IT-Code-News: IT News Head Lines (TweakTown) 6/24/2013

US government asks Hong Kong to extradite NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden
The Justice Department has charged former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden with espionage and theft of government property in the NSA surveillance case. Officials have also asked the Hong Kong authorities to extradite the former government contractor who leaked the details of the NSA's top-secret PRISM data collection program.
Snowden, believed to be holed up in Hong Kong, has admitted providing information to the media about two highly classified NSA surveillance programs. A one-page criminal complaint unsealed Friday in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, says Snowden engaged in unauthorized communication of national defense information and willful communication of classified communications intelligence information. Snowden now faces 30-years in prison, as the U.S. government asks Hong Kong to extradite NSA leaker and charges him with espionage.

Both are charges under the Espionage Act. Snowden also is charged with theft of government property. All three crimes carry a maximum 10-year prison penalty. The federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia where the complaint was filed is headquarters for Snowden's former employer, government contractor Booz Allen Hamilton. The complaint is dated June 14, five days after Snowden's name first surfaced as the leaker of information about the two programs in which the NSA gathered telephone and Internet records to ferret out terror plots. This could become an integral part of a U.S. government effort to have Snowden extradited from Hong Kong, a process that could turn into a prolonged legal battle. Snowden could contest extradition on grounds of political persecution. In general, the extradition agreement between the U.S. and Hong Kong excludes political offenses from the obligation to turn over a person.
Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, welcomed the charges. "I've always thought this was a treasonous act," he said in a statement. "I hope Hong Kong's government will take him into custody and extradite him to the U.S." Michael di Pretoro, a retired 30-year veteran with the FBI who served from 1990 to 1994 as the legal liaison officer at the American consulate in Hong Kong, said, "relations between U.S. and Hong Kong law enforcement personnel are historically quite good. In my time, I felt the degree of cooperation was outstanding to the extent that I almost felt I was in an FBI field office."

The U.S. and Hong Kong cooperate on law enforcement matters and have a standing agreement on the surrender of fugitives. However, Snowden's appeal rights could drag out any extradition proceeding. The success or failure of any extradition proceeding depends on what the suspect is charged with under U.S. law and how it corresponds to Hong Kong law under the treaty. In order for Hong Kong officials to honor the extradition request, they have to have some applicable statute under their law that corresponds with a violation of U.S. law. News of the charges broke on Friday evening, the same day it emerged that Snowden could be flown to Iceland from Hong Kong by the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks. A businessman connected to the controversial website said a chartered private jet is ready for the 30-year-old, who fled to Hong Kong after leaking U.S security details. It comes after Iceland admitted holding talks with Snowden over the possibility of seeking political asylum. Olafur Sigurvinsson, head of DataCell, which handles donations to Wikileaks, revealed details of the private jet. Speaking to Channel2 television, he said: "Everything is ready on our side and the plane could take off tomorrow. We have really done all we can do. We have a plane and all the logistics in place." The jet is believed to belong to a Chinese firm and has been chartered at a cost of $240,000.
In a column in Icelandic daily newspaper Frettabladid, WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson wrote that a middleman had approached him on behalf of Snowden. "On 2 June, I received a message from Edward Snowden where he asked me to notify the Icelandic government that he wanted to seek asylum in Iceland," Hrafnsson, who is also an investigative journalist in Iceland, told Reuters. He added that he has yet to receive a response from officials about his request but said they have a "moral obligation" to answer the call for help. The Icelandic government, which has refused to say whether they would grant asylum to Snowden, confirmed it had received the message from Hrafnsson. "Kristinn Hrafnsson has contacted two ministries in an informal way but not the ministers," a government spokesman said. "There has been no formal approach in this matter."

Hrafnsson would not identify who the middleman was. Snowden has previously mentioned Iceland as a possible refuge. Iceland has a reputation for promoting Internet freedoms, but Snowden has said he did not travel there immediately from the United States as he feared the country could be pressured by Washington. "Iceland could be pushed harder, quicker, before the public could have a chance to make their feelings known, and I would not put that past the current U.S. administration," Snowden said in an online forum in the Guardian on Monday. It had been suggested that he would actually flee to the Icelandic consulate in Hong Kong, rather than risking boarding a plane to fly there in person. Icelandic officials told USA Today last week that Snowden is missing a key element. "The main stipulation for seeking asylum in Iceland would be that the person must be in Iceland to start the process," said Johannes Tomasson, the chief spokesman for Iceland's Ministry of Interior in Reykjavik. "That would be the ground rule No. 1."
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden for questioning over allegations of sex crimes, visited Iceland several times in the run-up to some of the website's major releases. Assange denies any wrongdoing. Yet some experts added that Iceland might not be as welcoming as Snowden hopes. The government of newly-elected Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson has not been tested in relation to these cases, but is believed to be closer to Washington than past administrations and less keen to foster the country's cyber-haven image. "I would be very surprised if they (the government) would be eager to engage in any international disputes with the U.S. And it is pretty difficult to be granted asylum here," Stefania Oskarsdottir, lecturer in political science at the University of Iceland, told Reuters. "I think what this guy is saying is based on something he is imagining or hoping for rather than actual facts."
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange revealed on Wednesday he had been in contact with Snowden's representatives to discuss his possible bid for asylum in Iceland. The former US government contractor fled to Hong Kong on May 20 after leaking National Security Agency programs. It also emerged that a contractor for the National Security Agency found possible discrepancies in a resume submitted by Edward Snowden, but the company still employed him, a source said on Thursday. Snowden was hired this spring after he convinced his hiring screeners at Booz Allen Hamilton, that his description of his education was truthful.
Snowden fled his home in Hawaii, where he worked for NSA contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, after exposing the U.S. government's top surveillance secrets. He is currently at a secret location in Hong Kong. It is unclear precisely which element of Snowden's resume has caused personnel officials at Booz Allen Hamilton to raise questions about his background. Also unclear is how he satisfied their concerns. Booz Allen Hamilton has said in a statement that "we will work closely with our clients and authorities in their investigation of this matter."

Sunday, June 23, 2013

IT News Head Lines (TweakTown) 6/24/2013

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