Late on the evening of January 11, 2013, someone sent me an interesting email. It was encrypted, and sent from the sort of anonymous email service that smart people use when they want to hide their identity. Sitting at the kitchen table in the small cottage where I lived in Berkeley with my wife and two cats, I decrypted it.
The anonymous emailer wanted to know if I could help him communicate securely with Laura Poitras, the documentary filmmaker who had repeatedly cast a critical eye on American foreign policy.
From: anon108@■■■■■■■■■
To: Micah Lee
Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2013Micah,
I’m a friend. I need to get information securely to Laura Poitras and her alone, but I can’t find an email/gpg key for her.
Can you help?
I didn’t know it at the time, but I had just been contacted by Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency contractor who was then preparing a momentous leak of government data.
A month earlier, Snowden had anonymously emailed Glenn Greenwald, a Guardian journalist and chronicler of war-on-terror excesses, but Greenwald didn’t use encryption and didn’t have the time to get up to speed, so Snowden moved on. As is now well known, Snowden decided to contact Poitras because she used encryption. But he didn’t have her encryption key, as is necessary to send someone encrypted email, and the key wasn’t posted on the web. Snowden, extraordinarily knowledgeable about how internet traffic is monitored, didn’t want to send her an unencrypted email, even if just to ask for her key. So he needed to find someone he thought he could trust who both had her key and used encrypted email.
That was me.
And as it turned out, several months later I was drawn more deeply into the whole thing, when Snowden got back in touch and asked me to work with him to launch an online anti-surveillance petition.
Until now, I haven’t written about my modest role in the Snowden leak, but with the release of Poitras’ documentary on him, “Citizenfour,” I feel comfortable connecting the dots. I think it’s helpful to show how privacy technologists can work with sources and journalists to make it possible for leaks to happen in a secure way. Securing those types of interactions is part of my job now that I work with Greenwald and Poitras at The Intercept, but there are common techniques and general principles from my interactions with Snowden that could serve as lessons to people outside this organization.
When I got that first email, I was working as a staff technologist for the Electronic Frontier Foundation and as the chief technology officer of the Freedom of the Press Foundation. My encryption key was posted at both sites, so Snowden was able to find it easily, and the key was digitally signed by people who were well-known in the privacy world (pioneering blogger Cory Doctorow and free software champion Richard Stallman, for instance); this meant those people had digitally vouched, in a way that was incredibly difficult to forge, that the key really belonged to me and not to, say, some NSA trickster. In other words, Snowden didn’t need to worry about the key being a fake. Poitras was a founding board member of the FPF, so he assumed I would have her key, and he was right.
It wasn’t uncommon for me to receive the type of email Snowden sent — strangers send me encrypted emails all the time, requesting help. Some of those emails are from people who appear to have personal issues to work out, but the inquiry from Snowden, emailing under a pseudonym, struck me as serious. I quickly forwarded it in an encrypted email to Poitras. The encryption technology we used — the standard among email users concerned with privacy — is known by two acronyms: GPG, for GNU Privacy Guard, or PGP, for Pretty Good Privacy.
From: Micah Lee
To: Laura Poitras
Date: Sat, 12 Jan 2013Hey Laura,
This person just send me this GPG encrypted email. Do you want to respond? If you want to, and you need any help with using crypto, I’m happy to help.
Like me, Poitras was accustomed to receiving anonymous inquiries, and she recognized that this one was credible. A few hours later, she sent me a reply.
From: Laura Poitras
To: Micah Lee
Date: Sat, 12 Jan 2013Hey Micah,
Thanks for asking. Sure, you can tell this person I can be reached with GPG at: laurapoitras@gmail.com
I’ll reply with my public key.
I’m also on jabber/OTR at:
l.p.@jabber.orgI hope all is good with you!
Laura
The frustrating and ironic thing about GPG is that even experts make mistakes with it. Even, as it turns out, Edward Snowden.
I now had Poitras’ permission to send Snowden her encryption key, but in his first email to me, Snowden had forgotten to attach his key, which meant I could not encrypt my response. I had to send him an unencrypted email asking for his key first. His oversight was of no security consequence—it didn’t compromise his identity in any way—but it goes to show how an encryption system that requires users to take specific and frequent actions almost guarantees mistakes will be made, even by the best users.
After receiving Snowden’s key, I sent him an encrypted email with Poitras’ key. This enabled him to send his first encrypted email to Poitras, in which he called himself Citizenfour. But I wasn’t out of the identity-confirmation picture yet.
Snowden and Poitras quickly set up a more secure channel for communication. Poitras created an anonymous email account, doing so with the Tor Browser that masks your identity on the web, and she created a new GPG key, just for communicating with Citizenfour. This was advisable because, if she were under surveillance by the NSA or any other intelligence agency, they might have compromised her known accounts, and she would prefer for there to be no trace of her true name in the correspondence with this secrecy-seeking stranger.
But the internet is a hall of mirrors. Even though Snowden and Poitras had set up new anonymous email accounts and traded GPG keys through a trusted chain of communication, it’s still possible that something could have gone wrong. Maybe one end of the communication (either Snowden or Poitras) could have had their computer hacked, with the attacker in a position to impersonate them. Or maybe they could be victim to a man-in-the-middle attack where, for example, the NSA tricks two parties who think they’re having an encrypted conversation directly with each other into secretly having two separate encrypted conversations with the attacker, who forwards their messages along.
To be extra sure that these things weren’t happening, Snowden wanted to verify through a separate channel that he had Laura’s legitimate key. He asked Poitras to get me to tweet the fingerprint of her new GPG key.
Just a tiny bit of background: encryption keys are technically just strings of random data that scramble and unscramble information. Because these keys are too long to memorize or conveniently post on bios or put on business cards, each one has a far shorter “fingerprint” that is unique to the key. These fingerprints are just 40 characters long. To verify the new key that Poitras had sent him, Snowden needed to receive her new fingerprint from me and then compare it to the one he was using.
If the fingerprint that I tweeted didn’t match the key that Poitras sent him, that would be evidence that NSA or some other actor may be attempting a man-in-the-middle attack. If the fingerprints matched, however, he could be confident that he had her real key and no one was attacking their communication.
On January 28, Laura sent me the following encrypted email—
From: 303@riseup.net
To: Micah Lee
Date: Mon, 28 Jan 2013Hey Micah,
This is Laura Poitras.
Someone is trying to verify my fingerprint to this email. The person has proposed you tweet the fingerprint. Would you be able to tweet this to your acct:
1EBF 5F15 850C 540B 3142 F158 4BDD 496D 4C6C 5F25
Let me know if possible.
Thanks,
Laura
It might seem strange to use Twitter, a public platform, to convey crucial information, but in some circumstances it makes perfect sense. Doing a man-in-the-middle attack against encrypted email without getting caught is significantly simpler than performing an attack on a public platform that anyone in the world might notice. If NSA had hacked my Twitter account and posted the wrong fingerprint, there’s a good chance I, or one of my followers, would notice and start looking into it.
So on January 28, I tweeted Poitras’ new fingerprint:
With that, Snowden, using the handle Citizenfour, had a very secure channel for communicating with Poitras, using the email address 303@riseup.net. I assumed this would be the end of my work with him.
Encrypting Greenwald
Snowden signed off from my life, or so I thought, with a final request: He asked that I help Greenwald get encrypted. He said it was an important task, though he didn’t tell me why. He also told me that someday I would be proud of the role I was playing.
I tried to teach GPG to Greenwald but I had the same problem Snowden had encountered when he reached out in December, that Greenwald was busy and couldn’t focus on it. Several months later, however, I succeeded in getting Greenwald up to speed on using an encrypted chat system called Off-the-Record (OTR), which is much simpler than GPG. For the first time he was able to have encrypted communications on the internet.
Then, on May 9, I got an encrypted email from Poitras that was exciting and alarming.
From: Laura Poitras
To: Micah Lee
Date: Thu, 9 May 2013I’m working on something with Glenn and I really need to get him on a secure (preferably Tails) system. He does not have the technical skills to set this up himself, and I’m trying to keep things compartmentalized, so I don’t want to email him about this topic directly on a non-secure channel.
Poitras didn’t tell me what was going on, and I didn’t ask. Not who, not what. The same with Greenwald. I didn’t ask. This was basic operational security. Whatever they were doing was sensitive, and I had no need to know. Whether you’re working in the analog or digital world, this is one of the simplest and most important security practices: share secrets only with people who have to know. The fewer people who know a secret, the lower the chances are that it will be compromised.
Tails, the secure system Poitras asked me to get for Greenwald, is serious business. It’s a hardened operating system designed for people who need to be anonymous, and not a lot of people use it. The acronym stands for The Amnesic Incognito Live System. Before Poitras asked me to teach it to Greenwald, I had never used it. Crucially, everything you do in Tails is anonymous. All internet activity is routed through Tor, so by default your privacy is protected. And you run Tails directly off of a DVD or a USB stick — it is not installed on your hard drive. Since Tails operates completely independently from your hard drive and usual operating system, it offers a hefty dose of protection from malware and from anyone who might inspect your computer to look at what you’ve been doing.
It’s also a free software project, just like Tor, GPG, and OTR. That means the code is open source and can be peer reviewed, a level of transparency that makes the software resistant to backdoors, covert access points buried deep in the code.
On May 13, after creating a customized version of Tails for Greenwald, I hopped on my bike and pedaled to the FedEx office on Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley, where I slipped the Tails thumb drive into a shipping package, filled out a customs form that asked about the contents (“Flash Drive Gift,” I wrote), and sent it to Greenwald in Brazil. He received the package two weeks later, it having been delayed in transit, for what I believed to be bureaucratic rather than nefarious reasons, and the blue thumb drive actually made a cameo appearance in “Citizenfour.” For a technologist, this was a dream come true.
Snowden’s Website
Near the end of May, I received an anonymous and encrypted email from an account called “verax,” which is Latin for “truth teller.” The writer told me that he was the same person I had been in touch with several months earlier. He had a new request.
Would I help him build a website that would launch a global petition against surveillance?
I still didn’t know his name, where he was located, or what else he was up to, though clearly whatever he had going on with Poitras and Greenwald was sensitive. Because of my respect for them, I believed that anything they were going to this much trouble to accomplish was going to be worthwhile, so I agreed to build the site. I started using Tails in all my work with the contact, because I sensed that I had to take the highest security precautions possible. As Poitras had done with him in January, I created a new anonymous email account and GPG key just for communicating with him. He was glad that I did.
From: verax@■■■■■■■■■
To: ■■■■■■■■■
Date: Sat, 1 Jun 2013Got it. Good idea, btw. There are some issues with keys being used for fingerprinting as they move over the network.
He said he was writing an anti-surveillance manifesto that he wanted to post on the yet-to-be-named site, along with a petition that people could add their names to. The site would be unveiled once the journalists he was working with published their first stories. I had ample experience building privacy-respecting websites, including many online petitions for EFF. Among others, I built a petition against the draconian online copyright enforcement bill SOPA that sent more than a million emails to Congress. So this was familiar territory for me.
Working in Tails to remain anonymous while I developed the site, however, meant that this would be trickier than the web development I’d done in the past. I didn’t have access to the latest browsers I was used to, and I didn’t dare test the mobile version of the site on my smartphone. I also had concern that my coding style might betray my identity: my code for this project used similar commenting and naming conventions as other code I’d written in the past. Trying to develop software without your personal coding style is like trying to write an essay using someone else’s voice. I was also concerned that the visual designs I was creating could be compared to my work in the past.
Snowden was even more worried about detection, though I didn’t know it at the time. He expected to be quickly arrested and prevented from speaking for himself, and predicted that the government would use that silence to mischaracterize his intentions. To keep that from happening, Snowden decided to take a highly visible online stand against mass surveillance. Part of his plan included the petition website that he asked me to build.
On May 27, Snowden had his first encrypted conversation directly with Greenwald, who agreed to travel to Hong Kong with Poitras, funded by Guardian.
As my work on the site got underway, I had an encrypted chat with Poitras and mentioned what I was doing, though I didn’t give her many details; just as I didn’t need to know everything she was doing, she didn’t need to know everything I was doing. She warned me to be extremely careful, and added that a very big story was in the works. I promised to be careful.
I was in a strange position. I was working with Snowden (whose name, in late May, I still didn’t know) and I suspected he was a whistleblower working with Poitras, but I didn’t know what he was blowing the whistle on, I didn’t know a large volume of documents were involved, and I had no idea where he was located. I didn’t know, for that matter, that Greenwald and Poitras would soon be heading to Hong Kong to meet him there. My ask-no-questions cluelessness was best for all concerned.
Days later, I was having an encrypted chat with Poitras, from our anonymous accounts, and she sounded excited. “You’ll never guess where we are right now,” I remember her writing. She didn’t tell me where she was, of course, because I didn’t need to know.
Snowden and I exchanged encrypted emails to discuss the site mockup and the site’s functionality, and he let me know a bit of what was going on. “Just wanted to provide an update on the work out here,” he emailed me on June 3. “Had an extremely productive meeting with two journalists today you may know, and will encounter a third tomorrow [Ewen MacAskill, a Guardian reporter who joined Greenwald and Poitras at the last moment]. After discussion, may hold off on the declaration for a few more days to give them time to work first.”
He told me his name, so that I could attach his signature to the end of the manifesto. This was about a week before the rest of the world would learn who he was. Using Tor, I searched the internet for Edward Snowden, but I couldn’t find anything. I checked LinkedIn, I checked Facebook, I think I even checked Twitter, and I found nothing. Who was this guy?
I learned more from the manifesto he sent me. It chilled my spine. He wrote about ubiquitous surveillance by not just the NSA but the intelligence agencies in the “Five Eyes” alliance: Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the U.S. He wrote about privacy and the lack of accountability, and what this means to democracy around the world. I still didn’t know exactly what he was leaking, but I could tell it would be big.
It turned out that he wasn’t familiar with the subtleties of using Twitter in petition campaigns. Due to my work at EFF, I knew that one of the things that can make a campaign go viral is offering a pre-written tweet to people who sign your petition and allowing them to send that tweet from their own account with just a couple of clicks. People often post these tweets, and that’s almost more helpful than their signatures since it vastly increases the campaign’s visibility. I explained this to Snowden, and also explained that it was really important to have a good hashtag for the campaign. He got it immediately, thanked me for pointing this out, and suggested the following Twitter template:
“This tweet is being monitored. Join me in breaking the back of the internet spy machine: https://www.supportonlinerights.com #HiNSA #HiGCHQ”
Snowden decided that the site should be called supportonlinerights.com, and we got to work registering it and finding a hosting company. But we ran into trouble paying for the registration and hosting. Snowden was using his real name and email address (edsnowden@lavabit.com) and his own credit cards — he was not yet an international fugitive — but he was also using Tor, and this caused problems. Tor protects your identity by routing your web activity through a number of nodes, so that the site you are in touch with does not know your IP address or where you connect to the Internet from. But this creates a problem when you want to pay a bill, because the use of Tor can trigger fraud warnings with corporate payment departments, since Tor links your traffic to IP addresses that might be flagged as sources of abuse.
The company through which Snowden was registering his domain name and hosting his site, Dreamhost, initially rejected his credit cards. This led to a funny situation. Snowden, in his Hong Kong hotel room, wasn’t just discussing government secrets with Greenwald, Poitras and MacAskill. He was also chatting online with customer support. Trying to troubleshoot these problems, I checked the complaint logs he had opened and noticed that he explained he was using Tor because he was traveling overseas and didn’t trust the local ISPs. Eventually he prevailed and his credit cards were accepted. Here is the original registration record in the internet’s “WHOIS” system:
I was a bit nervous at the time, and my wife was very nervous, because the government does not look kindly on whistleblowers and the people who work with them. For security reasons, we were in a bubble. I hadn’t told any of my co-workers at EFF that I was building a website for a whistleblower. So there weren’t a lot of people to turn to for advice or comfort. Nonetheless, I was quite excited, especially after Greenwald’s first story was published on June 5, revealing a secret NSA program to collect massive amounts of domestic phone data. I finally knew what Snowden was leaking.
“Big news today, huh?” I emailed him. “How are you doing?”
He responded quickly.
From: verax@■■■■■■■■■
To: ■■■■■■■■■
Date: Thu, 6 Jun 2013Oh, that old thing? That could have come from anywhere..
Timing is everything on this, and we aren’t close to finished. It’s encouraging to see prominent civil rights organizations already calling for change, and I’m hopeful that maybe this time, things will be different.
Come Monday, people will have something to be angry about. I think that will be the day. Please feel free to criticize the draft as much as you’d like: it needs to be something people are willing to give words to their own feelings.
The next few days brought a blitz of headline-grabbing stories about NSA surveillance from Greenwald, Poitras, and MacAskill as well as the The Washington Post’s Barton Gellman, who received documents from Snowden even though he hadn’t made the risky trip to Hong Kong. On June 9, there was another thunderbolt: Greenwald, MacAskill, and Poitras broke the news that Edward Snowden was their source, releasing a 12-minute interview with him in which he explained his motivations.
At this point I was terrified. What if he got arrested and extradited to the U.S.? What if he were forced into solitary confinement for long stretches, as had happened to Chelsea Manning? What if he was tortured or killed?
I also worried about properly shepherding the project with which he had entrusted me. What was the contingency plan for the petition website? If he was arrested, should I unilaterally launch supportonlinerights.com?
“I hope you’re safe and doing well,” I emailed Snowden. “In case anything happened to you, what would you like me to do with the website?”
The site was ready to go. At the time, I was using the Declaration of Independence as a placeholder for the manifesto; for security reasons, I didn’t want to load the manifesto until the launch. Here’s what it looked like:
On the same day the interview was posted, Gellman published the “Verax” handle while Snowden was still using it. This caused me great concern. When Snowden reached out in late May asking me to build the petition website, he initially emailed my public email address from his Verax address. I had tried hard to have no traceable connection to Snowden, but now the FBI and NSA knew his handle and were, I believed, in a position to search their massive surveillance databases to find his full email address and perhaps the email addresses he had communicated with, including mine. While I knew that I hadn’t broken any laws, I became worried that I would receive a knock on the door. I could deal with that — the EFF is, after all, filled with lawyers — but my wife was quite scared for me.
I was unable to concentrate on anything else as I waited to hear from Snowden. Due to Gellman’s story, I wasn’t sure whether he was still using his “Verax” address. (Gellman later told me that he didn’t — and doesn’t — think he put anyone at risk, and that he carefully weighed the decision to publish the “verax” handle.)
On June 13, after he had parted ways with Greenwald and Poitras and gone underground in Hong Kong, he finally emailed me.
From: verax@■■■■■■■■■
To: ■■■■■■■■■
Date: Thu, 13 Jun 2013I’m still here. As you may have heard, I’m on the run. Tons of surveillance, media, and less savory teams crawling all over this place…
I have a new draft for the site, but I keep revising it. Hold off on any action for now. I’m thinking something major may happen on Saturday and give us a venue to bring this to the fore.
Thank you again for all of your help and support. I’m sorry this has become so dangerous for everyone involved, but I suppose this is precisely what needed to be illustrated about our government. Let’s hope people reign it back in.
We never launched the website. When it became clear that Snowden wasn’t immediately getting arrested or prevented from communicating, and that the U.S. government wasn’t forcibly denying the public an accurate understanding of what he did and what his motivations were, he decided the website was no longer necessary. He never wanted the story to be about himself anyway, preferring instead that the public debate stay focused on NSA spying.
Teaching Snowden’s Lessons
After the dust settled, I sat down to write a simple tutorial for using the open source tools that allowed me, Poitras, Greenwald, and Snowden to communicate securely, and I ended up with a 30-page whitepaper called Encryption Works: How to Protect Your Privacy in the Age of NSA Surveillance. I took the name from Snowden’s now-famous quote: “Encryption works. Properly implemented strong crypto systems are one of the few things that you can rely on. Unfortunately, endpoint security is so terrifically weak that NSA can frequently find ways around it.”
The post-Snowden world is a different place. While the NSA and its allied spy agencies still have very little accountability, and while their leaders can still lie to Congress without consequence, they’re no longer operating in the dark. The internet is enjoying a renaissance of security research to try to fix the major technical holes spy agencies have been exploiting for over a decade, and companies are demanding the right to protect the privacy of their users and to challenge gag orders. Lawsuits against NSA are finally moving through the courts, when before they were stalled.
In January 2014 Edward Snowden became the newest board member of Freedom of the Press Foundation, joining Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, as well as Poitras, Greenwald, myself, and others.
Snowden was right. I am proud of the role that I played in shining light on the global espionage apparatus.
Intercept senior writer Peter Maass and assistant research editor Alleen Brown contributed to this report.
Interesting article, thanks.
So do anyone from the Feds ever contact you (i.e., Micah)?
(i would speculate the feds did not b/c you did not mention it).
When did you “out” yourself to the EFF? What was there reaction?
Thanks again.
I’ve never been contacted by the government about any of this. And I “outed” myself to most people at EFF on October 28, when I published this story (that’s the same time I told most people at the Intercept too, for that matter). Everyone was quite surprised.
It’s not clear to me what mistake Snowden is supposed to have made with respect to GPG.
It was very minor. He sent me an encrypted message but didn’t include a copy of his public key, so I couldn’t send him an encrypted message back. I had to send him a plaintext message asking for his public key first.
Moments after posting this, they just broke into the network of a community of …
I used PGP back in ’93 or ’94, and it worked just fine. Then some idiot ‘yanked’ the PGP file/executable in 2003 the moment I plugged the Zip drive that contained a bunch of files, mostly college stuff, including PGP. But that was not all…
Entire folders containing perfectly legal and non-proprietary technical files from such ‘terrorist’ websites as Microsoft, ARM, IBM that millions of ‘terrorist’ computer and software engineering technicians, programmers, and hardware engineers access routinely as part of their trade, began vanishing from the desktop, just minutes after copying files into them.
All this after I discovered a virtual rootkit on my system; complete with code and comments (for crying out loud) and meticulously documented how it worked from observations of the behaviour of the system post infection. Then with a little assembly snippet, found a fax number…
They manipulated BIOS. Accessed the HPA where the rogue code was installed. This area, according to the BEER std, was to be used exclusively for restore files and supposed to be invisible even to the OS. This is where the rootkit code was installed. Rogue and unsigned drivers were then loaded and all control of the system lost, including all I/O ports. Registry mangled…
Windows Update process was hijacked; Symantec suite’s very UI cloned…and much, much more…
Today they torture me to no end. Yet I shall use PGP or any other encryption system in the protection of my perfectly legal files and in the protection of my privacy rights. Until the day they kill me…
This reads like a combo of Cryptonomicon and a John Le Carre book. I am all in favor of encrypting communications. I even spent a month recuperating from a broken pelvis and 2 broken kneecaps, teaching my self Solitaire – the one-time encryption method available both on-line from Neal Stevenson’s web site, and in his book Cryptonomicon.
After laboriously shuffling cards, assigning letters, and encrypting some brief notes it suddenly dawned on me: at 77, I am more likely to be under 24 hour surveillance in a Nursing Home than stuck in Gitmo. On top of which, my communications consist of stuff like “Gone Shopping”, “Feed the Dogs”, or the title of the last book I read.
Not that I think privacy isn’t needed. We all are entitled to it. I will download this info, and learn how to use it, because I may need to in the future. I also practice shuffling cards – Just in case. Thanks for a great article, and a peek at what goes on behind the scenes.
Alan Turing would be proud of you! And that idea is something to really cherish.
One weird trick….
I have been under NSA surveillance since 2003. In January of 2009 I gave birth to a healthy baby boy who weighed 8 pounds and 3 ounces at birth and 8 pounds and 13 ounces the next day when we left the hospital.The nurses kept him in the cleaning area for almost an hour and I had to send someone to retrieve him. He has moments when he speaks like a 40 year old man and not a five year old child.I hate this! I know who my gang-stalkers are and I want to get out.Can you help me and my family?
The fact of the matter is narcotics dealers, pedophiles, terrorists, foreign governments and “lone wolves” can and will use your NSA “leaks” to harm others and sell their poison. Moreover, I have no doubt that criminals around the globe will run out and buy an iPhone or new Android phone because Apple and Google have said they will never provide access to their new encrypted devices, even with a warrant. That protects future Snowdens, as well as the heroin and child pornography dealers of the world. You know that, but don’t seem to care.
These new Apple and Android systems will help sell hundreds of thousands or millions of devices– worth hundreds of millions or billions of dollars– but I don’t really think for a minute that it’s really in the best interest of public safety.
Another fact of the matter is anyone that wanted to use encryption prior to the leaks could learn everything they needed to know to do so anyway. AQ was already using encryption, they had(still use?) a program developed and coded by the group itself. There was already programs to encrypt anything anyone wanted to encrypt. The information is widely available on how to make a secure encryption algorithm. The encryption on IPhone and Android was already there, waiting to be activated. The only difference is it is now enabled by default
Your a government shill spreading propaganda. Your entire first paragraph convinces me of this.
If not, you need to learn how to use the internet to be able to do simple searches to get information that is available to anyone that wants to gain the information. Ever heard the internet being called or referenced to as the Information Superhighway?
The fact of the matter is narcotics dealers, pedophiles, terrorists, foreign governments and “lone wolves” can and will use your NSA “leaks” to harm others and sell their poison.
The fact of the matter is that the U.S. government is a thousand times more likely to end your life or otherwise cause you serious problems, than all the narcotics dealers, pedophiles, terrorists, foreign governments and “lone wolves” put together. If you can’t see that, it’s your loss: many of us do, and we will act to fix the problem no matter how much clueless sycophants like you object.
The rational for the police state keeps changing, like the rationale for the Iraq war did. But there was initially only one rationale for Hayden and Cheney–to get dirt on politicians for the purpose of blackmail. The core of the NSA program is treasonous, and no amount of petty criminality can justify it.
J C i am watching u, send me an encripted code how u secretly make, and sell your illegal wine, so i can make mine :)
Relax Chicken Little the sky is not falling.
You try to scare people with the “narcotics dealers, pedophiles, terrorists, foreign governments and lone wolves” bogymen to justify pervasive and unconstitutional government surveillance. Only a fool would be persuaded by such a childish argument, and it only serves to discredit you as an honest, thoughtful person in the debate.
“On May 13, after creating a customized version of Tails for Greenwald, I hopped on my bike and pedaled to the FedEx office on Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley, where I slipped the Tails thumb drive into a shipping package, filled out a customs form that asked about the contents (“Flash Drive Gift,” I wrote), and sent it to Greenwald in Brazil. He received the package two weeks later, it having been delayed in transit, for what I believed to be bureaucratic rather than nefarious reasons…”
Somethings up with the Brazilian postal system/customs. Last time I mailed a first class package to Brasilia, it took 3 months to reach it’s destination.
We sponsored a child years ago and mail both ways always took about three month.
What a cool story.
Great job all around Micah.
Great job Micah! You should be proud that you helped the hero Snowden.
Not strongly related but… talking about ‘The Guardian’… I am happy that The Intercept hasn’t fallen into Guardian’s slimetrap yet and I hope it will never/ever censor whatever debate might take place inside your comments sections. I know it’s hard to resist the temptation but it’s not impossible.
Guardian chose to ban my account yesterday and it did so withing MINUTES me me posting a note on one of their fearless pro-abortion pieces, pimping the ‘safe’ abortions. I only observed that, whether deemed safe or not, the baby’s or fetus’ mortality rate approaches 100%. That was all. Two minutes later, when I tried to post another comment, wondering whether ‘the woman right to do with her body as she pleases’ should also apply to the woman/baby girl fetuses but, alas, my account was banned by then.
Allowing people with biases to decide what views everyone else should see is beyond stupid. It’s dangerous.
An, no. I am NOT a Christian extremist. I do care about freedom and the truth.
For my bet you’re just a bad liar.
For my bet you’re just a typical liberal bigot and probably a homosexual.
Great story, great work and very well told.
Thank you for all your work, your spirit and for sharing this journey with us.
And send my thanks to the rest of your team which includes your wife too.
I wait in earnest for the genuine leaders in our nation (yet to be) to thank you.
Thank you, Micah. Inspirational!
I just saw this troubling article at The Guardian. Talk about overreach. Why aren’t more people up and arms about stuff like this?
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/oct/29/fbi-powers-hacking-computers-surveillance
Feline thanks for the Guardian article. I just read it and although the content is no laughing matter, I found myself laughing at a suggestion by one commenter there that he/she now knows why Verizon is so eager to up this person’s computer speed: so they can mop up the data fast, presumably, to aid the FBT (paraphrased).
Feline thanks for the Guardian article. I just read it and although the content is no laughing matter, I found myself laughing at a suggestion by one commenter there that he/she now knows why Verizon is so eager to up this person’s computer speed: so they can mop up the data fast and quick, presumably to aid the FBI (paraphrased).
Glad you found the article of interest. That one poster may be humorous, but there may be some truth in her observation. Sad that we have to be so cynical.
Serious congratulations on this article, I think it is good writing as well. Eye opening and educational. I don’t worry too much about surveillance, I’m always innocent of everything.
I just love the government-hating conservatives who don’t trust the government to collect and distribute taxpayer dollars fairly, or think vaccinations are a commie plot, or who posture as advocates of personal (and corporate, of course) liberty, but are the first ones to cave and be willing to sacrifice our constitutionally-guaranteed freedoms when the government issues (often phony) terrorism threats and demands that private corporations commit crimes for the state. The real heroes–like Lee, Greenwald, Poitras and Scahill–are literally risking their very lives attempting to somehow, against a totally stacked deck, expose and rein in the abuses of the virtually accountable-free government the right supposedly hates so much.
I’d like to hear a conservative reconcile their distain for government intrusion while being the first to crumble when the state yells FIRE. This certainly would have to be a very confusing mindset. Maybe the source of this mentality is an attraction to or love of authority that was rubbed into their souls like some type of mental or emotional balm when they were very young–like religion is. Seems plausible to me, given the enormous authority-worshipping contingent on the right that is also hyper-religious and equally Patriotic, though blindly, and thus dangerously, so.
The four journalists above, and all who are willing to take enormous personal risks for the betterment of our democracy, are the heroes of our time. I believe history will bear that out. I also believe very strongly that it’s a watershed time for our country and we’re now at the dreaded fork-in-the-road with our very democracy at stake. Moreover, the secrecy, lack of accountability, spying, lying and other abuses of our government are the vehicles moving us closer to the point of no return. Some say those conditions mean we’re already there. Maybe we are, but I still like to think that with Lee, Glenn, Laura, Scahill and others watch-dogging and exposing the crimes and abuses of a government that dislikes, disrespects and distrusts its own citizens, there is a chance–a very slim chance–that the majority will prevail.
What makes the chances of the people’s success so uncertain, of course, is the unholy melding of government and corporate money and talent that the people can’t possibly match. Thus the need for private benefactors like Pierre Omidyar, who is responsible for financing so much of the new online media. He is to be thanked and commended for this and, hopefully, be an inspiration to other moneyed people around the country worried about the direction of our nation and want to do something about it. We are in debt to all of those who try.
It’s anon108@tormail.org as we learned from KM Gallagher on Twitter back in May 2014.
Why are you guys being so precious with blacking out these email addresses?
John Cryptome and KM Gallagher already tweeted back in May 2014 that it was anon108@tormail.com
I see John deleted his tweet but KM’s is still there:
https://twitter.com/ageis/status/466281946633732096
Awesome. I was looking for a way to transport my illegal shite without having to worry about the big bad gub-mint. And a shout out to Eddie, whose gifts to the Russian/Chinese governments have set off a firestorm of cyber attacks from those very same countries, for keeping those evil law enforcement jerks too busy to worry about my illegalities. What a dude!
Well, they still (by all accounts) have all your ‘illegalities’ stored to look at when they want – they COLLECT IT ALL – so don’t be too comfortable.
I understand there is a lot of confusion about law enforcement/intelligence and what each agency does. The FBI is responsible for domestic law enforcement for Federal crimes (there are additional agencies such as IRS, Secret Service, DEA etc…). FBI expanded their domestic intelligence capabilities after 9/11. Some argue they should be more focussed on law enforcement and they aren’t particularly well suited for intelligence work. The reason the FBI expanded their domestic intelligence activities is because the CIA, which is responsible for foreign intelligence, is prohibited from operating domestically within the United States. They have a bad rep from scandals in the 60’s-90’s and it would have been politically impossible to expand their domestic powers. The military is also prohibited from operating domestically against American citizens. The National Security Agency (NSA) is military, as is the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). The difference is that George W. Bush signed executive orders for DIA and NSA to operate domestically after 9/11.
Now the big problem is the complete lack of oversight of the NSA, DIA, DARPA and all of the black budgets within the Defense Department (and contractors), including the CIA. But keep in mind, CIA has had scandals, so they are a bit more careful. These other agencies have never seen the light of day.
We are relying on internal Inspector Generals at the various agencies to make sure these groups (such as NSA) haven’t gone completely off the reservation. Only a handful of congressmen have the clearance to provide any oversight at all. It’s not clear if anyone at FBI or DOJ (law enforcement) other than the AG or Director have the clearance to even walk in the door of these “other agencies and their contractors”, let alone investigate. This leaves entire groups within the government essentially above the law.
This is very dangerous situation…for everyone. I’ve just seen Citizenfour. I am personally floored by how and why every news outlet in the United States is ignoring the claim that there is a NSA “suspect list”, that consists of 1.2 million American citizens.
By the way Micah, excellent technical advice. Thank you, I will do my best to learn the basics.
Yeah, and that’s why the sane people outside this little world refer to this place as the tinfoil home.
Expecting some oversight of the black budgets in DOD, their contractors and intelligence agencies is equated with wearing a ‘tinfoil hat” in your world? You mean anyone who points out that it’s crazy to spend 4 trillion dollars on GWOT with no accountability is “crazy”.
How much do you get paid for your psyops work? You know they pay the low level Stasi grunts on the street with $100 gift cards and they’re recruited from low level criminals with misdemeanors and recovering drug addicts at 12 step meetings? Wow, great company or do you not know what your comrades on the ground are doing. The program is highly compartmentalized. Anyway, I’m sure you get paid much more than a $100 gift card.
Here’s an idea for oversight that would solve the problem of having people within the DOD and the intelligence community having no option but to leak information to the press. Rather than just have the the “honor code” as the only restraint within are various military and intelligence agencies, they need the threat of some serious jail time. Since many members of Congressional Intelligence committees take large donations from the Defense Department contractors, the very groups they should be overseeing, it doesn’t make sense to have them as the only group responsible for oversight. You never know who is going to be elected President, so oversight should not be left to the Executive Branch either.
I would suggest setting up a task force to investigate under DOJ (assuming everyone in the Justice Department isn’t corrupt as well). It would give whistleblowers a place to go and create an atmosphere where there are real penalties for abuse. People could be added to the task force, depending on the type of investigation that is warranted, for example IRS, Treasury-Secret Service, FBI etc. The members of the task force could be given a temporary level of clearance required to investigate the allegations of abuse and prosecute as necessary.
Does that sound like “tin foil hat” to you As*#hole? Or are you afraid you might be one of the first people investigated/arrested if the rule of law is ever reestablished in this country?
Agency 39 (ask Binney) must be really pissed off about something. Because they damn near killed me this afternoon. Hit the nail on the head, did I?
@luvbrothel –
“Collect it all” comes from the NSA’s own documents, not from “this place,” you fool.
Do you actually think your making a point that would cause one to rethink his/her position? If so, you’re seriously mistaken.
My experience is that the low level stasi grunts and the psyops teams are not fully aware of the vast illegality of their behavior. For example, the military is explicitly prohibited from using psyops online or on the ground against American citizens, but they do it all day long. It’s possible they are using military contractors to skirt the rules. These state actors are betting (and often brag) that their crimes will never be prosecuted. They don’t care about the people they harm, but they do care about going to jail. When you add up the criminal conspiracy charges, attempted murder, felony gang assault, terrorism (I do believe there is a political goal), international terrorism (following their target overseas), computer tampering, breaking and entering etc…The people orchestrating “the program” are looking at multiple life sentences, IF they are ever prosecuted. If they are not prosecuted and as word spreads of their criminal actions, people will continue to lose trust in their government and we will see more scenes like in Ferguson, but on a much wider and more dangerous scale.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_h_-1a1Zkuw
Above is a link to a youtube video that will give you an outline of the extrajudicial targeting program. “Gangstalking” is probably a made up psyops term to make targets seem crazy. The street stalking appears to be an attempt to discredit and destabilize targets, test surveillance equipment and ultimately test classified military weapons on non-consensual human subjects. The street goons, the surveillance, the military weapons are all future means of controlling the population. NSA surveillance is only one piece of the puzzle.
Agency 39 was the code name for the NSA…Fuck you! Really, I’ve had enough.
There’s an incredible trend going on among the Five Eyes (anglo) nations, the USA, UK, Can, Aus and NZ. They’re all exposed by the Snowden revelations of their global mass surveillance, and are doubling down in response.
The NZ PM (Key) was exposed as a liar by Snowden, but was reelected anyway. Harper (and Baird) are like 5e cheerleaders. Cameron is increasingly delusional and Obama is on autopilot,
The anglo world has a lot to answer for, don’t you think? We’ve invaded, bombed and even destroyed a dozen Muslim countries since 9/11 alone.
What is this? A crusade?
Apparently we’re supposed to think we’re actually ‘better’ than select ‘others.’ It’s all gone quite weird. (Especially as it’s happening *inside* the anglo world, too, with political opponents railing madly against each others’ merely cosmetic measures while the corporatist/militarist train ploughs along regardless on both tracks.)
I just do not get what we anglos are doing. It is like suicide.
Agreed. It isn’t reasonable. It’s greed and fear, mixed with perverse dynasties and nepotism, empowered by a corruption of militarist corporatism.
We (all across the world) need people in power who can think ahead and see a much bigger picture.
@Cindy – I wanted to take a moment to sincerely thank you for your input here. My comment is assuming that you are the same Cindy that mentioned here that for half your life our country has been at war, prompting another here about twice your years to note the same dilemma as well.
I’m of the latter category also, and certainly feel your frustration with finding a way forward. I certainly do not want to sound patronizing, but not knowing your background and what you have studied my advice would be to, as often as you can, look to reading and watching talks from Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald, Lawrence Lessig, Richard Labunski, Sanford Levinson and others that do offer both ideas for change as well as a historical context to place what we are currently going through into some perspective.
“We’ve forgotten much. How to struggle, how to rise to dizzy heights and sink to unparalleled depths. We no longer aspire to anything. Even the finer shades of despair are lost to us. We’ve ceased to be runners. We plod from structure to conveyance to employment and back again. We live within the boundaries that science has determined for us. The measuring stick is short and sweet. The full gamut of life is a brief, shadowy continuum that runs from gray to more gray. The rainbow is bleached. We hardly know how to doubt anymore.”
– Richard Matheson
Thanks, Sillyputty. Astute quotation, too, from an author I greatly admire.
Cindy you wrote: “Nanotechnology AS YOU DESCRIBE it does not exist.” Your ignorance of the existence of advanced WEAPONIZED VERSIONS of nanotechnologies that are used to torture innocent people does not imply that the technologies do not exist. Be advised that these are not your run of the mill type available commercially.
Although I would never wish these horrors on my worst enemy, let alone non-enemy like yourself, I am certain that the torturers who no doubt have their operatives here monitoring every word, would be glad to indulge you with the experience if you wish to know for sure. Experience is the best teacher they say…
And you say you are not our enemy? Well start acting like a non-enemy. Proof of the pudding?
BTW thanks. Each time you rant, it’s just another opportunity for me to expose the mind control torture.
It is suicide, in slow motion. The critical point will be reached when, after having lost so many opportunities to build collective security and a truly just and peaceful world, they (the major western powers) will be confronted with a power their equal (probably Russia) and will be unable to reverse course. When that point is reached–and here it is wise to be planning for the future–it will be preferable to be living in the southern hemisphere.
There is a very simple trick for encryption and decryption that I had made up more than three decades ago, back when IBM still owned PCDOS. At that time I was fluent with assembly language programming. Those days you had to pretty much write and compile your own programs if you wanted to do do anything beyond using Lotus123, Wordstar or dBase.
The trick was to first write the text in an ACSII “message” file using a text editor like Notepad (my favorite was Norton Editor). After that I would run the encryption program. My encryption program would open this ASCII “message” file and also simultaneously open two more “encryption” files of my choosing. For the encryption files I would specify certain start points from the beginning that I would note down, but at least after the first 100 bytes (since the first 100 bytes carried standard characters which could be used to identify my encryption files). Then my program would simply read sequentially the ASCII value M of each byte from message file, add to it the ACSII value A of the first encryption file, subtract from it the ASCII value B of the second encryption file, and write the resulting ASCII value M+(A-B) into an encrypted file. This process can be made more complicated by skipping bytes or doing some gymnastics with the encryption files. Decryption is very simple – just reverse the process. M+(A-B)-(A-B) = M.
Now, if I I wanted to send Micah the messageM I can send this M+(A-B) file as an attachment through my yahoo account. Micah would NOT be able to decrypt it, but he can use exactly an identical process that I used, and garble up the message even further to M+(A-B)+(C-D) and then send it back to me. From this garbled message I can remove my own encryption using my decryption routine, that is M+(A-B)+(C-D)-(A-B) = M+(C-D), which is thankfully still garbled. Note that the message M+(C-D) is now left with only Micah’s encryption. If I now send it back to him once again, he can easily decrypt it and get my message, M+(C-D)-(C-D) = M.
This process does not require use of any encryption tools supplied by any other compromised person or company – just the two program that is about 20 lines long that the user can open and check out, and can be written in any interpreted language like gcc. It does not require any knowledge of the other person’s password or key. As long as you don’t connect the machine containing the encryption routine and the unencrypted files to the internet you should be safe. There are some more precautions you should follow in the event that someone comes knocking, but by then you are pretty much in hot water, and maybe there are easier methods to get to all your messages other than decrypting files.
And if you are any Muslim or similar terrorist, you are much better off reforming yourself and having a healthy attitude towards your neighbors rather than attempting to send or receive encrypted files. For me it was simply a technical challenge in those days when other forms of encryption never existed.
Good luck!
TAILS from the encrypt, with your encrypt-keeper General Oldschool.
How do you know Tails or Cryptkeeper (not encrypt-keeper?) isn’t compromised? Also, there is really no need to know ANYbody’s ANYkey …
An interesting notion. More simply, you and your correspondent could just generate a OTP of the proper length for each message and XOR. Of course, it’s subject to MITM.
As for Tails, well, there’s no way to be sure that your operating system and hardware aren’t compromised, is there? Unless you build the machine yourself from a bunch of low-level components, write your own OS, and keep the whole thing in a vault.
D’oh. And (M^X)^(M^Y)^(M^X^Y)=M.
First law of crypto: crypto is always harder than you think it is.
Hercules: Suppose that someone is reading your emails (which is the whole point after). After you have exchanged messages with your interlocutor, the hacker now has access to
M + (A – B)
M + (C – D)
M + (A – B) + (C – D)
Now they can perform [M + (A – B) + (C – D)] – [M + (A – B)] – [M + (C – D)] = -M
If they have -M, you’re sunk.
What’s transmitted are not the numbers but the ASCII characters that have values between 0 to 255. Negative ASCII value is meaningless. Same thing with ASCII values more than 254. Usually, after any of the operations that I mentioned, the character would be a valid one; that is, having values between 0 and 255.
You may be right, Andrew. However, it depends on whether the interceptor is aware of the procedure necessary to extract the information. Also, the files can be easily made to have a structure and extension of .bmp files, so anyone intercepting the emails would see some pictures being exchanged.
Sorry GH, you’re just being naïve now. Read this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerckhoffs%27s_principle
one point that potential users of gpg should be mindfull of, when generating a key two are generated, the public key(which can be published or given to people you want to maintain contact with) and the Private key. NEVER EVER mix the two up.!! the private key is exactly that PRIVATE KEEP IT THAT WAY!!
Thank you for this interesting article, for “How Encryption Works” and for your courage to support Edward Snowden’s cause since day one. I have only helped to uncover a minor scandal of a small party, but we two were put under amazing pressure with the result that my fellow-campaigner got schizophrenia – I had overestimated his strength and always encouraged him not to give up. Nobody dared to help us, and I got a bit paranoid myself when a stranger rang and asked to fetch the computer with the incriminating party data. I can imagine how you and your wife must have felt and how your joie de vivre was severely reduced. It may be still very difficult for many Americans to understand why Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning are seen as role models in the rest of the world, but sooner or later they will realize that they are pioneering young cosmopolitans who risked everything to make their country – and the rest of the world – a better place.
Mmmm, cosmopolitans…just the thing for restoring that ol joie de vivre!
I do not read advertisements — I would spend all my time wanting things.
Chelsea Manning. Wonder how she is doing in solitary. For the rest of her life.
What insanity. Which the rest of us write off.
Some more news unrelated to the article but relevant to a past TI article about the Terrorist Watchlist
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/10/28/snowden-attorney-calls-for-probe-into-leaks-about-leak-probe
https://news.yahoo.com/feds-identify-suspected–second-leaker–for-snowden-reporters-165741571.html
Terrorist,
I see your preferred reference is The Patriot’s Standard Dictionary. Do all stasi rats get a free copy during orientation? How much did I pay for it?
Thanks for the great article. It was really interesting
More than 36 years of cooking for her makes my wife’s worst worries an easy target of her favorite foods. Tip to the wise…
Thank you, sir.
Nicely done!
Great! Now maybe he can teach you to downsample your images before posting them on website! ;)
(I’ve noticed this is a frequent problem with Intercept articles.)
“…on *the* website”, that is.
Maybe Ed Snowden can teach *me* to type! (Then I can teach him the difference between “reign” and “rein”!)
Reign, rein and rain; site, sight and cite…
I remember hearing something about the homophonia in Russia… ;^)
I remember hearing something about the homophobia in Alabama, Arkansas, Texas, New York, Boston… I remember hearing something about homophobia in the US and Saudi Arabia…
Every year the US releases a certainly unbiased report of the human rights violations in China. Every year China releases a certainly unbiased report on human rights violations in the US. Would you doubt that both reports hold truths and falsities?
I watched the HBO documentary about the domestic terror campaigned waged in Russia by non-governmental organizations who are not state actors. It is unquestionable that the Russian authorities have not prosecuted these thugs for crimes against humanity, and that speaks volumes about the state of democracy in Russia. However, Darren Wilson walking freely without a federal indictment deems a far greater level of state sponsored terror against black communities RIGHT HERE IN THE US! But, I will say it again… When Russia is atheist they are bad. When Russia is Orthodox they are bad. Is Russia ever good to those who look through the thick and foggy goggles of Cold War rhetoric? Also, considering that you have watched this documentary, what did you think about both the level of access for the directors, and the responses from the homophobic thugs?
What appeared obvious as the light of day to me was that these Russian thugs who spread terror through the gay community in Russia should be prosecuted, and, although they are guilty of crimes committed, as per video evidence, we should not be afraid to analyze what they say in the film, however disturbing it may be. Was it not obvious to you that these young Russian thugs were scapegoating the gay community of Russia because if they actually turned and looked at their own domestic affairs they would no longer be ganging up 10 on 1, but the tides would be turned against them by the state. Don’t obfuscate the situation, and have the courage to distinguish between state and non-state actors across the board.
If you want to crusade for the gay community, I suggest you begin with your own backyard, otherwise it appears as propagandistic as PussyRiot gyrating at a Madonna concert!
[Whooshing sound as the joke sails straight over Blacklisted’s head.]
(NFJTAKFA actually wrote “homopho*n*ia”, as in homophones, i.e. words that are spelled differently but sound the same, like “rein”, “reign” and “rain”, “sight”, “cite” and “site”, etc.)
Encrypted email from Silicon Valley; Wheeler gone; Taibbi history. John Cook fails Omidyar….next up?
Encryption for dummies …
Now look, Micah, it’s true; Glenn don’t know a lot, but what he knows he knows well. Give him a few more years and even his hounds won’t be able to recognize him (online).
*And lets not forget the real reason Snowden chose Greenwald (hint, it’s not because of his encryption skills.). Glenn *wants* Obama’s bush-league NSA, CIA, DNI etc., etc., to read what he writes. In no uncertain terms (I’ve got those same feelings myself.).
ps. Fascinating article Micah … and love that geek-photo of you and virtual Snowden.
Re: Micah Lee
Thanks for a very thoughtful and humble explanation of the important role you played in this ongoing historical event, and for lending your skills and expertise to THE//INTERCEPT and the EFF, and to furthering all of our better understanding.
“Work is love made visible.” KG
As Usual,
EA
41:53:43:49:49:20:65:6e:63:72:79:70:74:69:6f:6e:20:69:73:20:75:6e:63:72:61:63:6b:61:62:6c:65:21
54:65:63:68:6e:69:63:61:6c:6c:79:20:74:68:61:74:27:73:20:65:6e:63:6f:64:69:6e:67:2c:20:6e:6f:74:20:65:6e:63:72:79:70:74:69:6f:6e:2e:20:3a:29
44:4f:48:21
Have you forgotten your password again, Benitoe?
It’s happening again!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWa0dZMHYeE
No, I never forget my password (123).
I devised what I thought was a perfect encryption system, and decided to call it ASCII, but Micah cracked it with ease and then told me it was merely an encoding system. So I guess I’d better stick with my day job.
123 … what a co-incidence!
*i’m very impressed you and Micah worked that out in a couple of short comment post @ TI. Now, if it’s not too much trouble, … I would like to hear music playing every time I walk into this joint, for starters.
Great work, I admire your humble strength , courage, and determination with everything you did. World needs more brave people like Micah Lee , Glen Greenwald, Laura Poitras,Chelsea Manning ,Edward Snowden and Julian Assange. RIP Aaron Swartz, you will always be remembered. Thank You for making our world a better place.
Do you like to train drug dealers and pedophiles to smuggle, too? You’re obviously good at aiding thieves like Snowden and Dotcom.
I’d bet lots of criminals have benefited from your work. Are you really proud of that?
Is that you Mr. FBI Director? Yes, only concerned with the children right?
Yup. Blatant hypocrisy!
Child trafficking for sexual abuse is so well covered from ALL sides & since long well established. No encryption needed. A sad reality!
I don;t work for the government, Stephen, as confusing as that may seem to you. Like so many other Snowden/Greenwald you’re exceedingly paranoid and that causes you to make a variety of factual errors.
You’re probably also young but, to me, that’s no excuse for making accusations that are 100% factually incorrect. I’m a proud independent liberal research analyst who thinks that Snowden and Greenwald have lied in some cases, and exaggerated or otherwise twisted the truth on many other occasions.
You DO work for the government, Jerry Savage, as confusing as that may seem to you.
Maybe this will clarify it: You aren’t getting paid to do so.
Great article, thank you for sharing it.
I agree Jerry. There’s such a naivety and ignorance when it comes to this subject, and as this article illustrates clearly, the lemmings are following the likes of oath and pledge breakers such as Snowden and Manning over the edge. The extreme left wants to reveal all of the secrets of corporate and government. . . up until those strategies help them in protecting their families and lives. Secrecy is a powerful two-edged sword that may at times cut the warrior in the fight, yet the left sees the weapon as too dangerous to use.
Oh yes, totally agree. After all, if the government can’t violate the Constitution with impunity, spy on everyone, and hide all its activities from the citizens it’s theoretically accountable to, why, how on earth will we ever be safe? Anyone who reveals such illegalities MUST be working for the terrorists! Why ELSE would they do it?
Well said, Tualha! Might I also add: Anyone who supports these truthtellers who expose illegalities must also be terrorist sympathizers and certainly not a “good guy.”
Semper Fidelis (ALWAYS Faithful)
Sgt Dick Vanstone USMC
Lots of criminals have benefitted from computers, telephones, cars, trains, planes, houses, apartments, clothes, pencils, paper, money, and food.
Man, the producers of all these things are obviously good at aiding thieves. They must be really proud of that.
The piece read like a bloody spy novel. Brilliant stuff Micah!!
As far back as 2005, they infected my computer with a virtual root kit that substituted it’s own unsigned drivers, overwrote the BMR, manipulated BIOS and corrupted every external device I attached to the system including boot drives. Then they left all the code in the machine including comments. Some modules were written in C, others in C++ and the rest in assembly. Like an idiot, I erased the drive (but not the infection), destroying the evidence in the process. Like a bigger idiot still, I believed that these were mere sophisticated identity thieves.
Question Micah: if one uses a jump drive or DVD with TAILS on it, can they corrupt the DVD or jump drive so that one runs a malicious clone that redirects to a hostile server the way they did with every cd, jump drive etc that I plugged into a port of my then rootkitted system?
Try a DVD head cleaner. Failing that, a colostomy. If that doesn’t work, try a lobotomy.
Cindy, you’re funny. I personally like pistachios and macadamias, but yes, some nuts are not tasty. ;)
Cindy, your ilk refer to it as “the game”. Would you care to expand?
Nanotechnology such as you describe DOES NOT EXIST.
If it did, America could terraform the moon rather than bother you, special though you may be.
You’re not even convincingly deranged. You’re just trying to make this site look like it attracts nutcases.
So, fuck off.
Expansive enough?
Nanotechnology such as you describe DOES NOT EXIST.
If it did, America could terraform the moon, rather than bother you, special though you may be.
You’re not even convincingly deranged. You’re just trying to make it look like this site attracts nutcases.
So, fuck off.
Expansive enough?
My ‘ilk’ certainly thinks you are playing a game, and a very stupid one at that.
Nanotechnology does not exist? Smears by technology existence denial! Your handlers are too busy torturing innocents that they can’t even afford to train their miserable perps to look or sound even remotely credible in their miserable smear campaigns.
This has been tried before and it never was works grandma. The night is approaching. Just go aim your usual antenna at some pregnant woman … or child…or pet…or old woman. That is more likely to make you much happier. Remember you started all this. Did you think I would not fight back?
Nanotechnology SUCH AS YOU DESCRIBE does not exist. This is what I wrote, and what I meant. Read the post again.
‘Fight back’ all you want, but I am not your enemy.
You are, however, sounding a bit more genuinely unstable.
*MBR?
see my comment for a suggestion re:flash drives. if you’re truly worried, read-only is the way to go and i’d burn a (cheap, disposable) dvd but that’s just me. you’re still leaving ram open but that’s pretty insignificant outside of agencies/states with heavy forensics abilities (plus tails wipes it before power off/reboot).
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/security/cryogenically-frozen-ram-bypasses-all-disk-encryption-methods/900
Thanks for the informative pointer. I read your article and printed it out for use as reference later.
Once they’ve got those nanoprobes in ya, they don’t need to corrupt anything. They can control the sensory input to your brain with those nanoprobes, making you think you see your computer being taken over by a rootkit; in actuality, it’s you they’ve taken over. Who needs a rootkit then? It’s the ultimate man-in-the-middle; they’re in between your eyes and ears and other sensory organs and your brain, they can edit the flow of impulses however they want through those nanoprobes. You think that’s coffee you’re drinking?
And you may think you’ve gotten your story posted online, but there again that’s just what they’re letting you think. Don’t believe me? Ask anyone. They’ll tell you you’re mentally unbalanced or crazy, and that’s because what you think you’ve posted has actually been edited to make it look like you’re some kind of loon. They recorded what you typed and play that back just for you when you pull up the site, so you think it shows what you posted; but anyone else gets to read their edited version which makes you look crazy. The only way to get your story out is to tell it directly to someone; but that’s where all those agents you keep running into come in. They’re there to ensure that anyone you tell your story to either gets co-opted or disappeared. I’m telling you, there’s no point. They have all the bases covered. They’ve been at this a long, long time; you think you were the first? ROFL.
Liberalrob there are few things that I despise more than cowardice. To permit your mind to be such an easy target for manipulation constitutes the ultimate surrender of your rights that real heroes fought so hard for.
I don’t give a dime what a criminal can do in the course of committing his crimes, because I am not as suggestive as your ilk. And none of the gumption is ever going to deter me from my course: exposing the crimes to the world, irrespective of how hard you work on their behalf trying to discourage folks from doing so.
I feel dirty just responding to this…
agreed Pat. I also think Liberalrob may be a subordinate functionary for Babylon. Whatever role he is playing….its sadness. Nanoprobes, electromagnetic manipulation, 24hr surveillance, whatever. I will still keep it up and keep it on.
To those that think they have all of the bases covered and THINK they are in control and have their hand on the reins, you are in for some big surprises. there are truths that all the science, technology, engineering, and math in the cannot predict or factor into the equation. time is short.
Better to fly my freedom flag high and be cut down than to live in bondage for a hundred years.
Fascinating story and thanks to you and the EFF. The first thought that came to mind reading it was “What the hell has happened to our country when journalists have to whisper to one another through encrypted email, fearing that their own government will attempt to stifle them?”. The second thought was “What chance do the rest of us have?”. As much as I appreciate your work in helping the rest of us with encryption, the technology is honestly lost on me and I don’t have time to learn a 30-page document on how to use it for myself. I imagine the NSA is banking on the general public’s inability to keep up with them technologically. It would seem that most of us are dependent on companies like Apple to have the balls to resist the U.S. government’s perception that all private communication is a threat and needs to be eliminated.
Apple is not fully resisting. Look at what’s happening on the new Yosemite OS. Apple is violating our privacy rights big time.
None of them are resisting. Techno-corporations and the military are as thick (literally) as thieves.
Thank you for the part you played. I hope we have sufficient momentum to carry through to real change. Either that or we’ll need a few more bombshell articles to get our predominantly apathetic populace off their asses long enough to get the job done. Speak up people, the ball’s in our court.
Hi Micah Lee: it seems that you have left some gate open that has been closed on other threads from other authors. The freak, Lauren, is polluting this thread, and also the person who has told his or her “Mind torture” junk about a thousand times with about million words and about 50 different handles with which to repeat it under is also polluting this thread. Those two characters and others have been previously banned or blocked or what ever hell The Intercept does with useless, notorious waste of time “Crap Flooders.”
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Your article is about an amazing an astounding story. I feel somewhat helpless reading it because I can see so many bends that you came across that would have thwarted any reasonable possibility for me to have persisted and carried on with the assignment you had undertaken. I’m sure very, very few people could say otherwise about themselves either. So thanks so much for putting your skill to great use and, as a consequence, helping to bring to the fore all of what we’ve all been experiencing.
Thanks to all involved for the clean-up in aisle Intercept.
Kitt, I remain unaware of ‘theIntercept’ banning anyone from this website because someone here got ‘too uncomfortable’ with disclosures of illegally classified remote torture of innocent citizens with advanced electromagnetic weapons systems. Perhaps because they had a vested interest in suppressing dissemination of the crimes?
Go soil your, and your 50 sockpuppet’s, diapers someplace else.
Pat, one will be effectively banned here if they prolifically post unhinged commentary. There is no appeal from what the site editor(s) consider unhinged. Nor should there be.
In my view, your commentary is loony. But, if you keep the volume down you will likely be allowed to stay. Anyway, that’s how Greenwald rolls. This is Micah’s space and he may feel differently.
Mona writes: “In my view your commentary is loony.”
And let us all bow down and thank the stars that your precious “view” carries absolutely no weight at all outside of yourself of course.
You may have an interest vested in suppressing stories of victims of mind control torture abuse but as victims we share no common ground with you if that is truly where you stand.
All avenues of redress have been closed by the illegal classification of the crimes. Genuine journalists is all we have left to air our concerns to. American history is littered with these kinds of abuses; precedents are there for all who have eyes to see.
Your only hope that we do not bother your conscience will be fulfilled when Iat die from the abuse. Let mirth be yours for that may not be long…
Again, Pat, keep the volume of teh crazy within reason, and you likely won’t be modded.
I read this after reading about reporter Sharyl Attkissan having her computer hacked by the feds and also discovering confidential documents implanted. Looks like all investigative reporters are going to have to get their computers examined, step up security, and speak up like she did given it there appears to be no limit to attempts to stifle whistleblowers and the press. Thanks to all those working to inform the public of government abuses despite the personal risks.
Glad that more of us are aware of the illegal, unconstitutional acts and invasions of privacy that have been committed by the “alphabet soup” of organizations like the NSA.
I have a story to tell about something that took place before the Snowden leaks:
I;ve been a studious one, curious about a lot things and have gone down the “rabbit hole” of corruption, conspiracies, to a wide range of topics from history to science to esoterica and more. I knew in my heart and mind that over the last decade or so that I had been watched in an updated COINTELPRO type of way, but then things heated up. agents begin to approach me and I even had one agent step in front of me as I was getting ready to leave the bookstore and I remember him asking me ” why are we at war”? ” Why are we over there (talking about Iraq)”? It was like a challenge or a test. I remember him telling me that “the rabbit hole is very very deep”, but he would not give me the answers to the questions he posed.
another agent who worked as a chemist had lured me in one time in the bookstore cafe. Before I would go to work on Weds and Thurs, I would go to the bookstore cafe and order a drink and then get some reading material. One day, the chemist says something to me (cant remember what) and I come over to him and he starts showing me pictures of different things he was doing in the lab. Like the sucker I was, I was drawn to his presentation and we met at a different time to do some things in a lab he had set up. also, remember him talking about some R & D (research & development) main lab and he had a Fort Bragg Army Base access decal on his car. Anyway, I get a funny feeling like he was trying to draw me into some program or something that wasn’t on the up and up and I stop going to see him, his lab, all of that. One thing that made me suspicious was on a weekend when I go to see my sister who lived two states away from North Carolina. As I am sitting in her living room, the phone rings and my sister answers.
She asks me “who is ‘so and so’ calling asking for you?” she gives me the phone and sure enough it is our shady chemist. I didnt even give a city, address, or phone number and my sister lives outside of a town with one blinking light at that. How was he able to keep tabs on me all the way out in the “country”?
Then, here comes the boom. Long story made short I make A mistake of talking reality and kicking knowledge to someone whom I learned later they were an agent for the system. Her husband, she admitted, was NSA and I dont know what acronym she worked for, but she revealed herself and she told me in a strange voice one day that “SOMEBODY’s Watching YOU”. three days later…..I go about my previous routine on saturdays of going grocery shopping, then returning home to unload the goods and then to go out and get takeout lunch from one my favorite establishments in town. Im so regimented that I would go at the same times and would like to beat the lunch crowds. So, Im just driving and getting ready to move into the turn lane to go onto the road that leads to the eatery and there is this lady on the corner by the gas station with her bike and helmet. as I pass her before making the turn, she takes two fingers and points to her eyeballs and she screams out the word “EYES!” loud enough for me to hear through the car windows. Did yo catch that? and then, icing on the cake, I head back to my residence to eat my lunch and lo and behold there is a police car parked up on the grass on an angle outside of my bedroom window.
Talk about sending a message. I later asked the other spy lady what she was thinking as I was telling her stuff and she told me that “You’ve done your homework?” and that I was “ahead of my peers”. This surveillance stuff is not a game and their intention was to warn me about going further. I remain undaunted. Im still studying and getting my eat on (brain food, soul food, food for thought). Now, I doing more than becoming knowledgeable. Im posting. Im telling in a way I know how. I welcome suggestions for getting the knowledge out of my chest. Im in so I might as well be ALL IN.
stay strong and get your eat on my friends!
I would like to add, that lavabit (Snowden’s email provider) was forced to close. google “Spooked off the Net: Owner of Lavabit email blames US surveillance for closure” In there, is an enlightening statement by the founder of lavabit. Also, please support the free software foundation (the ones behind GNU, founded by Stallman), their goals are extensive and well beyond surveillance…
What a great article. reading it gave the me hibbie gibbies
Just after having watched “Citizenfour” your article is the best follow-up to read to get a perfect picture of the amazing revelations you were part of. You should be very proud of your skills and stand, and i trust that by now your wife is sharing the same feelings! You seem very optimistic that “law and order” will eventually prevail… I am not so optimistic but i am sure that your example will empower others with your skills to stand up when time requires. We are living in a very sad period which put us back back in time when a tyrant keeps people far away from his castle. The “tyrant” today is more complex, protei-forms but “he” acts by the same rules. There are those rules WE should be successful to erase… I’ll leave you there, with this simple question: who are WE?….
What a wonderful piece of the puzzle you played! So glad that you were there to serve as the necessary bridge between Ed, Laura and Glenn. Without you it might not have gotten off the ground.
Thank you.
And please thank your wife. Too often we forget that without the support system all of you have behind you in your personal lives – and the angst and anxiety that they endure on your behalf – very little of this might have come to fruition. She was your “advice and comfort” when there was little to be had professionally, and for that she deserves full props!
Thank you so much! We both really appreciate it.
Thanks.
Lame… I know… but I love the photograph that leads this piece. Well done Ed Snowden and Micah Lee. Well done.
Absolutely Brilliant.
I plan on seeing Citizen Four this weekend.
Extraordinary the lengths our government, and the governments of their partners in the Five Eyes Alliance, have gone to, in their attempt to monitor, and subjugate all of us.
The incredible thing is this; they actually believed that no one would have the guts to take umbrage and object to such an attack on privacy and individual rights.
Our President, our Congress, and nearly all in government are obviously engaged in one way or another in this wholesale abrogation of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and the absolute gall of them to make statements that these rights, if applicable, only apply to citizens of the United States.
In other words, if you are not living in the United States, you have no right to expect anyone in the American government to respect any rights you foolishly thing you have. This from one of the signatories to the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. Never, ever thought I might write such words about America, at a keyboard in America.
It is so unbelievable I sometimes think I must be living in some alternate universe.
Unfortunately its all too real, and now all of us have to recognize that change will only occur if we are persistent, and resist at every opportunity.
Bravo! Well done. We desperately need more folks like you and your cohort to insure that we stay informed and involved.
Micah, you mentioned using Tor created a red flag with corporate payment department. Are there any other potentially negative side effects of using tools such as Tor or encryption tools, even though overall benefits may exceed costs, etc.?
There are lots of downsides to using Tor. It’s very slow and many websites block access to them from Tor, or make you jump through hoops by filling out CAPTCHAs (including Google). It’s also important to understand how Tor actually works if you want to use it safely — exit nodes are able to spy on your traffic, so be careful how you use Tor to access plaintext stuff, like http websites instead of https websites. But on the other hand, it’s the most mature anonymity network on the internet and has some enormous benefits over traditional proxy services like VPNs. It’s one of the few ways to actually be anonymous on the internet, as long as you know what you’re doing.
Encryption can have some problems too. If you encrypt your hard drive and forget your password, you’re never getting your data back. If you use GPG to encrypt email, you’ll only be able to read your encrypted emails on devices that have a copy of your GPG key (which actually makes it more secure), and it can sometimes be inconvenient. But if you can handle the current usability problems, there’s no reason not to encrypt as much as possible.
Thank you for this incredible article, Mike out. And thank you for this information on Tor
i’d also add that most if not all exit nodes are marked as such as well as “known proxy” and/or “spam source”. this is why we can’t have nice things.
good stuff. just a few minor stickler things from an admitted amatuer:
tor from a dvd is read-only whereas runing from a usb drive it seems to be open with some writing ability ((or not…just a guess). if it’s a corrrect guess i’d asume something like usb dummy protect could help a bit.
http://www.ghacks.net/2011/05/13/usb-dummy-protect-create-fake-files-to-block-viruses/
also, the screenshot of tor browser has noscript in “allow globally” mode. scripts are not your friend and cookies are straight up pricks. i’ve heard of people running the browser from a truecrypt container but i’m not sure how much that helps seeing as that might not count as true end-to-end encryption.
then there are issues such as weak passwords, email headers, steganography and etc. again, i’m not an expert at all but no matter how paranoid/careful you think you are, multiply that by 3 and you get where you should be.
Wow! Thank you, Micah and all, for all you have contributed to our freedom.
The world needs more like you who are willing to face up to the “beast” and say NO!
Step by step we will regain our independence, freedom, dignity and our true humanity.
We are creating a new view of the world that doesn’t allow psychopaths in any leadership positions.
Keep on going, step by step.
January 11, 2013, the date of Snowden’s first email to Micah Lee,
was the same day Aaron Swartz committed suicide.
We live in dangerous times.
Correct URL is:
http://freedomfchs.lefora.com/topic/7442322/nanodevices-in-sensory-overload-mind-control-torture
Thank you.
Thank you for sharing this information. There are untold numbers of people to whom innate privacy rights, free speech and the constitution continue to be important core components of everything that freedom embodies.
It is my hope, as I lie in this bed sick from the toll of remote electronic torture, that they will take advantage of this information and responsibly use it to further the cause of privacy rights, Internet freedom, free speech and the protection of the Constitution from abuse.
More importantly I hope that someone who belongs in the compartmented enclaves of the organizations that are actively engaged in the brutal mind control torture of thousands of innocent people, will permit his/her conscience to stir them just enough to use these tools to come forward with the disclosures before more lives are lost.
http://freedomfchs.lefora.com/7442322/nanodevices-in-mind-control-torture
After about 500 words my eyes blurds. Can someone release a program for stupid people like me? Where are we going towards? I get Snowden’s idea about the Web 2.0 being tantamount to mental telepathy, but I almost feel the same way I feel about regular coffee. You go to Starbucks and get a frappa-lappa-dippity-shit-squirt for $4, but I just wanna spend $1 on a regular coffee. Where’s the regular coffee, or do I need to buy a special proprietary algorythmic seismographic tectonic bubonic 11010101010101010101011 to understand what the fuck is going on hahahaha!
Snowden, release the encryption program free on the Internet and sway the tide, or the next thing you know Mark Fuckaturd won’t only be sayin’ xie xie, he’ll also be sayin spasibo, and there goes your contract hahahahaha! Get on the Google Bus before Fuckaturd!
Actually all of the encryption tools that Snowden was depending are already released to the internet and are free for everyone to use, because they’re open source. The problem is that most of them are stupid hard to use, and confusing for anyone who isn’t used to working with them. But it’s definitely getting better. If you have an iPhone try installing Signal, and get someone else to install Signal, and make encrypted phone calls. Super simple. Similar things like this — crypto that requires almost zero thinking — are in the works all over the place. I can’t wait until these projects mature.
“I can’t wait until these projects mature.”
Ditto that! – and regarding your(s) and others actions which led us all here: courageously done! Many thanks.
“In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.”
– Theodore Roosevelt
Uncle Teddy, while I am in awe of your pragmatism and strength, you lacked political imagination. Your attempts to regulate the plutocrats and oligarchs were muddled by both your imperial ambitions and the lack of federal agency to enforce laws. I sat down with the CIO and not only defended my position, but brought forth enforceable laws to protect the working class from utter poverty. You sat down with Booker T. Washington, and, like a coward, publicly repented, as if to have a black man dine in the White House were a sin. You may have begun a path towards government regulation of out of control corporations, but I inherited the defeat of your policies, dealing with Hoovervilles popping up throughout the nation.
FDR Second Bill of Rights Speech Footage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EZ5bx9AyI4
Thank you for your response. I appreciate it!
“…crypto that requires almost zero thinking — are in the works all over the place…”
Would like to see more on this. Perhaps a monthly intercept column?
Thanks all of you to do the world a better place to live!
Reads like a Robert Ludlum novel. Printed out a copy to re-read during smoke breaks…Good Job!!! By any chance, do you have a pet? it will be nice to get it’s narrative when a kickstarter gets around to reading pets’ minds :) :D “When I saw Master’s face turn red, I was convinced- with no doubt, that the Germans [FBI German shepherd dogs] will be knocking soon.”
Great Story. It really helps me get a clear picture of what it is like for the press members that engage in truly meaningful work and with sources who challenge the government when they are crossing the line. I really got the sense of how hard it truly is to work with the sources who the government would work hard to silence no matter the means. Its is very intimidating I am sure. It seems much easier to work with stories that do not put the establishment in the hot seat so I kind of get an idea of why our MSM is so complacent. It may be because our government has grown to be very hostile and threatening towards the press. Thank you for your work and your help shining the light on mass surveillance.
Cool story! A couple questions:
I understand the site never launched but was this manifesto also not released? Or is it what became Snowden’s “A Manifesto for Truth” issued last November?
The manifesto was never released, that was something else. He asked me not to publish it.
Gotcha. It seems the fear was that his website and manifesto would distract people from the more important contents of the source documents, and benefit the Mike Rogers’, Lindsey Graham’s, and James Clappers’ of the world that would only try to attack Snowden’s character while ignoring and directing attention away from the substantive documents. Snowden’s decision to scrap the manifesto’s issuance was probably a very wise decision.
However, now that the dust has settled and the NSA’s laundry seemingly aired, are there any plans to release the Manifesto?
As a historical record, I’d be interested to get an idea of Snowden’s mindset before he took the huge leap of allowing their publication. I’d also imagine it contains some of his most unvarnished and candid views.
And lastly, thanks for the response Micah!
As far as I know, Snowden isn’t planning on publishing his manifesto. Maybe some day he’ll write a book or something and include it there :).
In some interview or other Glenn says he and Laura counseled Ed not to publish the manifesto because, as Glenn put it, it could be taken as a bit “Ted Kazinski-ish.”
This is a well-written article that complements the background of The Snowden Odyssey by acknowledging another important cast member who risked freedoms to help expose the Oddjob-like NSA/GCHQ spy ring abuses of our civil liberties via James Bond-like intrigue.
Unrelated but just came across:
Matt Taibbi Disappears From Omidyar’s First Look Media
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/10/matt-taibbi-disappears-from-omidyars-first-look.html
Not permanently I hope.
Great inspiring work.. Oh. Thanks for the wonderful white paper on the encryption.. Keep up the good work.
All I can say is “Bravo!”
Power to the People, Bitches
Inspiring article, thanks for that.
Great work! So glad you were there at the right time with the right skills and connections. Very thankful for your willingness to take the risks involved with working for the common good. Isn’t it interesting (and appalling!) how difficult, discouraged, and dangerous it is to work for the common good these days?
happy trails
There’s something you can stick on your gravestone. Good job. Thank you for your role and your service.