated for Nobel Prize

Snowden Nominated by Norwegian Lawmakers for Nobel Peace Prize

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President Barack Obama wants to see Edward Snowden clapped in irons and bound to the U.S. for a criminal trial. Two Norwegian politicians have a different fate in mind for Snowden: the Nobel Peace Prize.

Norwegian parliamentarians Snorre Valen and Baard Vegar Solhjell nominated Snowden for the award -- the same honor Obama himself won in 2009 -- for his disclosures about National Security Agency spying.

The idea that the Nobel committee would bestow its most prestigious prize on a man some in the U.S. consider a traitor drew a dismissive response from a White House official, who said Snowden instead should be tried as a felon.

Snowden should be returned to the U.S. as soon as possible, where he will be accorded full due process, White House National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said.

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Snowdens leaks often shed more heat than light, while revealing methods to our adversaries that could impact our operations in ways that we may not fully understand for years to come, she said.

Two Norwegians agreed that Snowdens leaks undoubtedly damaged the security interests of several nations in the short term and that they didnt necessarily condone or support all his disclosures. The revelations did have a positive impact, they said.

The public debate and changes in policy that have followed in the wake of Snowdens whistleblowing have contributed to a more stable and peaceful world order, Valen and Solhjell, who represent the Socialist Left Party in the Norwegian parliament, wrote in their nomination letter, which was obtained by Bloomberg. Solhjell was environment minister in the former Labor-led government.

Obama was spurred to make changes in U.S. surveillance programs in response to domestic and international backlash that resulted from disclosures made by Snowden, who has temporary asylum in Russia after being charged under espionage laws in the U.S.

The Nobel committee doesnt release the names of nominees for 50 years, though those who make the nominations are free to do so. Nominees may be given to the five-member committee by a government and court officials, academics, board members of organizations that have received the prize, as well as past winners.

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Snowden Nominated by Norwegian Lawmakers for Nobel Peace Prize

Edward Snowden is nominated for the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize

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OSLO, Norway, Jan. 29 (UPI) -- Two Norwegian politicians have nominated National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden for the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize because they believe he contributed to a more peaceful world order by exposing secret U.S. surveillance programs.

The public debate and changes in policy that have followed in the wake of Snowdens whistleblowing have contributed to a more stable and peaceful world order, Norwegian parliamentarians Snorre Valen and Baard Vegar Solhjell wrote in the nomination letter obtained by Bloomberg.

Snowden, 30, is currently in Russia on temporary asylum after leaking classified documents about the NSAs spying programs. He faces charges of theft and espionage.

Although Valen and Solhjell wrote theres no doubt that the actions of Edward Snowden may have damaged the security interests of several nations in the short term, they believe his actions have in effect led to the reintroduction of trust and transparency as a leading principle in global security policies.

Valen and Solhjell represent the Socialist Left Party in the Norwegian parliament. They did write that they dont necessarily condone or support all of his disclosures.

According to Attorney General Eric Holder, if Snowden returned to the U.S. and pleaded guilty, prosecutors would negotiate with him.

The Nobel Prize winner will be announced in October. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons won last years Peace Prize.

[Bloomberg] [The Independent]

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Edward Snowden is nominated for the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize

German government faces legal action over NSA spying

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The German government and the German Federal Intelligence Service are facing legal action because they allegedly aided the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) data collection program.

We will send the legal action to the authorities next Monday, said Constanze Kurz, a German computer scientist and spokeswoman for the Chaos Computer Club (CCC), in an email on Wednesday.

There are several persons as well as organizations which are suing our government and other named persons in charge, she said, adding that one of them is the International League for Human Rights, a German section of the International Federation for Human Rights.

The complainants will bring charges over the alleged involvement of the German government in the NSA spying programs, she said. That is one reason, she said, adding that the action was also started because they did not even try to stop them from tapping into phones, hacking and spying on computers and collecting massive amounts of data although we have clearly laws that forbid foreign espionage.

Kurz said the legal complaint will comprise more than 50 pages, and will be published Monday.

The German government and the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) have been cooperating closely with the NSA and have used spy software provided by the NSA, according to a July report from Der Spiegel based on documents leaked by Edward Snowden.

According to those documents, the BND, the German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) and the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) played a central role in the exchange of information among intelligence agencies referred to by the NSA as key partners, Der Spiegel reported.

The NSA also provided the BfV with a spying tool called XKeyscore, according to the report. The XKeyscore tool is a surveillance program that the NSA uses to collect data sets and allows analysts to search through vast numbers of emails, online chats and browsing histories without prior authorization, according to the Guardian newspaper. The BfV has admitted to another German publication, Bild, that it is using an NSA program, but said it is only testing it.

Kurz is also one of the complainants that is challenging the legality of Internet surveillance programmes operated by U.K. intelligence agency GCHQ.

She filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in October together with U.K. groups Big Brother Watch, Open Rights Group and English PEN, alleging that the U.K. government illegally used Internet and telecommunications networks to systematically spy onits citizens.

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German government faces legal action over NSA spying

NSA Spying on Apps Shows Perils of Google+, ‘Candy Crush’

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Revelations that the National Security Agency is tapping smartphone applications to mine personal information highlight the risk millions take every day when they play games, schedule lunch or check the weather.

Documents released by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden to the New York Times, the Guardian and ProPublica show the U.S. and U.K. have infiltrated mobile software for details about users comings and goings and social affiliations. Among the so-called leaky apps with the greatest privacy perils are Google Inc. (GOOG)s Google Plus, Pinterest Inc.s online bulletin board and Candy Crush Saga, the most popular game on Facebook Inc. (FB), according to an analysis by Zscaler Inc.

Privacy is dead in the digital world that we live in, said Michael Sutton, vice president of security research at San Jose, California-based Zscaler. I tell people, unless you are comfortable putting that statement on a billboard in Times Square and having everyone see it, I would not share that information digitally.

The latest disclosures from Snowden underscore how vast a treasure trove mobile apps are, and not only for the advertisers that sweep them for consumer data. Zscalers analysis found that 96 percent of the top 25 social-networking apps request e-mail access, 92 percent ask for access to users address books and 84 percent inquire about their physical locations. Sutton said most people give the apps what they want.

Applications for smartphones and tablets present a challenge when it comes to security because, unlike with computer software, most apps depend almost entirely on ads to make money.

While technology companies often encrypt what they collect to shield it from prying eyes, the advertising services they work with frequently dont, said Kevin Mahaffey, co-founder and chief technology officer of Lookout Inc. in San Francisco.

Lookout studied 30,000 apps a day this month and found that 38 percent of those for Android systems could determine locations, that half could access the unique code assigned to a persons device and that 15 percent could grab phone numbers.

The reach of apps, and of the networks advertisers use to pass data around, make them natural eavesdropping targets and are aiding a shift in the focus of surveillance efforts away from personal computers, Mahaffey said.

They have a lot of valuable information and theyre everywhere, he said. Everyone from the NSA to Microsoft to Google see mobile as the future.

Google, based in Mountain View, California, declined to comment and referred to a statement from the Application Developers Alliance, a trade group to which it belongs.

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NSA Spying on Apps Shows Perils of Google+, ‘Candy Crush’

Terror suspect challenges NSA spying’s constitutionality

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DENVER -- A terror suspect is challenging the constitutionality of the National Security Agency's warrantless surveillance program, saying in a court document that spying by the federal government has gone too far.

In the motion filed in federal court in Denver on Wednesday with help from the American Civil Liberties Union, Jamshid Muhtorov also requested that prosecutors disclose more about how surveillance law was used in his case. Muhtorov denies the terror charges he faces.

Surveillance under current law "is exceptionally intrusive and it is conducted by executive officers who enjoy broad authority to decide whom to monitor, when and for how long," Muhtorov argued in his motion.

"The statue that authorized the surveillance is unconstitutional," Muhtorov said, citing constitutional provisions against unreasonable search and seizure.

The ACLU called the filing the first of its kind.

Justice Department spokesman Brian Fallon declined to comment.

The challenge had been expected after the Justice Department in October said it intended to use information gleaned from one of the NSA's warrantless surveillance programs against Muhtorov. It was the first time the department had made such a disclosure.

The U.S. Supreme Court has so far turned aside challenges to the law on the grounds that people who bring such lawsuits have no evidence they are being targeted.

In another case involving the government's surveillance methods, a federal judge in a Chicago terrorism case ruled Wednesday that a defendant's lawyers will be given access to an application prosecutors submitted to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, established to monitor spying within in the United States. The Chicago judge called her pretrial ruling in the case of Adel Daoud a first. Daoud has denied seeking to detonate a bomb in Chicago in 2012.

In the Denver case, Muhtorov was accused in 2012 of providing material support to an Uzbek terrorist organization active in Afghanistan.

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