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Two interesting articles below...<br>
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<font color="maroon" face="Times New Roman"><strong><strong><font
size="3">Spy vs Spy in the cyber age</font></strong><br>
By Brendan O'Reilly
<br>
<br>
Despite very public pressure, US President Barack Obama and his
Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, failed to reach an agreement on
combating cyber-espionage at their weekend meeting in
California. Beijing and Washington are trading increasingly
harsh accusations of launching state-sanctioned cyber attacks.
Meanwhile, a covert program of Internet data mining by US
intelligence agencies has been revealed by a young
whistleblower, who has taken refuge in China's Special
Administrative Region of Hong Kong.
<br>
<br>
China and the United States are contesting a vast and uncharted
arena of superpower rivalry. The cyber war has already begun.
<br>
<br>
Obama and Xi left their summit in Palm Springs with a series of</strong></font>
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<br>
important agreements, covering such pressing issues as the North
Korean nuclear weapons program and global warming. However, Obama's
efforts to persuade Xi to work out an agreement on cyber-espionage
were entirely unsuccessful.
<br>
<br>
To avoid electronic eavesdropping, Xi and his delegation decided at
the last minute to stay in a downtown hotel away from the summit's
grounds. If he wants to prevent American intelligence from accessing
his personal communications, Xi would be wise to avoid Facebook and
Gmail.
<br>
<br>
In recent weeks, Washington and Beijing have very publicly exchanged
allegations of cyber malfeasance. Before the Palm Springs summit, a
White House official stressed, "Governments are responsible for
cyber attacks that take place from within their borders. As a part
of our interests in protecting US businesses, we will raise with
China any concerns we have about intrusions we believe emanate from
China." [1]
<br>
<br>
The Chinese government responded with counter-accusations of
American cyber attacks directed against China. A report in People's
Daily claimed that in the first five months of 2013, more than 4,000
US-based control servers "hijacked" 2.91 million mainframes in
China. Huang Chengqing, the director of the Chinese National
Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team, declared "We
have mountains of data, if we wanted to accuse the US, but it's not
helpful in solving the problem. The importance of handling Internet
security cases keeps rising, but the issue can only be settled
through communication, not confrontation." [2]
<br>
<br>
Meanwhile, reports of a vast operation by American intelligence to
collect information from the world's leading Internet firms have
overshadowed the extensive cyber-espionage and raids carried out
between the US and China.
<br>
<br>
The PRISM program is a mechanism for direct US government access to
the data of Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Facebook, AOL, Apple, and
Paltalk. It allows US intelligence to view emails, search queries,
online chats, photos, and video calls hosted by the major platforms
for online communications - everything from Gmail and Hotmail to
YouTube, and Skype. According to classified documents, the NSA
collected nearly 3 billion pieces of electronic information from US
computer servers in the period of just one month. [3]
<br>
<br>
According to the source of the intelligence leak, "The NSA has built
an infrastructure that allows it to intercept almost everything.
With this capability, the vast majority of human communications are
automatically ingested without targeting." [4]
<br>
<br>
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper released a fact
sheet meant to justify the once-secret program, claiming PRISM
"facilitates the targeted acquisition of foreign intelligence
information concerning foreign targets located outside the United
States under court oversight". For the program to collect data, it
must have "an appropriate, and documented, foreign intelligence
purpose" and target a person "reasonably believed to be outside the
United States". [5]
<br>
<br>
In other words, any potentially useful electronic communications of
any human being outside the United States are fair game. According
to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the president of the
United States has the authority to target foreign communications
without a court order for the period of one year. No wonder the NSA
can collect three billion pieces of data in a month.
<br>
<br>
China's blocking of major social networking, news, and political
websites - the so-called "Great Firewall of China" - has long been
the target of Western, and particularly American, condemnation. In a
2010 speech, then secretary of state Hillary Clinton warned that a
"new information curtain is descending across much of the world...
In the last year, we've seen a spike in threats to the free flow of
information. China, Tunisia and Uzbekistan have stepped up their
censorship of the Internet." [6]
<br>
<br>
The most popular US-based websites blocked by the Chinese government
are Facebook and YouTube. Google search and Gmail, while not
entirely jammed, are frequently disrupted by China's Great Firewall.
<br>
<br>
It seems that Clinton's much-championed "free flow of information"
includes an unquenchable flood of personal data into the NSA's
massive information farms. By blocking Facebook and YouTube, Beijing
has inadvertently protected the private information of Chinese
citizens (at least from Washington), and denied the US government
billions of pieces of potentially useful data about the Chinese
economy, military, and government.
<br>
<br>
Roughly 700 million Chinese people are active on the Internet, out
of a worldwide total of 2.4 billion Internet users. In other words,
fully 29% of all Internet users live in China. Savvy Chinese
netizens can easily find means to get beyond the Great Firewall.
However, the inconvenience of these methods, and the availability of
domestic Chinese alternatives, has greatly restricted the
penetration of Facebook and YouTube into the Chinese market.
<br>
<br>
The PRISM program has provided Beijing with a golden justification
for continuing to restrict access to certain websites. Washington's
calls for freedom of information are more likely to be viewed in a
hypocritical light in the wake of the PRISM program's public outing.
<br>
<br>
<b>A refuge in the Middle Kingdom?</b><br>
The electronic rivalry between Washington and Beijing is becoming
yet more intense, as the whistleblower who exposed the PRISM program
takes refuge in Hong Kong.
<br>
<br>
Edward Snowden, a former CIA-employee, chose Hong Kong as his port
of call before leaking the classified documents. When coming public
about his own identity, he cited the city's "reputation for
freedom", while in the same breath saying this distinction comes "in
spite of the People's Republic of China". [7] Snowden has cited
Iceland as a possible long-term destination for asylum.
<br>
<br>
However, a former CIA employee, no matter how ideologically
committed to the cause of freedom, is unlikely to be naive. The
recent history of "extraordinary rendition" of terror suspects from
America's democratic Western allies probably factored into Snowden's
decision to decision to go East.
<br>
<br>
Choosing Hong Kong may serve a dual purpose - Snowden hopes to take
advantage of both the autonomous city's open judicial process and
the implied protection of China's clandestine security forces.
<br>
<br>
In the light of intelligence officials joking about "disappearing"
Snowden and a reporter covering the PRISM story [8], Snowden might
reasonably chose to trust Beijing over Reykjavik for his personal
protection. While it may seem ironic for an American champion of
open information to take refugee in China, politics makes for
strange bedfellows.
<br>
<br>
Former CIA official Robert Baer has even gone so far as to say the
entire leak of PRISM was orchestrated by Beijing: "On the face of
it, it looks like it's under some sort of Chinese control. ... You
have to ask what's going on? I mean, China is not a friendly
country, and every aspect of that country is controlled." [9] Baer
cited both Snowden's port of call and the timing of the leak -
coming at the same days as the Obama-Xi summit - as being
particularly suspicious.
<br>
<br>
If indeed Snowden has defected to Beijing, this would represent a
huge coup for China in the emerging realm of cyber rivalry. Already
the PRISM program has helped to justify China's Internet censorship
and expose a large degree of official hypocrisy on the part of the
American government.
<br>
<br>
The most dangerous aspect of cyber espionage remains its
unpredictable nature. There are no clear rules of engagement
differentiating between routine intelligence gathering and outright
aggression. Both Beijing and Washington have a clear interest in
defining red lines to prevent uncontrollable escalation.
<br>
<br>
However, this very necessary discussion is probably best conducted
in secret. Washington's vocal denunciations of Beijing's aggressive
cyber activities have served little purpose other than angering
Beijing, exposing American hypocrisy abroad, and justifying
increased domestic control and surveillance over the Internet by the
American government. <br>
<br>
The cyber war is already here. America's PRISM and China's Great
Firewall may be signs of what is to come in a developing electronic
arms race.
<br>
<br>
<i><b>Notes:</b></i><br>
1. <a
href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/04/us-usa-china-idUSBRE9531E220130604">Obama
to press China's Xi to act against cyber spying</a>, Reuters, June
4, 2013.<br>
2. <a href="http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90883/8271052.html">China
is a victim of hacking attacks</a>, People's Daily, June 5, 2013.<br>
3. <a
href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/06/08/dni-declassifies-prism-data-collection-nsa-secret-program-obama/2403999/">Parts
of NSA's PRISM program declassified</a>, USA Today, June 8, 2013.
<br>
4. <a
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/09/nsa-whistleblower-edward-snowden-why">Edward
Snowden, NSA files source: 'If they want to get to you, in time
they will'</a>, The Guardian, June 9, 2013.<br>
5. <a
href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/06/08/dni-declassifies-prism-data-collection-nsa-secret-program-obama/2403999/">Parts
of NSA's PRISM program declassified</a>, USA Today, June 8, 2013.
<br>
6. <a
href="http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/01/21/clinton.internet/index.html">Clinton:
Internet 'information curtain' is dropping</a>, CNN, January 21,
2010. <br>
7. <a
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/09/nsa-whistleblower-edward-snowden-why">Edward
Snowden, NSA files source: 'If they want to get to you, in time
they will'</a>, The Guardian, June 9, 2013.<br>
8. <a
href="http://www.examiner.com/article/report-intel-officials-allegedly-joke-about-making-nsa-leaker-disappear">Report:
Intel officials allegedly 'joke' about making NSA leaker
'disappear'</a>, Examiner, June 10, 2013.<br>
9. <a
href="http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/snowden-guardian-nsa-leak/2013/06/09/id/508874">Ex-CIA
Official Baer: China Could be Behind NSA Leaks</a>, Newsmax, June
9, 2013.
<br>
<br>
<i><b>Brendan P O'Reilly</b> is a China-based writer and educator
from Seattle. He is author of </i>The Transcendent Harmony. <i>He
may be reached at <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:oreillyasia@gmail.com">oreillyasia@gmail.com</a>. </i>
<br>
<br>
(Copyright 2013 Asia Times Online (Holdings) Ltd. All rights
reserved. Please contact us about sales, syndication and
republishing.) <br>
<br>
<font color="maroon" face="Times New Roman"><strong><br>
THE ROVING EYE</strong></font><br>
<strong><font size="3">Digital Blackwater rules</font></strong><br>
By Pepe Escobar <br>
<br>
The judgment of Daniel "Pentagon Papers" Ellsberg is definitive;
"There has not been in American history a more important leak than
Edward Snowden's release of NSA material". And that includes the
release of the Pentagon Papers themselves. <a
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2013/jun/09/nsa-whistleblower-edward-snowden-interview-video">Here
is the 12-minute video</a> by The Guardian where Snowden details
his motives. <br>
<br>
By now, everything swirling around the US National Security Agency
(NSA) points to a black box in a black hole. The black box is the
NSA headquarters itself in Fort Meade, Maryland. The<br>
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black hole is an area that would include the suburbs of Virginia's
Fairfax County near the CIA but mostly the intersection of the
Baltimore Parkway and Maryland Route 32. <br>
</div>
There one finds a business park a mile away from the NSA which
Michael Hayden, a former NSA director (1999-2005) told Salon's Tim
Shorrock is "the largest concentration of cyber power on the
planet". [1] Hayden coined it "Digital Blackwater". <br>
<br>
Here is a decent round up of <a
href="http://www.propublica.org/article/nsa-black-hole-5-basic-things-we-still-dont-know-the-governments-snoop">
key questions </a>still not answered about the black hole. But
when it comes to how a 29-year old IT wizard with little formal
education has been able to access a batch of ultra-sensitive secrets
of the US intelligence-national security complex, that's a
no-brainer; it's all about the gung-ho privatization of spying -
referred to by a mountain of euphemisms of the "contractor reliance"
kind. In fact the bulk of the hardware and software used by the
dizzying network of 16 US intelligence agencies is privatized. <br>
<br>
A Washington Post investigation found out that US homeland security,
counter-terror and spy agencies do business with over 1,900
companies. [2] An obvious consequence of this contractor tsunami -
hordes of "knowledge" high-tech proletarians in taupe cubicles - is
their indiscriminate access to ultra-sensitive security. A systems
administrator like Snowden can have access to practically
everything. <br>
<br>
"Revolving door" does not even begin to explain the system. Snowden
was one of 25,000 employees of Booz Allen Hamilton ("We are
visionaries") for the past three months. [3] Over 70% of these
employees, according to the company, have a government security
clearance; 49% are top secret (as in Snowden's case), or higher. The
former director of national intelligence Mike McConnell is now a
Booz Allen vice president. The new director of national
intelligence, the sinister-looking retired general James Clapper, is
a former Booz Allen executive. <br>
<br>
At least US - and world - public opinion may now have a clearer idea
of how a Pashtun girl in Waziristan is obliterated by a "targeted
strike". It's all a matter of this privatized NSA-collected
meta-data and matrix multiplication leading to a "signature". The
"terrorist" Pashtun girl of course may eventually morph in the near
future into a dangerous tree-hugger or a vocal political protester.
<br>
<br>
<b>It's all China's fault</b><br>
True to form, as soon as Snowden revealed his identity US corporate
media privileged shooting the messenger instead of poring over the
message. That included everything from <a
href="http://www.politico.com/story/2013/06/10-things-to-know-about-edward-snowden-92491.html?hp=r2">cheap
character assassination</a> to the usual former CIA asset spinning
that in Washington many were looking at Snowden as an agent in a <a
href="http://www.breitbart.com/InstaBlog/2013/06/10/Former-CIA-Officer-Intel-Considering-NSA-Whistleblower-Potential-Chinese-Espionage">potential
Chinese espionage plot</a>. <br>
<br>
Much has also been made of the John Le Carre-esque plot twist of
Snowden leaving his tranquil life in Hawaii and flying to Hong Kong
on May 20, because "they have a spirited commitment to free speech
and the right of political dissent". Hong Kong-based blogger Wen
Yunchao memorably described it as Snowden having "left the tiger's
den and entered the wolf's lair". Yet Snowden's visa stamp at Chek
Lap Kok airport lasts for 90 days - plenty of time to ponder the
next move. <br>
<br>
Since 1996, before the British handover to China, an extradition
treaty applies between the tiger and the wolf. [4] The US Department
of Justice is already surveying its options. It's important to
remember that the Hong Kong judicial system is independent from
China's - according to the Deng Xiaoping-conceptualized "one
country, two systems". As much as Washington may go for extraditing
Snowden, he may also apply for political asylum. In both cases he
may stay in Hong Kong for months, in fact years. <br>
<br>
The Hong Kong government cannot extradite anyone claiming he will be
persecuted in his country of origin. And crucially, article 6 of the
treaty stipulates, "a fugitive offender shall not be surrendered if
the offence of which that person is accused or was convicted is an
offence of a political character." Another clause stipulates that a
fugitive shall not be surrendered if that implicates "the defense,
foreign affairs or essential public interest or policy" of - guess
who - the People's Republic of China. <br>
<br>
So then we may have a case of Hong Kong and Beijing having to reach
an agreement. Yet even if they decided to extradite Snowden, he
could argue in court this was "an offence of a political character".
The bottom line - this could drag on for years. And it's too early
to tell how Beijing would play it for maximum leverage. A "win-win"
situation from a Chinese point of view would be to balance its
commitment to absolute non-interference in foreign domestic affairs,
its desire not to rock the fragile bilateral relation boat, but also
what non-pivoting move the US government would offer in return. <br>
<br>
<b>The ultimate Panopticon</b> <br>
The usual rabid right-wingers in the US predictably skip the fact of
how Snowden does not see intelligence analysts - and even the US
government, per se - as inherent "bad guys". [5] What he stressed is
how they all work under a false premise; "If a surveillance program
produces information of value, it legitimizes it ... In one step,
we've managed to justify the operation of the Panopticon". <br>
<br>
Oh yes, make no mistake; Snowden has carefully read his Michel
Foucault (he also stressed his revulsion facing "the capabilities of
this architecture of oppression"). <br>
<br>
Foucault's deconstruction of the Panopticon's architecture is now a
classic (<a href="http://cryptome.org/cartome/panopticon1.htm">see
it here</a> in an excerpt of his 1975 masterpiece <i>Discipline
and Punish</i>). The Panopticon was the ultimate surveillance
system, designed by utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham in the
18th century. The Panopticon - a tower surrounded by cells, a
pre-Orwellian example of "architecture of oppression" - was not
originally conceived for the surveillance of a prison, but of a
factory crammed with landless peasants on forced labor. <br>
<br>
Oh, but those were rudimentary proto-capitalist days. Welcome to the
(savagely privatized) future, where the NSA black hole, "Digital
Blackwater", lords over all as the ultimate Panopticon. <br>
<br>
<i><b>Notes</b></i>:<br>
1. <a
href="http://www.alternet.org/digital-blackwater-meet-contractors-who-analyze-your-personal-data?paging=off">Digital
Blackwater: Meet the Contractors Who Analyze Your Personal Data</a>,
Alternet, June 10, 2013.<br>
2. <a href="http://projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/">Top
Secret America</a>, Washington Post, June, 2010.<br>
3. See <a href="http://www.boozallen.com">here</a> for company
website. <br>
4. See <a
href="https://bulk.resource.org/gpo.gov/documents/105/td003.pdf">here</a>
for extradition treaty. <br>
5. <a
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/code-name-verax-snowden-in-exchanges-with-post-reporter-made-clear-he-knew-risks/2013/06/09/c9a25b54-d14c-11e2-9f1a-1a7cdee20287_story_1.html">Code
name 'Verax': Snowden, in exchanges with Post reporter, made clear
he knew risks</a>, Washington Post, June 10, 2013.
<br>
<br>
<i><b>Pepe Escobar</b> is the author of</i> <a
href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0978813820/simpleproduction/ref=nosim">Globalistan:
How the Globalized World is Dissolving into Liquid War</a> (Nimble
Books, 2007) and <a
href="http://www.amazon.com/Red-Zone-Blues-snapshot-Baghdad/dp/0978813898">Red
Zone Blues: a snapshot of Baghdad during the surge</a>. His new
book, just out, is <a
href="http://www.amazon.com/Obama-Does-Globalistan-Pepe-Escobar/dp/1934840831/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233698286&sr=8-1">Obama
does Globalistan</a> (Nimble Books, 2009).
<br>
<br>
<i>He may be reached at</i> <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:pepeasia@yahoo.com">pepeasia@yahoo.com</a>. <br>
<br>
(Copyright 2013 Asia Times Online (Holdings) Ltd. All rights
reserved. Please contact us about sales, syndication and
republishing.)
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