"I would be concerned too, if I weren't inside the government." - obama, White House, Friday, Aug 9, 2013.
--- Julian Assange says US plan to limit surveillance programs vindicates Edward Snowden Updated Sun Aug 11, 2013 12:26pm AEST WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has called plans to limit the United States government's sweeping surveillance programs a victory of sorts for fugitive former spy agency contractor Edward Snowden. On Friday, US president Barack Obama unveiled specific steps to improve oversight of surveillance and restore public trust in the government's programs. Senior officials said the president would be calling on Congress to rein in the National Security Agency's (NSA) collection of internet and phone data. NSA surveillance programs came under fire following leaks by ex-NSA contractor Snowden, who is now in Russia after being granted asylum. Mr Assange said the move by the US government had validated Snowden's role as a whistleblower. In a statement posted on the WikiLeaks website he said it was "a victory of sorts for Edward Snowden and his many supporters". "As Snowden has stated, his biggest concern was if he blew the whistle and change did not occur. "Well reforms are taking shape, and for that, the president and people of the United States and around the world owe Edward Snowden a debt of gratitude." US says reforms were planned before Mr Snowden's disclosures In his announcement, Mr Obama said the US "can and must be more transparent." But Mr Assange rejected the president's assertion that his reforms were planned before Snowden's disclosures. "The simple fact is that without Snowden's disclosures, no-one would know about the programs and no reforms could take place," he said. The Obama administration has vigorously pursued Mr Snowden to bring him back to the US to face espionage charges for leaking details of US surveillance programs to the media. Mr Assange has been holed up at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London for more than a year fearing extradition to America for publishing classified US documents on WikiLeaks. He is wanted in Sweden on sexual abuse allegations he denies. Reuters ------------------------------------ Post message: prole...@egroups.com Subscribe : proletar-subscr...@egroups.com Unsubscribe : proletar-unsubscr...@egroups.com List owner : proletar-ow...@egroups.com Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: proletar-dig...@yahoogroups.com proletar-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: proletar-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
