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‘I have some bad news’: Edward Snowden rips ex-CNN White House reporter for saying journalists don’t expect govt spying & lying
8 May, 2021 17:24
Argentina, November 14, 2016. © REUTERS / Marcos Brindicci
American whistleblower Edward Snowden and many others mocked a former CNN White House correspondent for insinuating that US government lies and spying were unique to the Trump administration and reporters don’t expect it.
Michelle Kosinski, who worked as CNN’s White House correspondent between 2014 and 2019, claimed on Saturday that “as an American journalist, you never expect” your “own govt to lie to you,” “hide information the public has a right to know,” and “spy on your communications.”
“Trump’s unAmerican regime did all of these. No one should accept this,” she concluded.
Kosinski was quickly ridiculed, both for suggesting that American journalists were so naive and for making government surveillance and disinformation appear exclusive to former President Donald Trump’s brief administration.
Whistleblower and former CIA employee Edward Snowden – who leaked information about the National Security Agency’s mass surveillance program on civilians and had to flee the US – told Kosinski, “I’m afraid I have some bad news.”
He then posted a link to Wikipedia: Global surveillance disclosures (2013–present)
“You are hideously unqualified to be a journalist if you think this, good lord,” tweeted another person, while journalist Alan MacLeod called Kosinski’s thought process “the level of naive state worship required to get a top job in the media.”
Despite the heavy criticism, Kosinski stood by her post, claiming Trump’s “tens of thousands of outright lies, treasonous allegiances, and attacks on democracy” weren’t “equivalent” to the mass surveillance and disinformation campaigns from previous administrations.
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Former UK envoy Craig Murray seeks Supreme Court appeal after receiving 8-month sentence over his coverage of Alex Salmond trial
11 May, 2021 12:21
Craig Murray, the former British ambassador to Uzbekistan © AFP / CARL COURT
Former British ambassador to Uzbekistan Craig Murray has been handed an eight-month prison sentence after losing a contempt of court case stemming from his reporting on the Alex Salmond trial in 2020.
The ex-diplomat and RT contributor found himself in legal trouble after attending two days of a trial against Salmond, the former first minister of Scotland, who faced sexual assault charges brought by nine women. The High Court in Edinburgh ultimately cleared him of wrongdoing.
Extraordinary! Nine women were all wrong about being sexually molested!
Murray published a series of tweets and blog posts as part of his coverage of the case, leading to allegations by prosecutors that Salmond’s accusers could be identified via his writings, breaching a court order barring them from being named. In March, judges concluded that Murray’s reporting could have revealed the womens’ identities, constituting a contempt of court, and scheduled his sentencing for early May.
On Tuesday, Murray was given eight months behind bars and ordered to turn himself in within 48 hours. However, his defense counsel, Roddy Dunlop, asked for permission to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.
Judge Lady Dorrian agreed to delay the sentence for three weeks while Murray seeks intervention from the UK’s top court. As part of the agreement, Murray had to surrender his passport to authorities.
Murray never actually named any of the anonymous accusers in his writings. His legal team said that he discovered who the complainants in the trial were by piecing together bits of information and sources that were available to the public. The ex-diplomat has argued that he was singled out for political reasons. After he was found guilty in March, he penned a piece titled: ‘The World Darkens a Little More: I May Have to Spend Some Time as a Political Prisoner’.
Murray’s sentencing has spawned a hashtag on Twitter, #FreeCraigMurray, with many describing the case as an affront to justice.
Documentary filmmaker John Pilger issued a statement denouncing the court’s actions.
“In these dark times, Craig Murray’s truth-telling is a beacon. He is owed our debt of gratitude, not the travesty of a prison sentence which, like the prosecution of Julian Assange, is a universal warning,” he wrote.
Murray has been a vocal advocate for the WikiLeaks co-founder.
American academic and activist Noam Chomsky hailed Murray’s “remarkable record of courage and integrity in exposing crimes of state” and said he “fully merits our deep respect and support.”
Murray himself tweeted that he was particularly dismayed by his sentencing because, during the three weeks he was granted to file an appeal, he will be prohibited from traveling to Spain to testify in a case involving CIA spying on Assange’s legal team.
For a conspiracy theorist like me, this smells rotten to the core. A judiciary that would allow a man accused of sexual assault by 9 women to walk free, would have no trouble keeping a reporter who does not follow the approved narrative from testifying against one of the world's most powerful organizations.
Anonymity in social media is responsible for myriad evils, especially against children. Is it possible to eliminate anonymity? There's no question the world would be a better place if people had to take responsibility for what they post online.
Top Russian lawmaker mulls ending internet anonymity after threatening online posts emerge from suspect in Kazan school shooting
12 May, 2021 12:16
Russia’s most senior MP has confirmed that the country’s parliament may soon consider proposals to put an end to anonymous online accounts, in the wake of the bloody school shooting in Kazan that has claimed at least nine lives.
In a statement posted to Telegram on Tuesday, Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the State Duma, said that parliamentarians were preparing a response to the "inhuman and brutal" atrocity.
"The world has changed greatly over the past few decades," he said. "New technologies like the internet are available to all, and they have brought not only progress, but also problems, which have turned into serious threats, especially to children. Children's health, their wellbeing – even their lives."
Volodin added that existing legislation does not go far enough "to prevent teenagers getting into online communities that distort realities and lead to violence and suicide... the tragedy in Kazan proves this."
Ilnaz Galyaviev, a 19-year old former student at School No. 175, had made a series of chilling posts online ahead of launching the attack that left seven children and two staff members dead, and more than a dozen injured. Posting on a Telegram channel he'd set up the previous week, Galyaviev claimed "I am like a God" and set out his twisted vision for how to wipe out humanity.
Volodin confirmed on Tuesday that, as part of the legislative changes being considered by MPs, "proposals have been made to move away from anonymity on the Internet, which will, according to supporters of the idea, reduce the amount of content that advocates violence or glorifies extremism many times over."
These problems, he said, "need to be discussed," but acknowledged that it is "far from a good thing that we are starting to think about this only after the tragedy has already happened."
But, at least you are starting to think about them, so much better than the rest of the western world which is nowhere near that level of conscience.
The unfettered use of untraceable online accounts for posting on social media has long proven controversial in Russia. In 2018, President Vladimir Putin said that “on one hand, anonymity on the internet must be a good thing – this is democracy – but on the other hand, this causes a lot of problems because no one knows who hides behind internet nicknames."
'Must be a good thing' - seems to indicate that he can't really find a good reason for anonymity.
In March, Roskomnadzor, the country’s digital regulator, published draft legislation that would force would-be users to upload documents like passports as well as postal addresses in order to set up new accounts. However, the agency quickly reversed the policy and retracted the proposed legislation.
Earlier that month, Roskomnadzor began slowing connection speeds on Twitter in Russia over claims the San Francisco-based firm “does not remove content that incites minors to commit suicide, [and] contains child pornography or information about the use of drugs.”
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