The former National Security Agency contractor who leaked documents about top secret mass surveillance programs told the BBC in an interview he would be willing to reach a plea bargain with US authorities. Having blown the whistle on the NSA, Snowden has also shed light on the activities of the United Kingdom equivalent, GCHQ. If the ability to follow your movements is not creepy enough, it gets worse. There’s also “Nosey Smurf“, which can be used to turn on the phone’s microphone.
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But don’t think for one minute that you can avoid detection by simply turning off your phone – if only it was that easy!
Dreamy Smurf – a hacking technique that can turn a smartphone on or off. It eliminates the obvious way to prevent the other Smurfs from accessing your phone. It doesn’t end there. Through this system, NSA and GCHQ had the power to hack into people’s smartphones without them knowing. Many firms are reluctant to give government officials access to user data and a few even alert users that their information has been turned over for investigation. “For example, if you wanted to take the phone in to get it serviced because you saw something odd going on or you suspected something was wrong, it makes it much more hard for any technician to realise that anything’s gone amiss”.
He said the text message sent by GCHQ to gain access to the phone cannot be noticed.
The BBC stated the federal government had declined to remark consistent with standard coverage on intelligence issues.
“It’s called an “exploit”, he said. “It doesn’t display. You paid for it [the phone] but whoever controls the software owns the phone”.
Mr Snowden described in a few detail the GCHQ’s collection of secret intercept capabilities, known as the “Smurf Suit”. “GCHQ is for all intents and purposes a subsidiary of the NSA”, he told Panorama from a hotel room in Moscow, where he fled in 2013. He has worked as an analyst for the National Security Agency in the U.S, the equivalent to GCHQ. “Our position is he should not be reporting to prison as a felon and losing his civil rights as a result of his act of conscience”, he said.
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Snowden’s lawyers have long argued that their client would not be able to have a fair trial in the United States because he faces charges under a World War I-era espionage law that does not allow for a public interest defense.
