Today’s tales from the dark side begin with another Snowden leak, this one Norse. From Dagbladet:
Norway´s secret surveillance of Russian politics for the NSA
The Norwegian Intelligence Service conducts surveillance of politicians, energy policy and other civilian «targets» in Russia – and provides this information for the USA.
A Top Secret document shows the extensive cooperation between the Norwegian Intelligence Service (NIS) and the US National Security Agency (NSA). It confirms and specifies that Norway is conducting surveillance on Russia and that the NIS is sharing intelligence information with the NSA.
The NIS provides the NSA with information on:
Politicians
Energy
Armament
Here’s a video report from RT, a news agency of the governmnent that’s the target of those NSA/Norse ops:
Revealed: Norway widely spies on Russia for NSA – new Snowden leak
Program notes:
The latest leak from Edward Snowden has exposed Norway’s role in America’s global spying operations. The Nordic country has been sharing intelligence with the U.S. on Russia’s political elite, as well as oil and gas companies and ordinary civilians. Helge Luras, director of the Center for International and Strategic Analysis, joins RT studio.
From the Associated Press, exultation:
Snowden: NSA’s indiscriminate spying ‘collapsing’
National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden wrote in a lengthy “open letter to the people of Brazil” that he’s been inspired by the global debate ignited by his release of thousands of National Security Agency documents, and that the NSA’s culture of indiscriminate global espionage “is collapsing.”
In the letter, released widely online, Snowden commended the Brazilian government for its strong stand against U.S. spying.
He said he’d be willing to help the South American nation investigate NSA spying on its soil, but could not fully participate in doing so without being granted political asylum, because the U.S. “government will continue to interfere with my ability to speak.”
BuzzFeed clarifies:
Snowden Not Renewing Request For Asylum In Brazil, Greenwald Says
Brazil has been one of the most outspoken opponents of NSA spying. Glenn Greenwald says Edward Snowden’s letter to the people of Brazil has been “wildly misreported.”
The Wire qualifies:
All Three Branches of Government Are Now Demanding NSA Reform
One of the National Security Agency’s primary defenses against criticism has been that it is subject to robust oversight from all three branches of the federal government. In the past week, however, all three branches have called for reform.
NSA oversight was never as robust as the “three branches” claim, which the agency has made repeatedly. (One quick example, from an August presentation: “all three branches of our government exercise oversight over NSA’s use of [FISA] authority.” Or just do a Google search.) The executive branch oversight is largely self-administered, as Ryan Lizza’s recent New Yorker article makes clear. Congressional oversight has been the sole purview of the House and Senate intelligence committees, each of which is chaired by a staunch defender of the agency. Judicial oversight has been conducted by a secret court that has been forced to defend allegations that it is merely a rubber-stamp.
Now, each of those branches is proposing — or, in some cases, insisting upon — significant reforms to how the NSA conducts its surveillance.
The Verge covers an urge:
NSA’s top defender wants Supreme Court to rule on metadata collection
Even some NSA proponents want to see its phone-record collection program tried in the Supreme Court. In a statement today, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) — a consistently strong supporter of the NSA’s programs — said that she would welcome a Supreme Court review of the agency’s collection of phone metadata so that there can be a definitive opinion on its legality. Naturally, Feinstein argues that it’ll be found legal, but she’d still like that belief to be held up. “I believe it is crucial to settling the issue once and for all,” Feinstein says.
PCWorld frets:
Snowden speech to EU parliament could torpedo U.S. trade talks.
A U.S. legislator warned the European Parliament Tuesday that inviting former NSA contractor Edward Snowden to address them could torpedo a transatlantic trade agreement worth more than $2.7 billion a year.
Mike Rogers, a Republican from Michigan who is chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, told reporters at the European Parliament that his thoughts on Snowden were “not fit to print” and that it was “beneath the dignity” of the E.U. institution to invite him to speak.
From The Guardian, a blast from the past:
Merkel compared NSA to Stasi in heated encounter with Obama
German chancellor furious after revelations US intelligence agency listened in on her personal mobile phone
In an angry exchange with Barack Obama, Angela Merkel has compared the snooping practices of the US with those of the Stasi, the ubiquitous and all-powerful secret police of the communist dictatorship in East Germany, where she grew up.
The German chancellor also told the US president that America’s National Security Agency cannot be trusted because of the volume of material it had allowed to leak to the whistleblower Edward Snowden, according to the New York Times.
From the New York Times, oops!:
U.S.-Germany Intelligence Partnership Falters Over Spying
Nearly two months after President Obama assured Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany that the United States would never again target her cellphone, a broader effort to build a new intelligence relationship with Germany is floundering, with each side increasingly reluctant to make major changes in how it deals with the other.
American officials have refused to extend the “no spying” guarantee beyond Ms. Merkel, telling German officials in private sessions that if the White House agreed to forgo surveillance on German territory, other partners would insist on the same treatment.
“Susan Rice has been very clear to us,” one senior German official said, referring to Mr. Obama’s national security adviser. “The U.S. is not going to set a precedent.”
Sky News alerts:
GCHQ To Monitor Huawei Amid Cyber Spying Fears
The Government is to strengthen its oversight of a Chinese telecoms giant over fears that its equipment could be used for spying.
The Prime Minister’s national security adviser has said that senior members of Britain’s listening post should have a greater role at work being done at the Huawei Cyber Security Evaluation Centre, known as the Cell, which is based in Banbury, Oxfordshire..
From PCWorld, puttin’ on the squeeze:
German coalition favors German-owned or open source software, aims to lock NSA out
Germany’s new coalition government listed open source software among its IT policy priorities, and said it will take steps to protect its citizens against espionage threats from the NSA and other foreign intelligence agencies.
Coalition parties CDU, CSU and SPD signed up to the plans Monday in Berlin.
The new government’s goal is to keep core technologies, including IT security, process and enterprise software, cryptography and machine-to-machine communication on proprietary technology platforms and production lines in Germany or in Europe, according to the coalition agreement.
The Associated Press reminds:
Judge’s word on NSA program won’t be the last
A federal judge made headlines Monday by declaring that the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of millions of Americans’ telephone records is likely unconstitutional. But even he realized his won’t be the last word on the issue.
U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon put his decision to grant an injunction against the NSA on ice, predicting a government appeal would take at least six months. He said he was staying the ruling pending appeal “in light of the significant national security interests at stake in this case and the novelty of the constitutional issues.”
Even after the appeals court rules, the Supreme Court will probably have the last word.
Techdirt gasps:
Tone Deaf NSA Officials Tell Reporter It’s Time To Reform The First Amendment
from the how-about-reforming-the-nsa-out-of-existence dept
From the Washington Post, Silicon Valley blowback:
Tech executives to Obama: NSA spying revelations are hurting business
Leaders of the nation’s biggest technology firms warned President Obama during a lengthy meeting at the White House on Tuesday that National Security Agency spying programs are damaging their reputations and could harm the broader economy.
Cisco Systems has said it is seeing customers, especially overseas, back away from American-branded technology after documents revealed that the NSA enlisted tech firms and secretly tapped into their data hubs around the world as the agency pursued terrorism suspects. Companies such as IBM, AT&T and Verizon Communications are facing angry shareholders, some of whom have filed lawsuits demanding that the companies disclose their participation in NSA intelligence programs.
More from The Guardian:
Tech firms meet Obama to press their case for NSA surveillance reform
A delegation of 15 from Silicon Valley, including Tim Cook and Marissa Mayer, visit White House for face-to-face talks
Senior executives from some the world’s largest technology firms were meeting face to face with Barack Obama on Tuesday to press their case for a major rollback of National Security Agency surveillance.
The White House is hosting the 15-strong delegation from Silicon Valley, which includes the chief executives of Apple, Yahoo and Google, less than 24 hours after a federal judge ruled that the NSA program to collect telephone metadata is likely to be unconstitutional.
MIT Technology Review reflects:
Snowden’s Leaks Have Finally Forced Companies to Enhance Their Security
Revelations about NSA surveillance have prompted Yahoo, Microsoft, and other companies to deploy long-overdue security improvements.
The Guardian confirms:
Sunday’s NSA report confirms it: 60 Minutes is now in the spin business
The special NSA report was a promotional. It follows a string of spectacularly biased ‘news’ shows and shoddy reporting.
Rupert Murdoch’s premium brand takes a shot, via Techdirt:
Wall Street Journal Calls Snowden A Sociopath; Argues For Even Less NSA Oversight
from the the-nsa-journal dept
From MercoPress, national security:
UK investing in new generation of nuclear deterrent ‘Successor’ submarines
The ‘Successor’ submarine is expected to replace the Vanguard Class from 2028
The UK Defence Secretary has announced £79 million of investment in the next generation of Royal Navy submarines. The Successor submarines, which will carry the UK’s strategic nuclear deterrent will be the largest and most advanced boats operated by the Navy and their design and construction will be the most technologically complex in the history of the UK.
Reuters covers security-threatening umbrage:
India removes barriers to U.S. embassy as anger grows over diplomat’s arrest
Indian authorities removed concrete security barriers in front of the U.S. embassy in New Delhi on Tuesday in apparent retaliation for the arrest and allegedly heavy-handed treatment of an Indian diplomat in New York.
New Delhi police used tow trucks and a backhoe loader to drag away long concrete blocks from roads running past the embassy and leading up to gates of the compound, a Reuters witness said. The barriers had prevented vehicles approaching at high speeds.
More from the Press Trust of India:
Furious India hits back, strips US diplomats of privileges
In a strong retaliation, India today initiated a slew of steps to strip US diplomats and their families of privileges including withdrawing all airport passes and stopping import clearances for the US embassy, terming as “barbaric” the arrest and strip searching of India’s Deputy Consul General in New York Devyani Khobragade.
And on to the battle of the Asian zones with Jack Ohman of the Sacramento Bee:
The Japan Times escalates:
Defense outlays to be hiked 5% amid China threat
Abe plans to boost air, sea, land hardware to protect remote isles
The Abe administration said Tuesday it intends to boost military spending by 5 percent over the next five years, including a hardware splurge that will beef up defense of far-flung islands amid the Senkaku row with China.
The Cabinet of hawkish Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed that ¥24.7 trillion will be spent between 2014 and 2019, including on drones, subs, fighter jets and amphibious vehicles, in a strategic shift toward the south and west.
The Asahi Shimbun militarily industrializes complexly:
New national security strategy aims at allowing weapons exports
The Cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Dec. 17 approved the nation’s first national security strategy calling for revising a pillar of Japan’s postwar pacifism and allowing for the export of weapons under the new principle of “a proactive pacifism.”
The compilation of new standards is a major departure from the three principles of not exporting weapons except in rare cases, which date to 1967 and were further strengthened in 1976.
People’s Daily invokes the R word:
China urges Japan to respect regional security concerns
China on Tuesday urged Japan to respect regional countries’ “fair and reasonable” security concerns after the latter approved a defense policy package to expand its military might.
“Japan’s policies in the military and security sphere are linked with its national development direction and will impact regional security,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a regular press briefing.
Reuters soothes:
Kerry plays down tension with China in maritime disputes
Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday played down tension with China over the East China Sea, saying U.S. efforts to strengthen maritime security in South East Asia were part of a normal process to help allies defend themselves better.
Kerry said maritime disputes between countries should be resolved peacefully through arbitration and the United States would speak out when a country, such as China, took unilateral action that raised the potential for conflict.
But, as China Daily reports, that doesn’t sides weren’t taken:
Kerry offers Hanoi aid in maritime dispute
US Secretary of State John Kerry offered assistance to protect Vietnam’s disputed maritime borders with China in the South China Sea in exchange for more trade and security cooperation during a visit to the country on Monday.
On his first trip to Vietnam as the United States’ top diplomat, Kerry was in the capital, Hanoi, on Monday seeking to assure the Vietnamese of the US commitment to freedom of navigation and the peaceful resolution of disputes, amid tensions with China over conflicting territorial claims in the South China Sea.
The word from Beijing was equally conciliatory, as China Daily reports:
Clashes with US can be avoided: FM
China does not believe it is inevitable that emerging powers will confront established ones, and the nation is confident that clashes can be avoided by working on the issue with the United States, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Monday.
Wang made the remarks two days after media reported that a Chinese warship escorting China’s sole aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, in the South China Sea on Dec 5 confronted the guided-missile cruiser USS Cowpens, which was closely following the Chinese ships despite warnings from the Chinese.
From Want China Times, talkin’ tough:
PLA cannot enforce East China Sea ADIZ: Japanese media
China continues the buildup of its air Force and navy but a lack of modern radar systems will hinder Beijing’s ability to enforce its newly established air defense identification zone (ADIZ) in the East China Sea, according to the Tokyo-based Yomiuri Shimbun.
China plans to construct a total of 50 Type 056 Jiangdao-class corvettes — a new light warship — to enhance the combat capability of the PLA Navy, with 16 commissioned earlier this year, the paper said. The PLA has also deployed its fighters, the Lijian stealth combat drone and its indigenous KJ-2000 early-warning aircraft to the region to help PLA fighters monitor the movements of US and Japanese aircraft over the disputed Diaoyutai islands (called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China).
Fleet of fleet with Reuters:
War exercises around East Asia are aimed at breaking what China views as a U.S. straitjacket – and projecting power deep into the Pacific.
In late October, flotillas of Chinese warships and submarines sliced through passages in the Japanese archipelago and out into the western Pacific for 15 days of war games.
The drills, pitting a “red force” against a “blue force,” were the first in this area, combining ships from China’s main south, east and north fleets, according to the Chinese military. Land-based bombers and surveillance aircraft also flew missions past Japan to support the navy units.
And then Uncle Sam dropped another statement, leaving the aters murkier still. From Channel NewsAsia Singapore:
US warns China against imposing South China Sea air zone
US Secretary of State John Kerry warned China Tuesday against imposing an air defence zone over the South China Sea, similar to one it declared over disputed islands in the East China Sea.
South China Morning Post observes:
Beijing ‘watching Japan closely’ after Tokyo boosts its military
Region on ‘high alert’, Beijing warns as Tokyo agrees plan to buy planes, ships and spy drones for military shift of focus to the East China Sea
SINA English confines:
Six held after Xinjiang terrorist attack
Local police in a township near Kashi, Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, have detained six suspects who were involved in a terrorist attack on Sunday, which killed 16 people, including two police officers and 14 attackers.
The incident, which was “organized and premeditated,” took place in Sayibage township of Shufu county, administered by Kashi in western Xinjiang, according to local news portal ts.cn.
JapanToday arms:
Japan to buy stealth fighters, drones and submarines
Japan announced Tuesday it will buy stealth fighters, drones and submarines as part of a splurge on military hardware that will beef up defense of far-flung islands amid a simmering territorial row with China.
The cabinet of hawkish Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed to spend 24.7 trillion yen ($240 billion) between 2014 and 2019 in a strategic shift towards the south and west of the country—a 5% boost to the military budget over five years.
The shopping list is part of efforts by Abe to normalise the military in Japan, which has been officially pacifist since defeat in World War II. Its well-equipped and highly professional services are limited to a narrowly defined self-defensive role.
The Mainichi scapegoats:
Gov’t blames media criticism of secrecy law for drop in Cabinet support rate
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga has attributed the decline in the support rate of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Cabinet to media criticism of the railroading of the controversial special secrets protection bill in the Diet.
“Agreement had been reached to amend the bill and we thought we’d built consensus in Diet deliberations, but the way media outlets reported on the issue was different,” Suga told a press conference on Dec. 16, offering the view that media criticism of Diet debates on the legislation as “too hasty” affected the results of opinion polls taken immediately after the bill was rammed through the Diet.
As for North Korea, the latest from China Daily:
Rodman back to DPRK despite political tension
Retired basketball star Dennis Rodman will return to North Korea for a third time on Thursday, despite political tension surrounding the execution of leader Kim Jong Un’s uncle, trip organizers said.
“It’s certainly safe, even when there is a bit of disruption like there is now – a bit of trouble or chaos – there’s even more need for cultural or sporting exchanges,” said Rory Scott, a spokesman for Irish bookmakers Paddy Power, which has arranged the trip.
From The Guardian, trading up:
Russia develops new intercontinental ballistic missile
Sarmat is being created to replace cold war-era missiles approaching end of their life, Moscow says
Russia will begin deploying a new type of long-range missile in 2018 to replace a cold war standby known in the west as Satan, a military commander said on Tuesday in a signal to the United States that Moscow is improving its nuclear arsenal.
TheLocal.ch covers compensation:
Taiwan asks Swiss for millions in graft case
Taiwan has formally asked Switzerland to return $340 million in alleged ill-gotten funds linked to a controversial deal to buy French frigates two decades ago, a report said on Tuesday.
Taiwan signed a $2.8 billion deal to buy six Lafayette-class frigates in 1991, a deal which strained French ties with China at the time and was later found to have been awash with up to $400 million in bribes.
From the Express Tribune, consequences of using vaccine programs as spook cover:
Health workers under threat: Police foil attack on polio team
Law enforcers foiled an attack on a polio team in Sohrab Goth by killing a suspected militant of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and arresting an alleged commander of the same banned outfit in an encounter on Tuesday.
A team of around 80 polio workers was busy administering vaccines in Ahsanabad when two motorcyclists opened fire around noon. No team member was hurt.
“They wanted to kill polio workers,” said district Malir SSP Imran Shaukat, while talking to The Express Tribune. “The timely response of the jawans led to the killing of one attacker and the arrest of the other.”
Al Jazeera America covers police state emergence:
Exclusive: How DC police use citizens as spies
Of the dozens of private intelligence corporations that have emerged in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, one firm has been singled out for particular scrutiny: TrapWire.
The Virginia-based spy outfit founded by several former CIA employees a decade ago developed, it says, surveillance software that can root out terrorist attacks while they are in the planning stage.
The company, formerly known as Abraxas Corp., markets its technology to local law enforcement, federal agencies and private corporations. TrapWire has been installed in 65 locations around the United States, according to the company’s website, including Washington, D.C., where it is being used by the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).
The Sydney Morning Herald never really deletes:
Facebook saves everything you type – even if you don’t publish it
It turns out the things you explicitly choose not to share aren’t entirely private, writes Jennifer Golbeck.
Storing text as you type isn’t uncommon on other websites. For example, if you use Gmail, your draft messages are automatically saved as you type them. Even if you close the browser without saving, you can usually find a (nearly) complete copy of the email you were typing in your drafts folder. Facebook is using essentially the same technology here. The difference is that Google is saving your messages to help you. Facebook users don’t expect their unposted thoughts to be collected, nor do they benefit from it.
For our final headline, Quartz covers a bottom line:
70% of people would be willing to have a smart toilet share their personal data
Smart toilets: who even knew they were a thing? But perhaps it’s time. Aside from water-conservation and heated seats, there’s been little innovation in toilets since the debut of the original crapper. As long as we’re connecting every other thing we own to the internet, why not a toilet that monitors our health by analyzing our poo?
The results of a new survey from Intel and Penn Schoen Berland say that 70% of people in 8 countries would be willing to share data from their smart toilet (pdf) if it would mean lower healthcare costs. An even higher proportion, 84%, would be willing to share their vital statistics, like blood pressure or basic lab tests, and 75% would be comfortable giving up information gathered by a health monitor they could swallow, even though that’s far more intrusive than a toilet that tweets that you’ve had enchiladas three nights running.
