
Snowden tweets 156 characters, which is deleted; speculation re assassination - appleflaxen
http://yournewswire.com/mysterious-tweet-sparks-fears-edward-snowden-is-missing-or-dead/
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mtmail
Non-sensational possible explanation: it's the checksum of a file he sent to a
journalist or friend. He deleted the tweet because the receiver saw it.

[https://www.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/4wc9ep/huge_edw...](https://www.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/4wc9ep/huge_edward_snowden_leak_incoming_he_just_posted/d65vcsm)

~~~
matt_wulfeck
It's a sha256. It could definitely be a checksum for a file, although hashes
like this is not an uncommon way to generate a large, unique password from a
small string or phrase.

Most passwords can be easily brute forced. A 64-byte string is a lot harder to
brute force.

I actually think a sha2 is a little bit weird for a file checksum. I would
expect md5 or a regular sha1. Or simply send the file with a gpg signature to
validate the integrity (provided he still has some sort of trusted public
key). Either way any off-the-shelf Mac can generate and verify these
checksums.

My guess is that Snowden is starting to feel homesick and wants to start the
process of returning to the USA. That's why he said "It's time." The tweet
could be a password or a code to something but I don't think it's meant to
embarrass or expose anybody.

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LeoPanthera
How do you know it's a sha256, beyond the length?

~~~
matt_wulfeck
I don't know for sure. It's 64-length hex string (not 156 like a lot of people
are reporting), the same output as a sha256 checksum.

Looks an awful lot like somebody opened up a terminal and typed in:

> $ echo -n "some password" | shasum -a 256

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krapp
Posted 19 hours ago[0] with a less sensationalist headline "Snowden tweets
code without context then deletes."

[0][https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12235563](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12235563)

~~~
appleflaxen
fair enough, but I think the coincidental timing with a torrent tracker
crackdown was an interesting observation that was not captured in the prior
posting.

in addition, he made a call for collaborators to contact him, which was then
taken down.

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nostrademons
First reported on 3 days ago:

[http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/whistleblower-edward-snowden-
sparks...](http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/whistleblower-edward-snowden-sparks-
curiosity-cryptic-tweet-its-time-1574308)

[http://sputniknews.com/science/20160803/1043913532/snowden-t...](http://sputniknews.com/science/20160803/1043913532/snowden-
tweet-its-time.html)

And he's tweeted since, so it's a pretty good bet that he's not dead:

[https://twitter.com/Snowden/status/761609959213789184](https://twitter.com/Snowden/status/761609959213789184)

~~~
simbalion
The 'cryptic' tweet was at 9:14pm and the one you linked is at ~1pm, so
actually he hasn't tweeted since.

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AlphaGeekZulu
Mainstream media in Germany are now starting slowly to cover the topic (based
on a DPA release):

[http://www.sueddeutsche.de/news/service/internet-
mysterioese...](http://www.sueddeutsche.de/news/service/internet-mysterioeser-
tweet-loest-spekulationen-ueber-snowden-aus-dpa.urn-newsml-dpa-
com-20090101-160807-99-963959)

Greenwald tweets Snowden "is fine":
[https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/761995125824360448](https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/761995125824360448)

Inquisitr: [http://www.inquisitr.com/3389936/edward-snowden-dead-
mysteri...](http://www.inquisitr.com/3389936/edward-snowden-dead-mysterious-
tweet-is-sending-conspiracy-theorists-into-a-meltdown/)

and well, yournewswire.com as a source - oh my.

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egypturnash
Wait. What?

Twitter's limit is 140 characters.

~~~
matt_wulfeck
It's actually 64 characters long. The length of a sha2 hash. I had to count it
myself to verify.

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appleflaxen
I tried to make the headline less sensationalistic; sorry I couldn't with the
80-character limit.

The article addresses what the 156-letter tweet means, whether it could be the
dead-man code to the insurance files, and whether the recent torrent tracker
crackdown could be related.

Of note: he _did_ tweet 22 hours ago, but since the tweet in question was
deleted, I can't tell the chronology.

I hope he is ok, and this speculation is utterly wrong. The fact that it's
utterly possible, though, speaks to how messed up things are.

[https://twitter.com/snowden](https://twitter.com/snowden)

~~~
simbalion
the screenshot in the article shows the time as 9:14pm.

I assume that's Snowden's timezone, and not the viewers, I admit I dont know
how twitter handles timezones.

