
I'm Ready To Help NSA Whistleblower Edward Snowden Seek Asylum - llambda
http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/06/09/icelandic-legislator-im-ready-to-help-nsa-whistleblower-seek-asylum/
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lawnchair_larry
Birgitta Jonsdottir, member of parliament in Iceland and the woman extending
this offer (edit: she doesn't have authority to offer asylum, so reaching out
to offer assistance is more accurate), was previously the subject of these
secret orders, which were served on all of the major tech companies. The only
reason she knows is because Twitter actually challenged the gag order and
managed to get it unsealed (MAJOR respect to twitter, they deserve credit for
this), which is the only time that has happened. Several others who were
supporters of Wikileaks had these served as well.

 _" The information demanded by the DOJ is sweeping in scope. It includes all
mailing addresses and billing information known for the user, all connection
records and session times, all IP addresses used to access Twitter, all known
email accounts, as well as the "means and source of payment," including
banking records and credit cards. It seeks all of that information for the
period beginning November 1, 2009, through the present"_

This is why the "protecting the country from terrorists" rhetoric is bullshit
and should be ignored. They'll sweep up anything from anyone who has any
success in opposing or embarrassing them. That's why this cannot be allowed to
happen in secret. Once they have your entire life, it doesn't matter who you
are, they'll find something. If not, they'll harass you for years.

 _While only five people were individually named, according to lawyer Mark
Stephens the order effectively entailed the collection in relation to criminal
prosecution of the personal identifying information of over six hundred
thousand Twitter users, namely those who were "followers" of WikiLeaks._

They claim this type of activity is only for specific, targeted individuals,
but apparently to them, that means things like "anyone following @wikileaks on
twitter".

~~~
malandrew
Who were the other four people named?

~~~
tlrobinson
Julian Assange, Bradley Manning, Birgitta Jonsdottir, Jacob Appelbaum and Rop
Gonggrijp.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikileaks-
related_Twitter_subpo...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikileaks-
related_Twitter_subpoenas)

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ck2
The problem is people always screw up and a decade later they think it's okay
to visit the US for a conference or something and don't realize they will
never see the light of day again once they step into that airport.

Or some country wants a political favor from the current US president so they
turn him over.

Very brave dude but his life is just about as over as Bradley Manning.

~~~
a3n
More likely, he could be flying somewhere and the plane either enters US
airspace, or has to make an emergency (real or not) landing in the US.

~~~
jzwinck
Do you think passengers involved in an emergency landing go through
immigration and customs? Can they shop at the duty free store as well?

~~~
a3n
I don't know what's _supposed_ to happen.

Do you think federal agents of some flavor would pass up the arrest? I think
they'd do it no matter what, and then a judge will give them a stern talking
to and uphold the arrest. At best the guy would be in prison for years pre-
trial, possibly convicted and prison, and then when his useful life is over
he'll win a Supreme Court challenge. Chilling effect served.

------
beggi
FYI: Birgitta is in a minority opposition party (The Icelandic pirate party)
with 3 representatives out of 63. Given the ruling government's track record,
both regarding refugees seeking asylum as well as a strong will to have good
relations with the U.S., I find it highly unlikely he will be given asylum in
Iceland. Now, Bobby Fischer was given an asylum in Iceland in 2006 in a
unanimous parliament vote - but that was without great objections from the
U.S. This is (obviously) a completely different thing.

~~~
SagelyGuru
Perhaps Snowden will not be given asylum this time but you bet that the Pirate
Party, the only official political movement on his side, will have more than 3
members of parliament after the next election.

~~~
Ihmahr
Yes, we hope so. But that is up to the icelandic people and whether or not
they care.

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untog
Slightly off-topic question, but why did he not just go to Iceland in the
first place? Hong Kong does not seem like the best destination here.

~~~
uvdiv
A competing theory is that he is actually spying for the PRC. Hong Kong would
be an obvious choice for a wealthy, Western spy seeking Chinese protection.
They're semi-autonomous, but military affairs are run by the PRC, and in
particular the PRC has control over foreign extradition:

[http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/09/edward-
snowden-h...](http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/09/edward-snowden-hong-
kong-gamble)

If this wasn't a priori the best theory, surely the HK part adds some Bayesian
weight.

~~~
sliverstorm
Do you have more information about this theory? The discussion has been so
one-sided, I feel obligated to seek other interpretations.

~~~
uvdiv
I haven't found any interesting information. Apparently this theory is being
speculated on CNN (as I said, neither interesting, nor information...)

[http://www.mediaite.com/tv/former-cia-officer-officials-
cons...](http://www.mediaite.com/tv/former-cia-officer-officials-considering-
nsa-whistleblowers-case-potential-chinese-espionage/)

~~~
tomjen3
That sounds more like a smear campaing, although I kinda want it to just be a
chinese propaganda coup against the US.

------
ekr
On an unrelated note, there's this petition on the White House website, in
need of signatures : [https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/pardon-edward-
snow...](https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/pardon-edward-
snowden/Dp03vGYD)

~~~
cheald
Does anyone actually believe that that'll have any positive impact on this
situation whatsoever?

Maybe I'm just jaded, but "clicktivism" seems like it's just about the least
valuable way you could possibly make a political statement.

------
znowi
This is very nice of Jonsdottir, but given the current conservative government
in Iceland, I doubt it is a safe place for Snowden.

In fact, given how widespread the American influence is, I can't think of a
safe country for him. Apart from Ecuadorian embassy-like hideouts.

------
mseebach
The funny thing is, if the US had only treated Bradley Manning 'decently' (ie.
as they would any other criminal suspect), the case for asylum would be
exceedingly poor - he openly admits to committing a crime, and that simply
isn't grounds for asylum. But the Bradley Manning case shows that those under
prosecution for that kind of crime will be subjected to 'extra-legal'
treatment that it can well be argued amounts to 'persecution' (which is the
requirement in the UN convention on refugees).

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pvnick
The memo claims they're trying to reach out to Snowden to verify his
intentions to seek asylum. I wonder how they do that?

~~~
mpyne
Ask the Guardian to put them in touch?

~~~
pvnick
Didn't think of that, seems obvious now that you mention it

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tagabek
Mildly off topic question: How common are asylum applications submitted? How
often are they accepted?

