Friday 26th of April 2024
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watching the watchers in the land of the lambs...

 

new zealand sheep

Whistleblower Edward Snowden says New Zealand prime minister John Key has not been telling the truth about mass spying on citizens, just days before the country goes to the polls.

Mr Snowden, a former US National Security Agency (NSA) employee, said Mr Key's claim that there had never been any mass surveillance was not true.

He said at the NSA he routinely came across the communications of New Zealanders while working with a mass surveillance tool shared with New Zealand's Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB).

"Any statement that mass surveillance is not performed in New Zealand ... is categorically false," Mr Snowden said in a statement.

"If you live in New Zealand, you are being watched."

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Glenn Greenwald said he would reveal details in Auckland this evening at a town hall event dubbed The Moment of Truth.

The event was organised by internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom, who has long vowed to show that Mr Key was a liar before the country's general elections.

Mr Key has denied the allegations, and said he would declassify and release documents to prove there was no mass surveillance of citizens by the GCSB.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-15/new-zealand-pm-john-key-denies-allegations-mass-spying-snowden/5745178

 

Meanwhile in Germany:

 

In addition to monitoring one's own networks as well as those belonging to "adversaries," Treasure Map can also help with "Computer Attack/Exploit Planning." As such, the program offers a kind of battlefield map for cyber warfare.

The New York Times reported on the existence of Treasure Map last November. What it means for Germany can be seen in additional material in the Snowden archive that SPIEGEL has examined.

Treasure Map graphics don't just provide detailed views of German cable and satellite networks. Red markings also reveal to agents which carriers and internal company networks FiveEyes agencies claim to have already accessed. Of particular interest from the German perspective are two "Autonomous Systems" (AS) -- networks -- marked in red. They are labeled Deutsche Telekom AG and Netcologne, a Cologne-based provider.

The legend for the graphics in question explains the meaning behind the red markings: "Red Core Nodes: SIGINT Collection access points within AS." SIGINT refers to signals intelligence. In other words, networks marked with a red dot are under observation.

read more: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/snowden-documents-indicate-nsa-has-breached-deutsche-telekom-a-991503.html

 

 

covert access to the Southern Cross undersea cable network

A major undersea telecommunications cable that connects Australia and New Zealand to North America has been tapped to allow the United States National Security Agency and its espionage partners to comprehensively harvest Australian and New Zealand internet data. 

Documents published by The Intercept website by former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden show that New Zealand's electronic spy agency, the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB), worked in 2012 and 2013 to implement a mass metadata surveillance system based on covert access to the Southern Cross undersea cable network.

Founded in 1997, Southern Cross owns and operates a Trans-Pacific submarine cable network connecting Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Hawaii to the internet backbone on the west coast of the United States. The network was developed to service the rapid growth of Internet traffic across the Pacific. It is owned by Telecom New Zealand with a 50 per cent share, SingTel Optus (Australia's second-largest telecommunications provider) with 40 per cent and Verizon Business with 10 per cent. 

read more: http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/security-it/edward-snowden-reveals-tapping-of-major-australianew-zealand-undersea-telecommunications-cable-20140915-10h96v.html

flying at top of the mast...

New Zealand will hold a referendum next year on changing the national flag if the re-elected prime minister, John Key, has his way.

Key said on Monday he would press ahead with plans for a referendum following Saturday’s election triumph.

The centre-right leader said he wanted the ballot next year on whether to ditch the current flag, which features the union jack in one corner.

“I’d like to get on with it, to me I’d like to do it as a 2015 issue,” Key told commercial station Radio Live.

“I’m obviously a big supporter of the change, I think there are a lot of strong arguments in favour of the change.”

Key has previously said he would prefer a new flag featuring the silver fern on a black background.

Sporting teams such as the All Blacks already use the symbol and Key argues it is instantly recognisable as representing New Zealand in the same way the maple leaf is a distinctly Canadian icon.

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/22/john-key-2015-referendum-new-zealand-flag-union-jack

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Unfortunately for Australia, with the present Abbott regime, the only relevant idea for a new flag would be kangaroo droppings on a background of dirty mud...

awarded a Swedish human rights award...

 

Fugitive US intelligence agent Edward Snowden has been awarded a Swedish human rights award for his work exposing state surveillance programs.

Snowden won the Right Livelihood Honorary Prize, often referred to as the Alternative Nobel Prize, for showing "courage and skill in revealing the unprecedented extent of state surveillance violating basic democratic processes and constitutional rights".

The prize is awarded annually "to honour and support those offering practical and exemplary answers to the most urgent challenges facing us today".

As an honorary award winner, Snowden - who has lived in exile in Russia since 2013 - will not receive the customary 500,000 kronor ($78,000) prize money.

But the Stockholm-based foundation said it would "fund legal support for him" without disclosing the amount.

Snowden shared the award with editor in chief of Britain's Guardian newspaper, Alan Rusbridger.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-25/us-whistleblower-snowden-wins-swedish-rights-prize/5767516

 

why do these supposedly "clever" people do it?....

New Zealand’s prime minister, John Key, has been accused of making light of rape after participating in a radio stunt referencing sexual assault in prison.

Key appeared for an informal interview on The Rock radio station on Wednesday when he was asked to enter a cage and pick up a bar of soap – a clear reference to rape in prisons.

When he picked up the soap the radio station’s staff dissolved into laughter and the leader then commented that the soap smelt bad and was greasy. 

The radio host told him the soap was taken from the men’s urinal.

Ken Clearwater from Survivors of Sexual Abuse New Zealand said he found the stunt “bloody appalling”.

“Rape is not a joke, full stop. Regardless of the gender of the victim. The psychological damage done to men and boys is the same as to women.”

Deborah Russell, a feminist commentator and Massey University lecturer, said she too, was “appalled” by the prime minister’s participation in the stunt, which she said was further evidence of his weak stance on tackling sexual violence in New Zealand. 

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/17/new-zealand-prime-minister-john-key-criticised-for-joke

 

Idiot !