Edward Snowden in His Own Words: Why I Became a Whistle-Blower | WIRED
https://www.wired.com/story/edward-snowden-in-his-own-words-why-i-became-a-whistle-blower/

Julian Assange’s Nightmarish Future – Consortiumnews
https://consortiumnews.com/2019/04/15/julian-assanges-nightmarish-future/

“Everyone has a breaking point, and they will attempt to psychologically destroy him, and we have seen with Guantanamo that several of these detainees, most of whom were just sold to the U.S. by warlords in Afghanistan or Pakistan, are emotionally crippled for life. It will be scientific torture. I used to cover the Stasi state in East Germany, and the joke in the Stasi state was that the Gestapo broke bones and the Stasi break minds, and that’s what they’ll do. That’s what will happen. I’ve seen it with Muslims who have been entrapped in the U.S. in so-called terrorism plots, and by the time they shuffle into court, they are a zombie.”

Hedges added: “There will be a veneer of legality: it will be the figment of law. But he will be treated like all of the people who have been disappeared into that system from around the world.”

What does Julian face in the US? Chris Hedges explains #FreeAssange
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UT7n0WY_6Ww

He is a hero, not a villain - Peter Oborne

Why are leaks about the British ambassador to Washington a matter of press freedom and leaks from Julian Assange a matter for the courts?

http://www.bjr.org.uk/current-edition+he_is_a_hero,_not_a_villain

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1172567180375777280.html

The lecture is dedicated to #Assange and @SaveManning and is for those born after 2000. When Renata was a child, she could explore the inside of computers and code in a way that young people today cannot, in fact in many instances it is criminalised to crack open your devices.
The internet was much less mediated at first, sharing of knowledge was not as monetised, information was shared by independent publishers and citizens generated content - at first the benefits of the web were being shared to the fullest.
2009-2012 were the most exciting years, but also when big mistakes were made. We could have prevented much that is wrong today with freedom for expression online. The boom of increasing access to knowledge was such a positive feeling - unlike the apocalyptic feeling of today.
We thought we could hold governments to account and publish globally. Isolated acts of whistleblowing occured before 2010, but sophisticated efforts to expose SYSTEMS of corruption that independent publisher @wikileaks gave us. Independent publishing requires COURAGE.
Federal government workers in the US were forbidden from learning fron the @wikileaks archive. It was forbidden to see the website in libraries. How fragile freedom of info is when Amazon can kick out the website after a phone call from Washington. This was an issue we didnt fix
Punishment by process - lawfare - was what has happened to #wikileaks and #assange. The innovation of whistleblowing anonymously. The chilling effect of the terrible persecution of @SaveManning was to prevent the transformative power of the internet combined with journalism.
After the @Snowden revelations (book out today yippee!) mostly the Five Eyes legalised their unthinkable militarised and global penetration of society through surveillance. The true face of tech giants and silicon valley became visible

nextcloud 2019 Berlin Day 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gaphVFtB3Q


od cca 25 min

TADEAS:

A Leaker’s Motives Are Irrelevant, Gov’t Says – Federation Of American Scientists
https://fas.org/blogs/secrecy/2019/09/leaker-motives/

Disclosing classified information without authorization is a crime even if the leaker had good intentions and was motivated by a larger public interest, the government said this week. Therefore, any mention of the purpose of the disclosure should be ruled out of bounds in trial, government attorneys argued.

The issue arose in pre-trial motions in the case of USA v. Daniel Everette Hale. Hale is a former NSA intelligence analyst and NGA contractor who is accused of having provided classified documents concerning US military drone programs to The Intercept.

TADEAS:

This week the government is forbidding Daniel Hale from defending himself before his jury. Those who pretend national security whistleblowers face prosecution and fair trials, rather than persecution by a broken system, must be confronted with the facts. https://t.co/kOQ8ByjNSQ

'They wanted me gone': Edward Snowden tells of whistleblowing, his AI fears and six years in Russia | US news | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/...13/edward-snowden-interview-whistleblowing-russia-ai-permanent-record

TADEAS:

If the US authorities succeed in crushing Julian Assange and his WikiLeaks staff, the consequences for freedom of the press will be devastating: the Assange case will have a domino effect. I want to see Julian Assange and his team free and safe because I want to live in a society where journalists and their sources can expose the highest levels of power without having to flee to Russia or ending their lives in prison. That is what freedom of the press is.

I hope this debate tonight will be the beginning of a worldwide debate on the Assange and WikiLeaks case.

There is still room for action, and if you really care about freedom of the press, if you really care about a press able to expose war crimes and human rights violations committed by powerful entities which are accountable to no one, it is time to act. Everyone can do something, just by speaking out, informing himself, mobilising, protesting.

The Assange and WikiLeaks case goes far beyond Assange and WikiLeaks.

We Are Millions - Pressefrihet Debatt
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lv8e2DAeZTU&feature=youtu.be&t=802


The following remarks were delivered by investigative journalist Stefania Maurizi at Global Threats to Press Freedom, Courage’s event for Julian Assange in Bergen, Norway, culminating a three-week exhibition of #WeAreMillions portraits in support of the WikiLeaks publisher

It's time to act: They are killing Julian Assange slowly - Defend WikiLeaks Defend WikiLeaks
https://defend.wikileaks.org/2019/08/24/its-time-to-act-they-are-killing-julian-assange-slowly/

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1173518803172581376.html

I was just one of the journalists who worked on the #Snowden files, but there was an episode worth to remember. While working on the #NSA revelations I experienced tailing in a showy and aggressive way

5. that was rather bad...finally, I consulted a lawyer with a great experience in assisting journos working on sensitive matters. The lawyer knew my longtime experience in working on #secretFiles like the #WikiLeaks files and my deep interest in that kind of journalistic work

6. the lawyer told me: no one will hurt you at all, you will be totally safe, however, it will be a liability for you. It will be increasingly difficult for you and it will be a mirable if you are able to keep your job

Operation Asylum
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0Mkam2AiuU


Uploaded on Apr 30, 2018

Chasing Edward Snowden / Terminal F.

The movie/documentary briefly covers NSA analyst-turned whistleblower Edward Snowden and his escape from American authorities to Hong Kong and later to Russia, after leaking classified information about global surveillance programs used by the American government to spy on people around the world and other nations activities.

The movie also presents the journalists who had an exclusive access to Snowden and for obvious reasons there is focus on Mr. Julian Assange and Ms. Sarah Harrison / WikiLeaks, who helped Mr. Snowden in moments of his escape.

Additionally the father of Mr. Edward Snowden: Mr. Lonnie Snowden is among the people interviewed.

The documentary from 2015, was produced by the Danish Director Poul-Erik Heilbuth.

Production: Danmarks Radio ( DR )

Nominations: Prix Italia for TV Documentary – Current Affairs.

Britain’s seven covert wars: An Explainer
https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2019-09-17-britains-seven-covert-wars-an-explainer/

TADEAS:

Italian journalist loses UK tribunal battle for Julian Assange extradition files
https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/...ist-loses-uk-tribunal-battle-for-julian-assange-extradition-files/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/...endment/2019/09/16/cf85e356-d8b6-11e9-a688-303693fb4b0b_story.html

Former NSA contractor Daniel Hale—accused of leaking classified information on drone warfare—is arguing that his actions are protected under the First Amendment. A challenge to the Espionage Act that has implications for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange

Lawyers say prosecuting leaks violates freedom of the press – The North State Journal
http://nsjonline.com/article/2019/09/lawyers-prosecuting-leaks-violates-freedom-press/

ECPMF – Fighting for freedom of information on Julian Assange is a long battle for Italian journalist
https://www.ecpmf.eu/...dom-of-information-on-julian-assange-is-a-long-battle-for-italian-journalist

Judge: UK to imprison Julian Assange after his sentence ends - Defend WikiLeaks Defend WikiLeaks
https://defend.wikileaks.org/...9/09/18/judge-uk-to-imprison-julian-assange-after-his-sentence-ends/

Julian Assange is currently being held in solitary confinement at HMP Belmarsh. He remains in the health ward and is only transported in and out of his cell under so-called ‘controlled moves’, meaning the prison is locked down and hallways are cleared. Furthermore, the prison hasn’t delivered mail to him for over a month, and Julian is unable to call his parents or his US lawyer. Continuing to imprison him beyond his sentence furthers this inhumane treatment and should be condemned.

...

The grounds for which Assange was preemptively denied bail are troubling as well. Judge Baraitser told him, “In my view I have substantial ground for believing if I release you, you will abscond again.” To describe Assange’s decision to request asylum from Ecuador and to stay in Ecuador’s Embassy in London since 2012 as him having “absconded” is to willfully ignore overwhelming evidence that Assange’s fears of political persecution were entirely well-founded

ECPMF – "Please save my life": Julian Assange
https://www.ecpmf.eu/news/threats/please-save-my-life-julian-assange

ACLU Comment on Edward Snowden Lawsuit | American Civil Liberties Union
https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/aclu-comment-edward-snowden-lawsuit

"This book contains no government secrets that have not been previously published by respected news organizations. Had Mr. Snowden believed that the government would review his book in good faith, he would have submitted it for review. But the government continues to insist that facts that are known and discussed throughout the world are still somehow classified.

“Mr. Snowden wrote this book to continue a global conversation about mass surveillance and free societies that his actions helped inspire. He hopes that today’s lawsuit by the United States government will bring the book to the attention of more readers throughout the world.”

The constitutionality of the pre-publication review system is currently being challenged in court by the ACLU and the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. The organizations argue the system gives officials far too much power to suppress speech the public has a right to hear and to make unexplained censorship decisions influenced by individuals' viewpoints and access to power.