{"id":4701,"date":"2014-06-04T23:41:59","date_gmt":"2014-06-05T05:41:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/myfutureamerica.org\/?p=4701"},"modified":"2014-06-04T23:43:26","modified_gmt":"2014-06-05T05:43:26","slug":"year-of-the-whistleblower-10-things-we-didnt-know-before-snowden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myfutureamerica.org\/?p=4701","title":{"rendered":"Year of the whistleblower: 10 things we didn\u2019t know before Snowden"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>\u00a0<\/h1>\n<div class=\"cont-wp-mid max_width\">\n<div class=\"acticle_clock\"><span class=\"time\"> Published time: June 05, 2014 00:02 <\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"get-short-url\">\u00a0<\/div>\n<div class=\"i-clears i-mh\">\u00a0<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"i-clears i-mh\">\u00a0<\/div>\n<div class=\"sharebutton\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"\" style=\"visibility: hidden; height: 1px; width: 1px; position: absolute; z-index: 100000;\" title=\"fb:share_button Facebook Social Plugin\" src=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/share_button.php?app_id=272770436187328&amp;channel=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic.ak.facebook.com%2Fconnect%2Fxd_arbiter%2FV80PAcvrynR.js%3Fversion%3D41%23cb%3Df163759266249a4%26domain%3Drt.com%26origin%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Frt.com%252Ff71745204d7068%26relation%3Dparent.parent&amp;href=http%3A%2F%2Frt.com%2Fusa%2F163700-year-whistleblower-before-snowden%2F&amp;locale=en_US&amp;ref=.U4_8LDQnXx0.share-button&amp;sdk=joey&amp;type=button_count\" name=\"f1a06ab233fdf8\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div style=\"overflow: hidden;\">\u00a0<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Welcome to the post-Snowden era, where everything you say or do can be monitored by secret services &#8211; regardless of a court of law. One year on,here are the top 10 revelations showing us how the world has been fundamentally transformed by state snooping.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/rt.com\/news\/163708-anti-nsa-campaign-starts\/\">READ MORE: Time to #ResetTheNet and take your privacy back<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>1. Everything you do online can be monitored<\/h2>\n<p>The National Security Agency (NSA) has direct access to the systems of Google, Facebook, Apple and other US internet giants. Using its <a href=\"http:\/\/rt.com\/usa\/nsa-prism-classified-data-collection-348\/\" target=\"_blank\">PRISM<\/a> surveillance program, the agency can collect your search history, the content of your emails, file transfers and live chats.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article_img\" style=\"float: none; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float: none; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px;\" src=\"http:\/\/rt.com\/files\/news\/27\/f7\/40\/00\/2.jpg\" alt=\"Reuters \/ Ints Kalnins\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"article_img_footer\">Reuters \/ Ints Kalnins<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2>2. What you do offline is monitored!<\/h2>\n<p>According to a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.spiegel.de\/international\/world\/the-nsa-uses-powerful-toolbox-in-effort-to-spy-on-global-networks-a-940969.html\" target=\"_blank\">report<\/a> in Der Spiegel, an NSA division called ANT has technology, including a radio-frequency device, which can monitor and even manipulate data on computers that are not even connected to the internet.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article_img\" style=\"float: none; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float: none; margin: 0px;\" src=\"http:\/\/rt.com\/files\/news\/27\/f7\/40\/00\/13.jpg\" alt=\"AFP Photo \/ Stan Honda\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"article_img_footer\">AFP Photo \/ Stan Honda<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2>3. They are collecting your phone records, too<\/h2>\n<p>Who\u2019s calling whom, at what time, and for how long: Verizon and other US phone companies have been <a href=\"http:\/\/rt.com\/usa\/nasa-collecting-millions-verizon-records-291\/\" target=\"_blank\">required<\/a> to turn over so-called telephony metadata for millions of unwitting Americans to the NSA.<\/p>\n<p>Resistance is <a href=\"http:\/\/rt.com\/usa\/155016-phone-company-nsa-challenge\/\" target=\"_blank\">futile<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article_img\" style=\"float: none; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float: none; margin: 0px;\" src=\"http:\/\/rt.com\/files\/news\/27\/f7\/40\/00\/14.jpg\" alt=\"AFP Photo \/ Spencer Platt\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"article_img_footer\">AFP Photo \/ Spencer Platt<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2>4. And if you live in some countries, it is not just metadata<\/h2>\n<p>The NSA records almost all domestic and international phone calls in Afghanistan and the Bahamas using a program called <a href=\"http:\/\/rt.com\/usa\/160024-nsa-intercept-bahamas-phone\/\" target=\"_blank\">SOMALGET<\/a>. In the Bahamas, the NSA boasted of being able to log <em>\u201cover 100 million call events per day.\u201d<\/em> The full telephone conversations are stored for up to 30 days.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article_img\" style=\"float: none; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float: none; margin: 0px;\" src=\"http:\/\/rt.com\/files\/news\/27\/f7\/40\/00\/4.jpg\" alt=\"Reuters \/ Carlos Barria\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"article_img_footer\">Reuters \/ Carlos Barria<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2>5. Or ordinary citizens for that matter<\/h2>\n<p>World leaders including Brazil&#8217;s Dilma Rousseff and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have been incensed to learn that the NSA was monitoring their phone conversations. Merkel, born East Germany and its all-invasive surveillance state, was reportedly so furious she immediately called Obama and told him to cut it out. One can only assume whoever was listening in on that call was doing so with a red face.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lOA6jSf6gMM?rel=0\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>6. The NSA engages in industrial espionage<\/h2>\n<p>If you thought it was all about terrorism, think again. \u201c<em>There is no question that the US is engaged in economic spying,\u201d<\/em> Snowden <a href=\"http:\/\/rt.com\/news\/snowden-nsa-industrial-interview-208\/\" target=\"_blank\">told<\/a> German broadcaster ARD in January.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<em>If there&#8217;s information at Siemens that&#8217;s beneficial to U.S. national interests \u2013 even if it doesn&#8217;t have anything to do with national security \u2013 then they&#8217;ll take that information nevertheless,&#8221;<\/em> he said.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article_img\" style=\"float: none; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float: none; margin: 0px;\" src=\"http:\/\/rt.com\/files\/news\/27\/f7\/40\/00\/15.jpg\" alt=\"AFP Photo \/ Henning Kaiser\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"article_img_footer\">AFP Photo \/ Henning Kaiser<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2>7. The NSA is also hacking its way into the global financial system<\/h2>\n<p>Using a program called Project Bullrun, the NSA is waging <a href=\"http:\/\/rt.com\/usa\/nsa-gchq-encryption-snowden-478\/\" target=\"_blank\">war<\/a> against its greatest enemy: encryption. According to a document released last September, the agency has already circumvented much of the encryption which secures the global commerce and banking systems.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article_img\" style=\"float: none; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float: none; margin: 0px;\" src=\"http:\/\/rt.com\/files\/news\/27\/f7\/40\/00\/6.jpg\" alt=\"AFP Photo \/ Emmanuel Dunand\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"article_img_footer\">AFP Photo \/ Emmanuel Dunand<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2>8. Sweat the small stuff \u2013 your Angry Birds are also fair game<\/h2>\n<p>The NSA and its UK counterpart, GCHQ, can also <a href=\"http:\/\/rt.com\/news\/nsa-gchq-phone-data-263\/\" target=\"_blank\">gather<\/a> sensitive personal dates from phone apps that transmit users\u2019 data across the web, such as the extremely popular Angry Birds game, which has been downloaded 1.7 billion times.<\/p>\n<p>Some users were so\u2026 <a href=\"http:\/\/rt.com\/news\/angry-birds-nsa-hackers-374\/\" target=\"_blank\">angry<\/a>, they took matters into their own hands by hacking and defacing the game\u2019s site.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article_img\" style=\"float: none; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"width: 690px; float: none; margin: 0px;\" src=\"http:\/\/rt.com\/files\/news\/27\/f7\/40\/00\/5.jpg\" alt=\"Reuters \/ Bobby Yip\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"article_img_footer\">Reuters \/ Bobby Yip<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2>9. Sweat the sweaty stuff, too<\/h2>\n<p>The NSA is interested in the porn <a href=\"http:\/\/rt.com\/usa\/nsa-snowden-muslims-porn-374\/\" target=\"_blank\">habits<\/a> of targets, and is gathering evidence visits to pornographic websites to discredit the <em>\u201ccredibility, reputation and authority\u201d<\/em> of those accused of attempting to radicalize others through incendiary religious speech. You know what they say about people who live in glass houses\u2026<\/p>\n<div class=\"article_img\" style=\"float: none; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float: none; margin: 0px;\" src=\"http:\/\/rt.com\/files\/news\/27\/f7\/40\/00\/17.jpg\" alt=\"AFP Photo \/ Bay Ismoyo \" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"article_img_footer\">AFP Photo \/ Bay Ismoyo<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2>10. Forget about porn sites, they might be watching you get down!<\/h2>\n<p>With a helping hand from the NSA, GCHQ helped intercept and store the webcam images of millions of web users not suspected of wrongdoing. Using a program called <a href=\"http:\/\/rt.com\/usa\/optic-nerve-yahoo-webcams-050\/\" target=\"_blank\">Optic Nerve<\/a>, in one six-month period in 2008 alone, the agency collected webcam imagery \u2013 some of which was explicitly sexual in nature \u2013 from more than 1.8 million Yahoo user accounts globally.<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;Unfortunately \u2026 it would appear that a surprising number of people use webcam conversations to show intimate parts of their body to the other person,\u201d<\/em> the Guardian cited one GCHQ document as saying. The nerve!<\/p>\n<div class=\"article_img\" style=\"float: none; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float: none; margin: 0px;\" src=\"http:\/\/rt.com\/files\/news\/27\/f7\/40\/00\/22.jpg\" alt=\"AFP Photo \/ Yoshikazu Tsuno \" \/><\/div>\n<div class=\"article_img\" style=\"float: none; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/rt.com\/usa\/163700-year-whistleblower-before-snowden\/\" target=\"_blank\">RT<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0 Published time: June 05, 2014 00:02 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Welcome to the post-Snowden era, where everything you say or do can be monitored by secret services &#8211; regardless of a court of law. One year on,here are the top 10 revelations showing us how the world has been fundamentally transformed by state snooping. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4703,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[97,104],"tags":[186,179,159,417,1221],"class_list":["post-4701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-democracy","category-featured","tag-intelligence","tag-internet","tag-security","tag-snowden","tag-usa"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/myfutureamerica.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/12.si_.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2SfUR-1dP","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/myfutureamerica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/myfutureamerica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/myfutureamerica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myfutureamerica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myfutureamerica.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4701"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/myfutureamerica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4701\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4704,"href":"https:\/\/myfutureamerica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4701\/revisions\/4704"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myfutureamerica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/myfutureamerica.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myfutureamerica.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myfutureamerica.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}