29C3 Panel: Jesselyn Radack, Thomas Drake, William Binney on whistleblowing and surveillance

> Especially impressed by Thomas. If you haven't seen it, I suggest watching Thomas Drake's talk[1] at 29c3. [1] ▶ this video (although I've linked to Thomas Drake's talk, the other talks by Jesselyn Radack and William Binney in the same video are also worth watching)

link The EFF has been supporting these former NSA agents' whistleblowing efforts for a while now. Also, Ellsberg - author of the Pentagon Papers - has signed it in support. While it's not a character reference, it is worth observing that the rather dramatic efforts the NSA has gone though to threaten and prosecute these whistleblowers. You may be interested in watching this talk from 29c3 where Drake and Binney told their stories in their own words: ▶ this video And yes, it's a hell of an accusation. It's also the one that finally made this NSA mess make sense, with their description of THINTHREAD being dropped because it was too inexpensive . It's all about moving money to their contractor friends.

Also from last year's 29c3: Jesselyn Radack, Thomas Drake & William Binney, "Enemies of the State: What Happens When Telling the Truth about Secret US Government Power Becomes a Crime": ▶ this video

> his own "ThinThread" system was designed to do exactly that, but with better technical controls over who could view the data. That's plainly false. His system was specifically designed to throw-out private data, that is, never to store it. There is no data to view if it's not stored. See his 29C3 technical talk where he goes over it. [1] >The notion that Binney is a staunch opponent of PRISM-style surveillance is revisionist. This ignores nearly everything Binney has actually said when asked about why he came forward to blow the whistle on NSA's spying activities. Also, see above. [1] ▶ this video

God you guys need to start wearing tinfoil hats It's not really a secret: ▶ this video (note that Facebook was specifically mentioned @ 56:07)

Google's growing G+ surveillance is a worry. This is why after watching the 29C3 keynote ( link ) and whistleblower panel ( ▶ this video ) a couple of days ago I blocked all the main google domains (mail, maps, G+, accounts, picasa, etc.) via /etc/hosts and committed to only accessing Gmail via Tor ( link ). Facebook I already deleted and block via AdBlockPlus (though I now recommend link ), but G+ is harder and more insidious to stay free of. After a few days of use, I am quite happy with my new strategy: keep email (or anything personally identifying, like banking) in a different and anonymized browser. Keep everything else in a general browser that never sees you identified. Edit: add URLs, TrueBlockPlus reference.