NSA spied on EU

[salm]

I was more concerned about the fact that you do not get your passport back after serving your sentence. In other nations, as far as I know, you get it back upon release.

Where does it say that? I tried looking through the thread but could not find it.

That was on page 4 starting in the middle and lasting over a couple of posts to the end of the page.
It starts with a post by Aaron about a US friend who won´t get his passport even after doing his time.

[General Zod]

That depends on what his friend was convicted for. If it's anything involving a border crossing? Good luck. Don't most countries tend to deny convicted felons entry anyway?

[Grumman]

Don't most countries tend to deny convicted felons entry anyway?

The argument being made is that this should be up to the receiving country, not the country of origin.

[General Zod]

Don't most countries tend to deny convicted felons entry anyway?

The argument being made is that this should be up to the receiving country, not the country of origin.

Are you arguing there's no circumstances where a government would be justified in prohibiting a convicted felon from leaving?

[Broomstick]

A quick Googling indicates that in the US denial of passport after serving your sentence usually involves either a conviction for a crime involving a border crossing (like drug running) or outstanding debts, such as fines, loans for emergency repatriation or, yes, failure to pay child support. Note that is failure to pay child support, someone who is current in their payments of such should be able to get a passport.

The vast majority of felons should be able to get a passport one their sentence is served.

[LaCroix]

Don't most countries tend to deny convicted felons entry anyway?

How would they know? This data is not included in passports, afaik.

If you need a visa, you might have to tell them, depending on the questionaire, but travelling into a visa-free country would be no issue.

[Bernkastel]

Here's an update.

NSA surveillance: French human rights groups seek judicial investigation

Two human rights groups have filed a lawsuit in Paris seeking an investigation into whether the US National Security Agency violated French privacy laws by secretly collecting massive amounts of personal data.

The legal complaint against persons unknown aims to prompt a judicial investigation that would also look at the alleged role of tech companies including Facebook, Apple, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and Skype in data-gathering by the NSA. The France-based International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the Human Rights League based the complaint on disclosures by the NSA leaker Edward Snowden which indicated that the US government amassed phone and internet usage data on people around the world for security reasons. Lawyers for the two groups said that such surveillance, if confirmed, would violate up to five French privacy laws, including illicit collection of personal data and the infringement of the right to a private life.

Patrick Baudouin, of the FIDH, estimated that thousands of French people may be regularly targeted by the surveillance. He said that although the lawsuit was limited to French jurisdiction, he hoped it could lead to wider pressure on the US.

Emmanuel Daoud, a lawyer for the FIDH, told France Info radio that the NSA disclosures revealed an "incredible scandal". He said he had never seen "such a massive attack on individual liberties by a foreign state, because it potentially concerns every French citizen and internet user" and the "unauthorised collection of a massive amount of personal information". He said one clear aim of the lawsuit was to demand explanations from internet giants about whether, as Snowden's documents claimed, direct access was given to servers as part of surveillance.

The companies involved vigorously deny giving the US administration backdoor access to users' information. If a judicial investigation is opened in France, the French subsidiaries of such firms could be questioned. Le Monde reported last week that France's external intelligence agency, the DGSE, runs its own vast electronic surveillance operation, intercepting and stocking data from citizens' phone and internet activity using similar methods to the NSA's Prism programme exposed by Snowden. The paper said rights groups were considering possible legal action over illegal French surveillance tactics.

This week lawyers acting for the UK charity Privacy International filed a legal challenge against British and US spy programmes that allow intelligence agencies to gather, store and share data on millions of people.

They also demanded a temporary injunction to the Tempora programme, which allows Britain's spy centre GCHQ to harvest millions of emails, phone calls and Skype conversations from the undersea cables that carry internet traffic in and out of the country. They said the laws being used to justify mass data-trawling were being abused by intelligence officials and ministers, and needed to be urgently reviewed.

[K. A. Pital]

Snowden gets asylum in Russia, _very_ butthurt Congresscritters and White House glove-dolls screech like mad, and for once I am proud of what Russia did. Amidst all reactionary madness that's happening in my homeland that act was simply full of awesome.

Chuck Shumer (D-NY) made my day:

Russia has stabbed us in the back, and each day that Mr. Snowden is allowed to roam free is another twist of the knife further

And the White House talking puppet said:

We are extremely disappointed that the Russian government would take this step despite our clear lawful requests in public and private to have Mr. Snowden expelled to the U.S. to face the charges against him

Oh the sheer butthurt.

Suck. It. Up. Keith Alexander's intelligence empire is a blight upon the world, and it has to be destroyed.

[Thanas]

I think the Manning verdict pretty much gave Russia the perfect cover to do this, considering most of the rest of the world is wondering wtf the USA is doing.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

I think the Manning verdict pretty much gave Russia the perfect cover to do this, considering most of the rest of the world is wondering wtf the USA is doing.

Meh. Outside the 'Western world', everyone who did what Manning did gets locked anyway.

[Bernkastel]

Snowden gets asylum in Russia, _very_ butthurt Congresscritters and White House glove-dolls screech like mad, and for once I am proud of what Russia did. Amidst all reactionary madness that's happening in my homeland that act was simply full of awesome.

It is very good news. I was very happy to hear it and the reaction by certain people in the US to it is enjoyable.

Pity that other developments mean I can't feel the same way.

GCHQ accused of selling its services after revelations of funding by NSA

Nick Hopkins and Luke Harding
theguardian.com, Friday 2 August 2013 12.12 BST

GCHQ's offices in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. The agency was paid at lest £100m by the US government. Photograph: GCHQ/Ministry of Defence/EPA

Privacy campaigners have accused Britain's spy agencies of "selling their services to a foreign power" following revelations that the US government had paid at least £100m to GCHQ.

The top secret payments were set out in documents leaked to the Guardian by the US whistleblower Edward Snowden, who on Thursday was granted temporary asylum in Russia. They suggest that the National Security Agency (NSA) has substantially funded GCHQ over the last three years to secure access to, and influence over, Britain's intelligence-gathering programmes.

The documents also show that the Americans expect a return on their investment, and that GCHQ is acutely conscious of the need to meet US demands. Ministers have denied that GCHQ does the NSA's "dirty work" and have pointed to the US and UK's longstanding intelligence-sharing relationship.

But in the documents GCHQ describes Britain's surveillance laws and regulatory regime as a "selling point" for Washington. On Friday, Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, said: "Once upon a time the rule of law was as great a British export as Beckham's right foot. Now it seems our most powerful security agency capitalises on weak legal privacy protections to sell its services to a foreign power."

She added: "Just as politicians whip up xenophobia and threaten international human rights law, securocrats replace national and parliamentary sovereignty with secret pacts to monitor the globe."

Eric King, head of research at Privacy International, added: "Our intelligence agencies carry out some of the most sensitive and legally complex work in the world. It is shameful that the agreements between the NSA and GCHQ are shrouded in secrecy and this practice must come to an end.

"The special relationship that enables jurisdiction hopping is nothing more than a moral race to the bottom and shows contempt for the rule of law.

"The lack of oversight from parliament has become known around the world and has been exploited so that intelligence agencies can get what they want."

In the US Snowden's revelations have triggered intense debate, investigation by Congress, and a vote – narrowly defeated – to defund the NSA's most controversial programmes, King said. But in the UK parliament has greeted them with "deafening silence" and failed "to properly scrutinise GCHQ".

King said: "This makes them [MPs] complicit in activities that violate our privacy rights and erodes the public's confidence that parliament can effectively do its job."

His comments came as new photographs emerged of Snowden leaving Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport on Thursday. Published by the Russian website Lifenews.ru, they show the 30-year-old American grinning, his hair longer and more bouffant than when he first arrived in the airport's transit zone more than a month earlier. He is carrying a black rucksack and a holdall.

Next to the whistleblower is Sarah Harrison, a representative from WikiLeaks who accompanied him on his flight from Hong Kong. Also with Snowden is Anatoly Kucherena, his lawyer who on Thursday showed off his client's new Russian asylum document.

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has yet to comment after the White House said on Thursday it was extremely disappointed by the asylum decision. On Friday, however, a leading Kremlin politician said the Obama administration only had itself to blame. Alexey Pushkov hit back at comments by Senator John McCain who called the Kremlin's actions "a disgrace and a deliberate effort to embarrass the United States".

In a tweet Pushkov responded: "McCain asserts that, by giving Snowden asylum, Russia decided to 'humiliate' the US. That's not true. By stopping him from flying the US deprived Moscow of a choice."