Greenwald, Dotcom, Snowden and Assange take on 'adolescent' (NZ Prime Minister) John Key

[Luminous Animal]

Bathed in red and white lights and cheered on by a capacity audience of about 1,500 at the Auckland town hall, the internet entrepreneur turned political party founder sat alongside journalist Glenn Greenwald at a table emblazoned, in case there were any doubt, with the words THE MOMENT OF TRUTH.

On the big screen above, Greenwald's famous source, NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, was beamed in live from Moscow, while fellow fugitive Julian Assange peered from a screen beside him, also beamed in live but this time from the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

All were given thundering ovations from a crowd who, five days away from New Zealand's general election, were energised by articles published hours earlier by Greenwald and Snowden alleging mass surveillance in New Zealand and duplicity on the part of the prime minister, John Key.

Greenwald, whose arrival in New Zealand on Friday ignited another powder keg in an already explosive election campaign, began by marvelling at the criticisms he has faced from Key, who has labelled him "Dotcom's little henchman" and a "loser".

"It is not all that common to arrive in a country, and within 24 hours, literally, find oneself being publicly maligned and attacked by the nation's head of state, using the most adolescent epithets imaginable," said Greenwald to applause, and peels of laughter from Dotcom.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/15/moment-truth-greenwald-dotcom-snowden-assange-new-zealand-john-key

[Autumn]

1. Thanks for posting this.

That could never happen here.

[msanthrope]

2. Do you have a video link? I can't post mine, but the clown show that this

was is too priceless to miss.

[Luminous Animal]

3. "The Moment of Truth" link to the video of the event

#t=1311

[sabrina 1]

4. And then that 'head of state' had to go on the defensive and try to explain how it is that his

government was spying on his people.

This is a classic case of 'people in glass houses should not throw stones'. Surely he isn't that stupid, to think he would not be exposed by these Whistle Blowers and by Greenwald for what he is?

[Luminous Animal]

5. Greewald and Gallagher for the Intercept. NEW ZEALAND LAUNCHED MASS SURVEILLANCE PROJECT WHILE PUBLI

Top secret documents provided by the whistleblower demonstrate that the GCSB, with ongoing NSA cooperation, implemented Phase I of the mass surveillance program code-named “Speargun” at some point in 2012 or early 2013. “Speargun” involved the covert installation of “cable access” equipment, which appears to refer to surveillance of the country’s main undersea cable link, the Southern Cross cable. This cable carries the vast majority of internet traffic between New Zealand and the rest of the world, and mass collection from it would mark the greatest expansion of GCSB spying activities in decades.

Upon completion of the first stage, Speargun moved to Phase II, under which “metadata probes” were to be inserted into those cables. The NSA documents note that the first such metadata probe was scheduled for “mid-2013.” Surveillance probes of this sort are commonly used by NSA and their partners to tap into huge flows of information from communication cables in real time, enabling them to extract the dates, times, senders, and recipients of emails, phone calls, and the like. The technique is almost by definition a form of mass surveillance; metadata is relatively useless for intelligence purposes without a massive amount of similar data to analyze it against and trace connections through.

The NSA declined to comment for this story. A GCSB spokesperson would only say: “We don’t comment on matters that may or may not be operational.”

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/09/15/new-zealand-gcsb-speargun-mass-surveillance/

[sabrina 1]

6. Looks like they caught red handed. And so recently too,, AFTER the revelations of the mass spying on

the American people by the NSA.

It will be interesting to see how the people of Australia respond to their government virtually peering in their windows.

Thank the gods for Whistle Blowers and courageous Journalists who report their leaks or we can only imagine what more these out of control government agencies would be up to.

No wonder they are so determined to silence the messengers. They apparently have a whole lot to hide.

[Luminous Animal]

7. Snowden for the Intercept. NEW ZEALAND’S PRIME MINISTER ISN’T TELLING THE TRUTH ABOUT MASS SURVEILLA

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/09/15/snowden-new-zealand-surveillance/

Like many nations around the world, New Zealand over the last year has engaged in a serious and intense debate about government surveillance. The nation’s prime minister, John Key of the National Party, has denied that New Zealand’s spy agency GCSB engages in mass surveillance, mostly as a means of convincing the country to enact a new law vesting the agency with greater powers. This week, as a national election approaches, Key repeated those denials in anticipation of a report in The Intercept today exposing the Key government’s actions in implementing a system to record citizens’ metadata.

Let me be clear: any statement that mass surveillance is not performed in New Zealand, or that the internet communications are not comprehensively intercepted and monitored, or that this is not intentionally and actively abetted by the GCSB, is categorically false. If you live in New Zealand, you are being watched. At the NSA I routinely came across the communications of New Zealanders in my work with a mass surveillance tool we share with GCSB, called “XKEYSCORE.” It allows total, granular access to the database of communications collected in the course of mass surveillance. It is not limited to or even used largely for the purposes of cybersecurity, as has been claimed, but is instead used primarily for reading individuals’ private email, text messages, and internet traffic. I know this because it was my full-time job in Hawaii, where I worked every day in an NSA facility with a top secret clearance.

The prime minister’s claim to the public, that “there is no and there never has been any mass surveillance” is false. The GCSB, whose operations he is responsible for, is directly involved in the untargeted, bulk interception and algorithmic analysis of private communications sent via internet, satellite, radio, and phone networks.

If you have doubts, which would be quite reasonable, given what the last year showed us about the dangers of taking government officials at their word, I invite you to confirm this for yourself. Actual pictures and classified documentation of XKEYSCORE are available online now, and their authenticity is not contested by any government. Within them you’ll find that the XKEYSCORE system offers, but does not require for use, something called a “Five Eyes Defeat,” the Five Eyes being the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, and yes, New Zealand.

[grasswire]

8. that is the beauty of whistleblowing

No place for the liars to hide, when someone willing to tell the truth has informed the people.

Sweet.

[Luminous Animal]

9. Kick.

[WillyT]

10. K & R !!!

[Luminous Animal]

11. Kick.