Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Uighurs in the news...


I do recall President Obama stating he would shut down Guantanamo, before he was elected President ... Now I read that prisoners there are from China ... 

... is this what Obama Care is going to be like?

US sends 3 Uighur Guantanamo prisoners to Slovakia




MIAMI (AP) — Slovakia has accepted three prisoners from Guantanamo Bay who had posed a difficult resettlement challenge, helping the U.S. government move closer to its goal of closing the prison on its base in Cuba, officials said Tuesday.
The three men who left for the Central European country in recent days were Uighurs, members of an ethnic Muslim minority from western China who had been detained in Afghanistan as suspected allies of the Taliban and sent to Guantanamo Bay for interrogation.
Authorities eventually determined that the 22 Uighurs in its custody had no involvement in terrorism, but the U.S. struggled to resettle them. China requested their return, but they couldn't be sent there because of fears they would face persecution and torture. Many countries refused to accept them out of reluctance to anger the Chinese government. Congress blocked a U.S. judge's order to release them inside the United States.
Uighurs are from the northwestern Chinese region of Xianjiang, where militants have fought a low-intensity insurgency against Chinese rule.
Eventually, the U.S. relocated Uighurs to Bermuda, Palau, Switzerland and elsewhere but could not find countries that would take the final three and would also be acceptable to the men even after a decade of captivity at Guantanamo.
Slovakia had previously accepted three Guantanamo prisoners, from Egypt, Tunisia and Azerbaijan, in 2009. The Interior Ministry portrayed this latest transfer as simply an extension of the previous agreement. "Like in the case of the first transport, they are persons who have been neither suspected nor accused of the crime of terrorism," the ministry said in a statement broadcast on Slovak RTVS television.
The Pentagon said in a statement Tuesday that the release brings the Guantanamo prison population to 155. Congress and President Barack Obama recent agreed to ease restrictions on releasing prisoners from the U.S. base in Cuba but a ban remains in place on transferring any of the men to the U.S. for any reason.

Sunday, December 29, 2013

More news on abuse by Nazi America ...

This is a private message to all those true Americans who think this kind of Nazi American ... The use of taxpayers money and spy on everyone... Don't you think there is going to be back lash ... as Congress and Federal Judges say this is perfectly legal! 




I am not proud to be an American... We learn how to spy on everyone! 

Report: NSA intercepts computer deliveries




LONDON (AP) — A German magazine lifted the lid on the operations of the National Security Agency's hacking unit Sunday, reporting that American spies intercept computer deliveries, exploit hardware vulnerabilities, and even hijack Microsoft's internal reporting system to spy on their targets.
Der Spiegel's revelations relate to a division of the NSA known as Tailored Access Operations, or TAO, which is painted as an elite team of hackers specializing in stealing data from the toughest of targets.
Citing internal NSA documents, the magazine said Sunday that TAO's mission was "Getting the ungettable," and quoted an unnamed intelligence official as saying that TAO had gathered "some of the most significant intelligence our country has ever seen."
Der Spiegel said TAO had a catalog of high-tech gadgets for particularly hard-to-crack cases, including computer monitor cables specially modified to record what is being typed across the screen, USB sticks secretly fitted with radio transmitters to broadcast stolen data over the airwaves, and fake base stations intended to intercept mobile phone signals on the go.
The NSA doesn't just rely on James Bond-style spy gear, the magazine said. Some of the attacks described by Der Spiegel exploit weaknesses in the architecture of the Internet to deliver malicious software to specific computers. Others take advantage of weaknesses in hardware or software distributed by some of the world's leading information technology companies, including Cisco Systems, Inc. and China's Huawei Technologies Ltd., the magazine reported.
Der Spiegel cited a 2008 mail order catalog-style list of vulnerabilities that NSA spies could exploit from companies such as Irvine, California-based Western Digital Corp. or Round Rock, Texas-based Dell Inc. The magazine said that suggested the agency was "compromising the technology and products of American companies."
Old-fashioned methods get a mention too. Der Spiegel said that if the NSA tracked a target ordering a new computer or other electronic accessories, TAO could tap its allies in the FBI and the CIA, intercept the hardware in transit, and take it to a secret workshop where it could be discretely fitted with espionage software before being sent on its way.
Intercepting computer equipment in such a way is among the NSA's "most productive operations," and has helped harvest intelligence from around the world, one document cited by Der Spiegel stated.
One of the most striking reported revelations concerned the NSA's alleged ability to spy on Microsoft Corp.'s crash reports, familiar to many users of the Windows operating system as the dialogue box which pops up when a game freezes or a Word document dies. The reporting system is intended to help Microsoft engineers improve their products and fix bugs, but Der Spiegel said the NSA was also sifting through the reports to help spies break into machines running Windows. One NSA document cited by the magazine appeared to poke fun at Microsoft's expense, replacing the software giant's standard error report message with the words: "This information may be intercepted by a foreign sigint (signals intelligence) system to gather detailed information and better exploit your machine."
Microsoft said that information sent by customers about technical issues in such a manner is limited.
"Microsoft does not provide any government with direct or unfettered access to our customer's data," a company representative said in an email Sunday. "We would have significant concerns if the allegations about government actions are true."
Microsoft is one of several U.S. firms that have demanded more transparency from the NSA — and worked to bolster their security — in the wake of the revelations of former intelligence worker Edward Snowden, whose disclosures have ignited an international debate over privacy and surveillance.
Der Spiegel did not explicitly say where its cache NSA documents had come from, although the magazine has previously published a series of stories based on documents leaked by Snowden, and one of Snowden's key contacts — American documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras — was listed among the article's six authors.
No one was immediately available at Der Spiegel to clarify whether Snowden was the source for the latest story.
Another company mentioned by Der Spiegel, though not directly linked with any NSA activity, was Juniper Networks Inc., a computer network equipment maker in Sunnyvale, Calif.
"Juniper Networks recently became aware of, and is currently investigating, alleged security compromises of technology products made by a number of companies, including Juniper," the company said in an email. "We take allegations of this nature very seriously and are working actively to address any possible exploit paths."
If necessary, Juniper said, it would, "work closely with customers to ensure they take any mitigation steps."
___
Geir Moulson contributed to this report from Berlin. Ryan Nakashima contributed from Los Angeles.

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Germany say WAT

Hmm.... Someone else thinks the US is like Nazi Germany Merkel compared NSA to Stasi in heated encounter with Obama German chancellor furious after revelations US intelligence agency listened in on her personal mobile phone Follow The NSA Files by emailBETA Ian Traynor in Brussels and Paul Lewis in Washington The Guardian, Tuesday 17 December 2013 Angela Merkel, with Germany's finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, was enraged at hearing the NSA tapped her personal mobile. Photograph: Sean Gallup/Getty Images In an angry exchange with Barack Obama, Angela Merkel has compared the snooping practices of the US with those of the Stasi, the ubiquitous and all-powerful secret police of the communist dictatorship in East Germany, where she grew up. The German chancellor also told the US president that America's National Security Agency cannot be trusted because of the volume of material it had allowed to leak to the whistleblower Edward Snowden, according to the New York Times. Livid after learning from Der Spiegel magazine that the Americans were listening in to her personal mobile phone, Merkel confronted Obama with the accusation: "This is like the Stasi." The newspaper also reported that Merkel was particularly angry that, based on the disclosures, "the NSA clearly couldn't be trusted with private information, because they let Snowden clean them out." Snowden is to testify on the NSA scandal to a European parliament inquiry next month, to the anger of Washington which is pressuring the EU to stop the testimony. In Brussels, the chairman of the US House select committee on intelligence, Mike Rogers, a Republican, said his views on the invitation to Snowden were "not fit to print" and that it was "not a great idea". Inviting someone "who is wanted in the US and has jeopardised the lives of US soldiers" was beneath the dignity of the European parliament, he said. He declined to comment on Merkel's alleged remarks to Obama. In comments to the Guardian, he referred to the exchange as "a conversation that may or may not have occurred". Senior Brussels officials say the EU is struggling to come up with a coherent and effective response to the revelations of mass US and British surveillance of electronic communication in Europe, but that the disclosure that Merkel's mobile had been monitored was a decisive moment. A draft report by a European parliament inquiry into the affair, being presented on Wednesday and obtained by the Guardian, says there has to be a discussion about the legality of the NSA's operations and also of the activities of European intelligence agencies. The report drafted by Claude Moraes, the British Labour MEP heading the inquiry, says "we have received substantial evidence that the operations by intelligence services in the US, UK, France and Germany are in breach of international law and European law". Rather than resorting to a European response, Berlin has been pursuing a bilateral pact with the Americans aimed at curbing NSA activities and insisting on a "no-spying pact" between allies. The NYT reported that Susan Rice, Obama's national security adviser, had told Berlin that there would be not be a no-espionage agreement, although the Americans had pledged to desist from monitoring Merkel personally. A high-ranking German official with knowledge of the talks with the White House told the Guardian there had been a "useful exchange of views", but confirmed a final agreement was far from being reached. The Germans have received assurances that the chancellor's phone was not being monitored and that the US spy agency is not conducting industrial espionage. However the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks, said German and US officials were still in the process of negotiating how any final agreement – the details of which could remain secret between both governments – would be formalised. Their discussions, which include talks about so-called confidence building measures, are also bound-up with wider discussions with the EU regarding special privacy assurances that might be afforded to its citizens under a future arrangement. "We want to be assured that not everything that is technically possible will be done," the German official added. In Germany, the main government minister dealing with the NSA fallout, Hans-Peter Friedrich, has fallen victim to a reshuffle in the new coalition unveiled in Berlin at the weekend. Friedrich, from Bavaria's Christian Social Union, is not seen as an ally of Merkel's and was widely viewed to have performed less than robustly in the exchanges with the Americans. His replacement as interior minister, by contrast, is a close ally of Merkel's – her former chief of staff and former defence minister, Thomas de Maiziere. Additionally, Merkel has brought a former senior intelligence official into the new coalition. Alongside De Maiziere at the interior ministry, she has appointed Klaus-Dieter Fritsche, previously deputy head of the domestic intelligence service, Germany's equivalent of MI5. More on this story Tech companies call for 'aggressive' NSA reforms at White House meeting Executives say programs have undermined user trust as pressure mounts on day after judge's ruling against NSA Spy chiefs should not be accountable to parliament, says ex-GCHQ chief Top tech firms steer focus towards NSA surveillance at White House meeting Snowden offers to help Brazil investigate US spying in exchange for asylum – live NSA phone surveillance program likely unconstitutional, federal judge rules Edward Snowden's 'open letter to the Brazilian people' – in full Edward Snowden offers to help Brazil over US spying in return for asylum Edward Snowden says judge's ruling vindicates NSA surveillance disclosures NSA goes on 60 Minutes: the definitive facts behind CBS's flawed report NSA officials consider Edward Snowden amnesty in return for documents US 'may never know extent of Edward Snowden NSA leaks' – report NSA deputy director John Inglis to retire at end of year NSA review to leave spying programs largely unchanged, reports say Edward Snowden: MEPs vote to invite ex-NSA contractor to testify Opinion

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Pope ...



I have to admit, I seem to like this Pope ... as he is like a breath of fresh air, and not stuffy ... Though I have not yet read the 50,000 ... and take a more trickle down look of name calling... 

Pope: I'm not a Marxist

By Daniel Burke, CNN Belief Blog Co-Editor

(CNN) Pope Francis responded to critics who call his stance on capitalism Marxist, saying in a new interview that the political and economic philosophy is flat "wrong."
"Marxist ideology is wrong," the Pope told the Italian newspaper La Stampa in an interview published on Saturday. "But I have met many Marxists in my life who are good people, so I don’t feel offended.”
Earlier this month, the conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh blasted the pontiff, calling his latest major writing, an apostolic exhortation called Evangelii Gaudium, "pure Marxism."
"It's sad because this Pope makes it very clear he doesn't know what he's talking about when it comes to capitalism and socialism and so forth," Limbaugh said.
Pope Francis told La Stampa that, “there is nothing in the Exhortation that cannot be found in the social Doctrine of the Church.” The 50,000-word statement calls for church reform and castigates elements of modern capitalism.
Francis - the first pope ever to hail from Latin America, where he worked on behalf of the poor in his native Argentina - warned in "Evangelii" that the "idolatry of money" would lead to a "new tyranny."
The Pope also blasted "trickle-down economics," saying the theory "expresses a crude and naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power."
The Pope's critique of capitalism thrilled many liberal Catholics, who have long called on church leaders to spend more time and energy on protecting the poor from economic inequalities.
... Hmm I wonder if he gets messages through the Holy Spirit telling him to do things and argue against the kind of greed and corruption that have engulfed the developed societies. 





Saturday, December 14, 2013

The nazi American way!

After 12 years  in Afghanistan in which the US is now worse off than when it entered into this "War" ... The US finds itself having to bully the puppet regime it set up ... Way to go Hamid K make the US look bad! 
   

Hamid Karzai hits out at US 'threats' over Afghanistan

A senior American diplomat warned Afghanistan faces civil war unless it signs a deal for US bases to remain in the country, Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president said on Saturday

A senior American diplomat warned Afghanistan faces civil war unless it signs a deal for US bases to remain in the country, Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president said on Saturday
Mr Karzai accused the United States of brinkmanship  Photo: EPA
Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, has accused the United States of "threatening" to abandon the country to continuing civil war if he does not allow American and Nato bases to remain in the country for another ten years.
Speaking in New Delhi, Mr Karzai said the threat had been made by a senior American official but he had warned him Afghanistan is prepared for a so-called 'zero-option' in which all Western troops and financial aid is withdrawn.
The United States has urged Afghanistan to sign a 'Bilateral Security Agreement' soon to avoid a military vacuum after the bulk of Nato forces are withdrawn by the end of next year. It wants to keep 15,000 Western troops at nine military bases.
Mr Karzai called a Loya Jirga gathering of tribal leaders last month to decide but he then rejected its vote in favour of the agreement and said he would leave it to his successor to decide next April unless the US agreed to launch peace talks and guarantee its forces would not carry out controversial 'night raids' on civilian homes. Washington said it would only launch raids to prevent attacks on the United States.
On Saturday, Mr Karzai said he had been "hurt" by Washington's approach but would rather lose billions of dollars in Western aid than sign the deal under "threats".

Revolution



American Revolution/ Apocolypse

Unread postby jupitercat410 » Sat Dec 14, 2013 7:22 am


I've been having many strange and vivid dreams for about a week or two now, but they're starting to scare me a bit.
Some of them were amazing and unforgettable, some were frightening.
the frightening ones started when i was in one dream, and i had a piece of paper in my hands that read:
APOCALYPSE
DECEMBER 20TH 2013
I usually cannot read things in my dream so it shocked me when i found that perfectly legible on the paper. This might stem from that whole "December 21st 2012" scare, but it just freaked me out.
Then last night, i had an even weirder dream.
Last night it started as people running from my home town, up some hill. When i saw an old friend i used to know. She was screaming :this is the American Revolution!
And i hugged her and i said 'i know... ive known for a long time too.' then we were running against the crowd screaming "you're life is a lie!" (mgmt) 
After that, people with guns came out of nowhere with their faces covered. They were telling people to get down, but even when they did people were getting shot, so me and my friend ran.
At one point, when we were running we hit a forest, and it was like Avatar. I ended up running so fast through the woods that the entire world around me became a blur. 
Until i hit a building in which we were going to hide out in. But when we went inside, there was only more men with guns. But we had made it to a room where they were keeping another old friend of mine hostage.
when we rescued him, i remember he gave me a huge hug, and he was asking what was going on. And we gave him the same answer we had given everyone else, that it was a revolution. I remember saying that the only way we were going to get out of this is if we got off the grid completely. Our plan was to get to Vermont, and eventually Canada. 
But then my friends were whisked away from me, and i was trapped in one small room. I had jammed a table up against the door, and there were all these people trying to get in, trying to kill me.
Thats when i woke up. 
At first my dreams were really trippy and awesome, and in those dreams i kept hearing voices that were telling me: "2014, The year of spiritual enlightenment around the globe. Earth will change as we know it as society comes together as one to change our lives forever." and that just kept repeating over and over in my head as the sky turned from blue to pixalated red, orange and pink. There was a huge eye in the sky as well while this was all being said...
I like the trippy vivid dreams, but now all these dreams of revolution and apocalypse are starting to scare me...
Could i just be paranoid?




Re: American Revolution/ Apocolypse

Unread postby Gus Who » Sat Dec 14, 2013 9:15 am



No, we are in the EVENT. 
Your picking up on the Tea Party type of Revolution... Civil war of words... Though I call it "SNOWGLOBE" due to all the white lies... The NSA breaks into everyone computers - a lot of corruption in government...
Wars are starting as the US is hitting certain parts of the world... like in Calif -the Air Force is bombing Yemen wedding convoys.. 
... look ... People see high school kids with there hands up on the news ... as guns are easy to get a hold of. 

Everyone is being brainwashed and living in a lie, instead of the American Dream where everyone had certain inalienable rights ... many have lost that right due to crooks in government 
It's kind of like Americans vs Nazi America ... as it comes to "the end" 
(America has lost it reputation around the world as a good guy as the wide and broad crowd (Military) dies in vain)
... or are you one of those who think that America won the hearts and souls of all those countries that it fought in?

Friday, December 13, 2013

Something is not lining up

I can tell that my calculations on the 45 day period from the start of the "Event" are not in line. As things are not timing out as prophesy of the book of Daniel. Though still in other prophecies zone.

Bios Plot



NSA agent open to cutting a deal with Snowden

AFP 
An image grab taken from a video released by Wikileaks on October 12, 2013 shows US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden speaking during a dinner with US ex-intelligence workers and activists in Moscow on October 9, 2013
.
An image grab taken from a video released by Wikileaks on October 12, 2013 shows US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden speaking during a dinner with US ex-intelligence workers and activists in Moscow on October 9, 2013. (AFP Photo/Afptv)
Washington (AFP) - A National Security Agency official said in an interview released Friday that he would be open to cutting an amnesty deal with intelligence leaker Edward Snowden if he agreed to stop divulging secret documents.
Rick Ledgett, who heads the NSA's task force investigating the damage from the Snowden leaks, told CBS television's "60 Minutes" program that some but not all of his colleagues share his view.
"My personal view is, yes, it's worth having a conversation about" a possible deal, said Ledgett, according to excerpts of the interview due to air Sunday.
But Snowden would have to provide firm assurances that the remaining documents would be secured.
"My bar for those assurances would be very high... more than just an assertion on his part," said Ledgett.
Snowden, a former intelligence contractor for the NSA, has been charged with espionage by US authorities for divulging reams of secret files.
He has secured asylum in Russia and insisted he spilled secrets to spark public debate and expose the NSA's far-reaching surveillance.
But NSA chief General Keith Alexander rejects the idea of any amnesty for Snowden.
"This is analogous to a hostage-taker taking 50 people hostage, shooting 10 and then say 'You give me full amnesty and I’ll let the other 40 go,'" Alexander told "60 Minutes."
Alexander said an amnesty deal would set a dangerous precedent for any future leakers.
The four-star general, who is due to retire next year, also said he offered his resignation after the leak but that it was not accepted by President Barack Obama's administration.
Snowden reportedly stole 1.7 million classified documents and Ledgett said he "wouldn’t dispute" that figure.
About 58,000 of the documents taken by Snowden have been passed to news media outlets, according to the editor of Britain's Guardian newspaper.
The CBS report also said an NSA analyst had discovered malware designed in China that could "destroy" infected computers.
NSA Information Assurance Director Debora Plunkett said the weapon was called the "Bios Plot," after the key component in computers that performs basic steps such as turning on the operating system.
The malware was supposed to be disguised as an update for software, and after the user clicked on it, a virus would turn their computer into "a brick," Plunkett said.
If launched, "Think about the impact of that across the entire globe," she said. "It could literally take down the US economy."
The NSA spoke with computer manufacturers to preempt the possible effect of the malware.

Close call

News that just came to light... Like I say people will not know that this turn into a World War 3


U.S., Chinese warships narrowly avoid collision in South China Sea

Reuters 
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. guided missile cruiser operating in international waters in the South China Sea was forced to take evasive action last week to avoid a collision with a Chinese navy ship maneuvering nearby, the U.S. Pacific Fleet said in a statement on Friday.
The incident on December 5 involving the USS Cowpens came at a time of heightened tensions between the United States and China following Beijing's declaration of an Air Defense Identification Zone in the East China Sea.
The Pacific Fleet statement did not offer details about what led to the near-collision. But it did say the incident underscored the need for the "highest standards of professional seamanship, including communications between vessels, to mitigate the risk of an unintended incident or mishap."
Beijing declared the air defense zone over the East China Sea late last month and demanded that aircraft flying through the area provide it with flight plans and other information.
The United States and its allies rejected the Chinese demand and have continued to fly military aircraft into the zone, which includes air space over a small group of islands claimed by China but currently administered by Tokyo.
In the midst of the tensions over the air defense zone, China deployed its only aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, to the South China Sea for maneuvers. Beijing claims most of the South China Sea and is involved in territorial disputes in the region with several of its neighbors.
(Reporting by David Alexander; Editing by Jim Loney)

More SNOWGLOBE news

Like I have been saying "SNOWGLOBE" as more information comes out, and people see ...


NSA leaders split on giving amnesty to Snowden

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CBS News learned Thursday that the information National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden has revealed so far is just a fraction of what he has. In fact, he has so much, some think it is worth giving him amnesty to get it back.
Rick Ledgett is the man who was put in charge of the Snowden leak task force by Gen. Keith Alexander, who heads the NSA. The task force's job is to prevent another leak like this one from happening again. They're also trying to figure out how much damage the Snowden leaks have done, and how much damage they could still do.


leggett.jpg
Rick Ledgett
 CBS NEWS
 Snowden, who is believed to still have access to 1.5 million classified documents he has not leaked, has been granted temporary asylum in Moscow, which leaves the U.S. with few options.
JOHN MILLER: He's already said, "If I got amnesty, I would come back." Given the potential damage to national security, what would your thought on making a deal be?
RICK LEDGETT: So, my personal view is, yes, it's worth having a conversation about. I would need assurances that the remainder of the data could be secured, and my bar for those assurances would be very high. It would be more than just an assertion on his part.
MILLER: Is that a unanimous feeling?
LEDGETT: It's not unanimous.


alexander.jpg
Gen. Keith Alexander
 CBS NEWS
 Among those who think making a deal is a bad idea is Leggett's boss, Gen. Keith Alexander.
GEN. KEITH ALEXANDER: This is analogous to a hostage-taker taking 50 people hostage, shooting 10 and then say, "If you give me full amnesty, I'll let the other 40 go." What do you do?
MILLER: It's a dilemma.
GEN. ALEXANDER: It is.
MILLER: Do you have a pick?
GEN. ALEXANDER: I do. I think people have to be held accountable for their actions. … Because what we don't want is the next person to do the same thing, race off to Hong Kong and to Moscow with another set of data, knowing they can strike the same deal.

We asked Gen. Alexander, Ledgett and former NSA Director Michael Hayden why the Russians would give Snowden amnesty if they already have Snowden's information, and they said they would be sadly disappointed in the intelligence services if they hadn't gotten that material.
The question is, for damage control, what's the difference between a couple of foreign governments having it -- that's bad -- or having it out there in the newspapers or across many other governments?
You can see more of this story Sunday on "60 Minutes."





EU has failed to defend Edward Snowden, says activist group

Index on Censorship claims European Union has also neglected to protect newspapers writing about mass surveillance

Edward Snowden
The Index on Censorship report says that, following the publication of NSA files obtained by whistleblower Edward Snowden, pictured, the European Union failed to issue a strong collective statement against mass surveillance. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images/The Guardian
The European Union has failed to stand up for whistleblower Edward Snowden or properly defend newspapers that have written articles about the scale of mass state surveillance, according to freedom of expression group Index on Censorship.
To mark the launch of a report on Thursday, Mike Harris, the organisation's head of advocacy, criticised the EU for failing to take a strong stance against the mass state surveillance revealed by Snowden and a range of other freedom of expression issues in Europe and elsewhere.
"No EU member state defended Edward Snowden as a whistleblower," said Harris. "The EU failed to issue a strong collective statement against mass surveillance, nor have unjust laws such as criminal defamation or national insult laws prevalent across the continent been repealed."
He said despite new powers to deal with breaches to the right of freedom of expression the EU had failed to defend newspapers such as the Guardian, which has come under intense political pressure for reporting on the scale of mass state surveillance based on Snowden's revelations.
"Media freedom in particular has come under attack – from the recent seizure of the Guardian's computers, through to the Hungarian government's clampdown on their media – all in states that have signed up to strong human rights commitments. While the EU likes to talk about the importance of 'European values', it is failing to practice what it preaches."
The Guardian, along with some of the world's other major media organisations, including the New York Times, the Washington Post and Der Spiegel, began disclosing details of the extent and reach of secret surveillance programmes run by Britain's eavesdropping centre, GCHQ, and the National Security Agency in June.
The revelations have sparked a huge debate on the scale of mass surveillance and the legal framework and oversight governing western spy agencies. Civil liberties groups have criticised the UK government for putting intense political pressure on the Guardian and other media groups covering the leaks rather than addressing the implications of the mass surveillance programmes that have been uncovered.
The report, Time to step up: the EU and freedom of expression, says the EU should have done more and also highlights its failure to take strong action in Italy under Silvio Berlusconi where there have been serious concerns around media plurality concerns or in Hungary where there has been a severe crackdown on press freedoms. It also criticises the EU's lack of support for democrats in the Middle East prior to the Arab spring, saying it failed to actively encourage and foster the spread of freedom and democracy in the region.
Harris said: "The EU has a hugely positive role to play in the world, as the home to some of the world's best places for freedom of expression and as the world's largest trading block with huge economic leverage. It is beginning to take a more proactive stance with more funding for human rights defenders and targeted sanctions on Belarus, but it can do so much more to support freedom in its neighbourhood."