Courage FoundationThe latest news from Courage Foundation
Courage, the international organisation that supports truthtellers, will begin to accept donations in Zcash (ZEC) from today. Supporters can make donations to the organisation, or to our individual beneficiaries at the
following URL:
Five years ago today, Ecuador invoked international law and recognised the political persecution of Julian Assange and granted him the status of political refugee, judging his life to be at grave risk. Ecuador’s decision was backed by the Union of South American Nations countries and ALBA. As the Center for Constitutional Rights noted, by protecting a journalist at risk, Ecuador “strengthens the global commitment to human rights, including government accountability and freedom of the press.”
In February 2016, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention declared Assange’s detention to arbitrary, that he “has been subjected to different forms of deprivation of liberty,” and that he was “entitled to his freedom of movement and to compensation.” The United Kingdom challenged the determination and continues to illegally detain him.
In the five years since Ecuador’s decision, the threats of prosecution against Julian Assange and WikiLeaks for their legitimate journalistic work, the legal and physical threats against Assange, and the crackdown on whistleblowers and the journalism they enable have increased and intensified. In April, CIA Director Mike Pompeo called WikiLeaks a “hostile intelligence service” and said that, “we can no longer allow Assange and his colleagues the latitude to use free speech values against us.” His assertions have no basis in the US Constitution or in international law.
Political asylum must be respected, for Assange personally and for truthtellers around the world. The Trump Administration’s intensifying of President Obama’s war on ournalism must be countenanced by a culture of support for whistleblowers and freedom of information.
“There is no more vivid expression of the First Amendment of the US Constitution at work than in the work of WikiLeaks,” says Courage Trustee and celebrated journalist and filmmaker John Pilger. “WikiLeaks reveals the secrets of rapacious power and unaccountable authority which the public has a right to know. That right represents pure democracy.”
Update: MalwareTech has now been released on bail. His arraignment has been rescheduled for 10am on Monday, 14 August in Milwaukee.
MalwareTech, the cyber security researcher who halted the WannaCry ransomware virus earlier this year and was arrested in Las Vegas last week, will be released on bail today and will travel directly to Milwaukee for a court appearance tomorrow in the Eastern District of Wisconsin – After 24 hours of no information about his arrest, and a flurry of international news coverage, it was reported that MalwareTech, who lives in the UK and who was in the US for Defcon, was not a flight risk and will be allowed out on $30,000 bail.
Courage is very concerned about the FBI’s arrest of MalwareTech as he was boarding his plane to leave the United States after attending Defcon. In May this year, WannaCry malware closed hospitals in the UK, becoming the first ransomware attack to represent an actual threat to life. In halting the spread of WannaCry before the US woke up, MalwareTech did the world an enormous service – and to American businesses in particular.
No information was released about MalwareTech’s arrest for 24 hours after it happened. He has still not been able to speak to his family or legal representation. As testimony given in Lauri Love’s extradition case last year showed, the US treats hackers far worse than other countries do, with much longer prison sentences, a dearth of vital health care and rampant solitary confinement.Security research in the public interest needs to be properly recognised and we will be watching this case closely.
Courage joins international coalition to defend the accused NSA truthteller
Today, Stand With Reality, a support group for alleged NSA truth teller Reality Winner, launches in the United States at StandWithReality.org
Reality Winner, a 25-year-old US Air Force veteran, is charged under the Espionage Act for allegedly disclosing a classified NSA report to news outlet The Intercept, and she needs our help. The alleged truthteller is scheduled to face trial on October 23.
The Espionage Act is a century-old statute which carries a potential 10-year prison sentence and chills protected, journalistic activity, discouraging sources and reporters alike from working together. The Obama Administration used the law repeatedly against leakers to the media, and President Trump has threatened to go even further, preparing charges against journalists in addition to their sources. The Trump Administration’s first Espionage Act prosecution must be met with substantial, organized opposition.
The Intercept article based on the NSA report Winner is alleged to have disclosed reveals that the GRU (Russian military intelligence) attempted to infiltrate the software of VR Systems, an American voting machine supplier in eight states and sent phishing emails to over 100 local election officials in the days leading up to the 2016 Presidential election. This information is obviously in the public interest; whoever brought it to the public record should be protected, not prosecuted.
Courage joins the Stand with Reality coalition hosted by Courage to Resist, the US-based organization for soldiers who resist or otherwise oppose war. These collective efforts aim to fund Winner’s legal defense team, led by Titus Nichols.
Nichols told Courage,
On behalf of Ms. Reality Winner I want to thank you and others for the outpouring of support that you all have given to Ms. Winner during her current legal situation.
Stand with Reality! Sign the petition to drop the charges against her, donate to her legal defense fund, and spread these links to raise awareness about her case:
The software sends fake texts with links that provide full access to a target’s phone
The Mexican government has been accused of using surveillance software to spy on activists, reporters and human rights defenders. In recent public remarks, Mexico’s President Enrique Peña Nieto finally acknowledged that his government purchased the Israeli-made spyware, called Pegasus, but declined to provide evidence clearing him or his government from the allegations made by Civil Society.
The president’s remarks are alarming and Courage condemns governmental targeted surveillance, which threatens free expression and dissent.
Courage Trustee Renata Avila said,
Mexico is a member of the Freedom Online Coalition and a member of the Open Government Partnership. The Mexican government’s massive purchases and unaccountable deployment of spying technologies erode fundamental rights and are directly contradict what the its leaders preach in the international arena. That cannot go unquestioned. In a country where impunity is rampant, whistleblowers are more than necessary. In a country where journalists get killed every week, digital privacy becomes a matter of life or death.
Pegasus was created by the NSO Group, which says it only sells the software to governments on the condition that it be used against criminals and terrorists. It uses text messages to get targets to click on links that provide full access to a smartphone’s data, camera and microphone.
NSO Group made headlines in 2016, when Pegasus was first uncovered. Researchers from Citizen Lab and Lookout called it “one of the most sophisticated pieces of cyberespionage software we’ve ever seen.”
Citizen Lab, a Canadian laboratory monitoring the intersection of technology and human rights, reports that Pegasus was used against scientists and NGO directors. In February, Citizen Lab wrote, “All of the targets have been active supporters of Mexico’s soda tax, a public health measure to reduce the consumption of sugary drinks,” so Pegasus “may have been misused on behalf of special commercial interests, not for fighting crime or terrorism.”
A New York Times report in June concluded further that the program was used against journalists, anti-corruption activists and even their family members. Juan E. Pardinas, the general director of the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness, said, “We are the new enemies of the state.” The Times reports that Mr. Pardinas’ wife was targeted by Pegasus.
Citizen Lab listed some of the types of text messages used as bait:
The Mexican government has denied using Pegasus against journalists or activists, and because the programme doesn’t leave fingerprints behind, it’s very difficult to prove attribution. However, experts are confident of the government’s involvement based on circumstantial evidence and the fact that it’s highly unlikely that a third party could obtain the spyware.
Courage denounces President Peña Nieto’s unaccountable use of surveillance technology and extends its solidarity and support to those working to bring the government’s surveillance to light.
Chelsea Manning is free and all over the news, gracing the cover of The New York Times Magazine, appearing on ABC News, and getting tons of love on Twitter and Instagram. Amid all of this fantastic new press, it’s easy to forget that her legal battle is not over. Chelsea is appealing her conviction — Obama’s commutation cut her sentence to time served but left her felony record intact — and her case remains incredibly important, for Chelsea personally but also for the US at large: her appeal, with supporting briefs from ACLU and Amnesty International, is challenging the disastrous, over-broad Espionage Act, which the Trump Administration is already using against Reality Winner.
To take this huge case on, Chelsea needs our help. A cohort of supportive NGOs have joined us to kickstart Chelsea’s legal appeal fundraiser. Now we want to boost that with a surge of crowdsourced donations. A great way to raise some funds, get together with fellow supporters, and spread the word about Chelsea’s appeal is to throw a party in Chelsea’s honour.
TransCyberian is a Paris party series combining noise music and crypto/hacker culture. TransCyberian will now happen in Berlin for the first time will host privacy workshops, live music, and DJ sets at the hacker space C-base in Berlin, and they’re generously donating all proceeds of this first event to Chelsea Manning’s legal fund. Diani Barreto, a Courage staffer in Berlin, will give an update on Chelsea’s case. See more information about the event here.
Throw your own party, or if you’ve already got something planned, as TransCyberian did, you can dedicate it to Chelsea. You could have pizza and champagne, in tribute to Chelsea’s first Instagram photos out of prison. You can have speakers and workshops that examine Chelsea’s case and related issues, or you can host a musical performance and collect contributions at the door — however you do it, the donation and effort will be greatly appreciated.
Courage can help! If it’s logistically feasible, if you’re near London, Berlin or New York, we’re happy to send a Courage representative to your party to speak about her appeal or pass out stickers and posters.
Get in touch with us to talk about a party near you, getting a Courage representative to your event, or anything else we can help with: Courage.Contact@couragefound.org
Alleged NSA leaker charged under Espionage Act, has pled not guilty
Courage has launched an emergency legal defence fund for Reality Winner, the first alleged whistleblower to be charged under the Trump Administration. The federal intelligence contractor from Georgia has been linked with the disclosure of an NSA report about Russian military intelligence’s efforts to hack US voting software in the 2016 presidential election.
Donations to Courage’s fund for Reality Winner can be made at CourageFound.org/Reality-Winner
Winner, 25, worked as a translator for the US Air Force for six years before taking a job as a contractor with Pluribus International Corporation. She has been charged with mishandling and releasing classified information under the Espionage Act, a felony charge that carries a potential 10 years in prison.
Winner appeared in court in Augusta, Georgia on Thursday 8 June, where she pled not guilty. She was denied bail and will be back in court for a discovery hearing on Thursday 22 June.
Naomi Colvin, Beneficiary Case Director at Courage said:
It was only a matter of time before the Trump Administration brought the full force of an Espionage Act prosecution against someone who isn’t sufficiently high-ranking to leak with impunity. Reality Winner is pleading not guilty and recent history suggests she can expect to incur significant legal costs. Public support will as be vital in her case as it has been for Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning.
Andy Stepanian, an organizer with whom Courage co-hosted a demonstration for Reality the day before her arraignment, said:
Reality Winner is a compassionate young veteran who understands service and sacrifice. Her indictment may be only the first of many in the Trump Administration’s ‘war on leaks’ and it’s on all of us who value government transparency and accountability to make sure she is not fighting this battle alone.
Edward Snowden, Courage’s first beneficiary, spoke out via the Freedom of the Press Foundation when Reality’s arrest was announced:
The prosecution of any journalistic source without due consideration by the jury as to the harm or benefit of the journalistic activity is a fundamental threat to the free press. As long as a law like [the Espionage Act] remains on the books in a country that values fair trials, it must be resisted.
The US Department of Justice announced on Monday that it has arrested 25-year-old Reality Leigh Winner on charges of mishandling and releasing to a news outlet classified information. The Intercept published a top secret NSA report on Russian hacking efforts in the 2016 election shortly before the DOJ announcement.