Lavabit, the secure email service that offered an encrypted email service, says it was forced to close rather than “commit crimes against the American people.” Lavabit was Edward Snowden’s email provider of choice, and many are convinced that this is no coincidence, and that the crimes against the people (violations of the constitution and free speech are also cited) have to do with demands by the Feds. And, mere hours after Lavabit shut down, another encrypted email provider, Silent Circle, also folded, citing “legal battles”.

Experts think that it is entirely possible that the Russians and the Chinese have already accessed the most confidential information that Edward Snowden has on his laptops.

Just hours before his alleged disappearance from a Hong Kong hotel, Edward Snowden, an ex-CIA employee and NSA contractor working through Booz Allen Hamilton, outed himself as the whistleblower in the NSA PRISM scandal. In the 12-minute video interview posted on YouTube, Ed Snowden explained his reason for releasing the documents that revealed the PRISM program. Here is the transcript of that interview.

Edward Snowden has come forward as the whistleblower in the NSA and PRISM scandal in which it has been discovered that through the PRISM program, the NSA and other agencies have had access to user data at such major Internet companies as Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Hotmail and Apple. In the 12+ minute interview, Edward Snowden explains why he did it, and admits that by outing himself, he puts himself in danger from agencies such as the CIA and the NSA itself.

Russia is using the situation with Edward Snowden, the NSA and PRISM leaker, to push an agenda that would see the United Nations taking over primary control of the Internet, from the United States.

“Reset the Net” is a ‘take back the net’ grassroots campaign, launched on June 5 as a citizen initiative to tell the NSA, with apologies to the Who, “we’re not gonna take it.” But those who have jumped on board are anything but grass level. Heavyweight companies like Google, Yahoo, and Twitter, and orgs such as the ACLU and the EFF, have all jumped on board. And, of course, Edward Snowden.

The President’s Review Group, convened to address NSA surveillance and related issues revealed by Edward Snowden, has issued its report and recommendations on how to rein in and address the widespread, overbroad nature of NSA surveillance in general, and its trampling of privacy in particular, while at the same time addressing the genuine need for national security.

As the Edward Snowden situation continues to be at the fore of many a security expert’s mind, cryptographers and other self-styled crypto experts, along with security experts, and hackers – many of whom were at the Black Hat security conference recently – warn of a coming cryptopocalypse (crypto apocalypse ).

Documents newly released by the British newspaper The Guardian, obtained along with others via Edward Snowden, indicate that under both the Obama and Bush administrations, the U.S. has been collecting, data mining, and analyzing email metadata, under an NSA program known as “Steller Wind”. The data collected under Stellar Wind included the “To” and “From” email addresses of an email conversation, along with the originating IP addresses sending the email, and was used, among other things, for a practice known as “contact chaining”.

Let’s face it, big tech companies have a love-hate relationship with our privacy. On one hand, they assure us that our data is safe and secure. On the other hand, they make their fortunes by collecting, analyzing, and selling our data to third-party advertisers. It’s a classic case of mixed signals, and it’s not surprising that many people are skeptical about trusting big tech companies with their private communication.

Because of spyware companies like the NSO Group, and their Pegasus spyware, it can now be fatal to click a link sent to you in a text message or email. That is what experts believe happened to Jamal Khashoggi, and perhaps almost to Omar Abdulaziz, who received a fake text message supposedly from DHL, and which experts believe installed the NSO Pegasus spyware on his phone.

Late yesterday afternoon a Federal court ordered Apple to assist the FBI in their investigation into the San Bernardino shootings by unlocking the iPhone belonging to the shooters. In response, this morning, Apple CEO Tim Cook released a public statement in which Apple refuses to comply, explaining the reasons that even if Apple can comply with the order, they will refuse to do so.

Wired’s Joseph Cox has a brilliant idea: what is the best, most readily available consumer device to use to make completely secure calls, and to use for secure text messages and secure chat? (Well, at least as secure and locked down as the average consumer can easily make them?) An iPod Touch! Brilliant! Here’s why.

Coincident with the Reset the Net effort, in which they are taking part, Google and Yahoo, along with Microsoft and Facebook, and others, are moving at speed to block the NSA’s snooping, and to tighten up their systems to make it more difficult for the NSA, and others, to eavesdrop on their data.

It turns out that the U.S.’ NSA is not the only intelligence agency conducting privacy-invading surveillance on average citizens. The UK’s GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters) has been quietly collecting data – including revealing screenshots of breasts and other body parts – from Yahoo webcam chats – under an effort called Project Optic Nerve.