Snowdon is a dummy

Quote:

My question to you would be: Why all this petty nonsense with me? What is the basis for you hostility?

I am just trying to get a few messages across.

One is that you don't need to repeat the same thing again and again, that doing so pollutes threads and is insulting to other posters. This is precisely why you do it, of course: to aggravate people you discuss with, in spite of your fake congeniality.

Another point I am trying to make is that you don't actually need to insult people quite as much as you do, unless you are a very insecure person.

And finally, I am trying to impart on you, like many other posters here, that mass spying is illegal and useless, and that everybody should be worried about the growth of the US intel community into something that's just not being managed and not manageable. I find your submissive attitude towards the whole issue pretty disgusting, I must admit.

You have problems to deal with. I hope you eventually do.

'A' for Angela Merkel: GCHQ and NSA Targeted Private German Companies

Documents show that Britain's GCHQ intelligence service infiltrated German Internet firms and America's NSA obtained a court order to spy on Germany and collected information about the chancellor in a special database. Is it time for the country to open a formal espionage investigation?
[...]
The launch of legal proceedings against GCHQ agents or NSA employees would quickly become a major political issue that would further burden already tense trans-Atlantic relations. An additional problem is the fact that Range is in possession of very few original documents, particularly those pertaining to the NSA's monitoring of Chancellor Merkel.

A secret NSA document dealing with high-ranking targets has provided further indications that Merkel was a target. The document is a presentation from the NSA's Center for Content Extraction, whose multiple tasks include the automated analysis of all types of text data. The lists appear to contain 122 country leaders. Twelve names are listed as an example, including Merkel's.
[see document in my above post]
The document indicates that Angela Merkel has been placed in the so-called "Target Knowledge Database" (TKB), the central database of individual targets. An internal NSA description states that employees can use it to analyze "complete profiles" of target persons. The responsible NSA unit praises the automated machine-driven administration of collected information about high-value targets.
[...]
The table included in the document indicates the capture and maintenance of records pertaining to Merkel already appears to have been automated. In any case, the document indicates that a manual update was not available in May 2009. The document could be another piece of the puzzle for investigators in Karlsruhe because it shows that Chancellor Merkel was an official target for spying.

In addition to surveillance of the chancellor, the Federal Prosecutor's Office is also exploring the question of whether the NSA conducted mass espionage against the German people. The internal NSA material also includes a weekly report dating from March 2013 from the Special Sources Operations (SSO) division, the unit responsible for securing NSA access to major Internet backbone structures, like fiber optic cables.

In the document, the team that handles contact with US telecommunications providers like AT&T or Verizon reports on the legal foundations with which it monitors the data of certain countries. According to the SSO report, FISA, the special court responsible for intelligence agency requests, provided the NSA with authorization to monitor "Germany" on March 7, 2013. The case number provided in the ruling is 13-319.

... ... ...

• Special databank said to hold 300 reports on chancellor
• Der Spiegel and Intercept cite document supplied by Snowden
[...]
Earlier this month, German lawmakers agreed to launch an inquiry into surveillance by the NSA and other foreign intelligence services. German federal prosecutors may also open an investigation.

Saturday's reports also said the British spy agency, GCHQ, infiltrated servers run by German internet companies and eavesdropped on staff communications, and that in March 2013 the NSA obtained a court order to spy on Germany. GCHQ and NSA surveillance of German targets has also been reported before.

Reports based on documents provided by Snowden, who was granted a year's asylum in Russia, continue to be published regularly. Last Saturday, Der Spiegel and the New York Times reported that the NSA placed “back doors” in products made by the Chinese telecoms giant Huawei, a company which US politicians have criticised for allegedly aiding cyber-espionage by China.

In the US, fallout from Snowden's leaks to the media has mainly been felt domestically. On Thursday, amidst competing reform proposals, Obama formally proposed ending the collection of bulk telephone data by the NSA.

This week also saw the retirement of General Keith Alexander, the head of the NSA and Cyber Command, and the announcement that Mike Rogers, the Republican chairman of the House of Representatives intelligence committee and a key congressional NSA ally, will retire in order to pursue a career in conservative talk radio.

And it raises the question of why the USA helps a country, brings democracy and freedom

This policy change is a tacit admission of what Edward Snowden (and 2001 whistleblower William Binney before him) had been claiming, namely that the warrantless surveillance of US citizens by the NSA and other government agencies does, in fact, violate the constitution of the United States. Obama's announcement looked to some observers as the first crack to appear in the implacable facade of the national surveillance state. This looked promising because, as we know from second world war movies, the first crack is inevitably the harbinger of the eventual total collapse of the dam.

No more NSA spying? Sorry, Mr Obama, but that's not true

As has been pointed out numerous times, without answer, there is a significant difference between spying as a general term and having your own population under surveillance using its own money.

No one appeared keen to talk about the whistleblower who ignited the debate and found exile in Russia. Asked if Snowden should be tried, Wyden declined to comment, saying he was not a prosecutor.

General Keith Alexander did not mention the former contractor in a retirement speech on Friday, which marked the end of his directorship of the NSA and Cyber Command. A similar silence was maintained by Feinstein, Hayden and Morrell.

The decision to strengthen bilateral military cooperation by appointing a German officer to the leadership ranks of USAREUR, which is based in Wiesbaden, comes at a time of popular anger over revelations that America’s National Security Agency has been spying on German citizens, including tapping into Chancellor Angela Merkel’s personal cell phone. Some in Germany have suggested that the country’s relationship with the U.S. should be reevaluated in the wake of the high-profile espionage.