ecuador is considering u.s. whistleblower edward snowden's bid for asylum he's currently in transit for the night at a moscow airport after fleeing hong kong while in america will chase him to the ends of the earth just as washington is in hot pursuit of snowden demanding his extradition to the states and revoking his passport saying he should be banned from all further travel. as the hunt for snowden it continues across continents a bush era whistleblower puts the spotlight on barack obama saying the president was wiretapped when he ran for the u.s. senate.

broadcasting live from our studios in moscow this is r t i'm sean thomas glad to have you with us one of america's most wanted men and is a whistleblower edward snowden is believed to be staying in a moscow airport is reportedly waiting to board a flight in the next twenty four hours after fleeing hong kong due to the threat of extradition to the u.s. here's artie's paul scott with the latest developments in washington's hunt for the man who leaked some of the country's most closely guarded secrets. one of america's most wanted men has kept the world's media guessing on a day of intrigue. the day began with reports that edward snowden had fled hong kong. to moscow turned out to be true he landed hayward about five fifteen. five fifteen local time greeted by the ecuadorian. now we are hearing that he's having problems getting a russian visa and that he's in transit in the airport terminal building behind me

he was greeted by the ecuadorian ambassador and around three hours after he landed the confirmation came that was indeed the country that he was seeking asylum in the country's minister of foreign affairs tweeting that he had applied for political asylum with the country now the suggestion is he's going to fly on to cuba from the airports. to on a monday afternoon that would also be a transit eventually and his journey his final destination his target destination of course a big. seeking political. he's not traveling alone there is a legal representative from wiki leaks we're led to believe traveling with edward snowden on his journey wiki leaks say that they've helped edward snowden throughout the process they helped him have a safe. exit from hong kong they've organized his papers and they are indeed the ones who were negotiating the deal for political asylum in ecuador he's kept

everyone guessing the world's press were here there were hundreds of photographers and cameramen and all hoping to grab a glimpse of the world's most famous the miners but he hasn't been. in transit and also rather interesting the ecuadorian ambassador as. we were expecting were hoping that he would make some kind of official statement on this because if only official confirmation that we do have. from the foreign minister but neither edward snowden nor the ecuadorian ambassador they certainly. still here he is set to spend the night. before. they suggest. they often in. edward snowden's exact whereabouts are currently unknown though he is thought to still be at the airport there is speculation he could be staying at a so-called capsule hotel inside share massive and you're looking at footage of the airport from

a news agency ruptly shot on the day snowden arrived other reports however suggest he is in a v i p's own inside one of the terminals he is believed to be waiting for a flight to cuba now the wiki leaks organization which is helping edward snowden seek refuge says he will leave it for ecuador via what it calls a safe route to ban most he has been following developments from ecuador's embassy in moscow. there was a lot of speculation and a lot of speculation and and confirmed reports are running around to the minute that snowden actually left to hong kong on his way to moscow earlier on four o'clock runaround four o'clock in moscow time the ecuadorian ambassador and a motorcade left the embassy on route to the airport now of course we haven't heard anything as yet official from the ecuadorian embassy here in moscow as to where the ambassador is or how things are progressing with them but what we do know is that

official statement from there could during the embassy from the uk during our foreign minister rather say that it is indeed confirmed that snowden has launched that application or for asylum or with the government reason why the media as well was hounding the embassy here earlier on today is because of the one particular case that we've all been following around of julian asuncion now of course we know that julian assange is been holed up at the ecuadorian embassy in london julian assange of course has been in the background of this extradition. appear pows are with us snowden right now you know it doesn't it doesn't surprise or many experts and many of the people who were out here that we spoke to saying that could be considering having snowden in the teacher we know that they've done that for julian assange so it was only i guess everybody thought the logical step would be for snowden himself to ask the adoring embassy to grant him asylum right now he's still

add to the airport we don't know how long his paperwork is going to go and if indeed he will be able to leave would only have to wait and see if they're going government themselves to give a formal statement saying that if indeed yes they have granted him that asylum so it's still a waiting game for all of us especially here at the boreen embassy in moscow and i'm sure for the rest of the world and everybody who's been following this story the whole day. washington has reportedly urged latin american countries not to offer edward snowden asylum but it from the free bradley manning support network is confident that ecuador among others would be willing to offer snowden refuge despite u.s. pressure to have very large. numbers of asylum like fifty some odd thousand not necessary political refugees but i think also that the genus one has also helped make a safe haven for those that are persecuted politically and i think it's

a wonderful watershed moment or there was a big concert after it beyond these countries russia hong kong china venezuela and ecuador to protect edward snowden i think it's a very good initiative i think that all these countries know that the americans are not going to let up lightly and are going to exert a great amount of political pressure to have him extradited but i do hope in this new age of south american consciousness and new freedoms and so forth that they will step up to the plate and provide protection for edward snowden washington has revoked edward snowden's passport and said that he should be prevented from traveling any further. demand that he be returned to the jurisdiction of the united states some lawmakers are urging washington to spare no effort to put him on trial in the u.s. even going so far as to threaten russia over its involvement or he's going to do it you can. been following the story from the u.s. . u.s.

officials confirm that they have in fact revoked edward snowden's passport to stop him from traveling it didn't stop him from flying out of hong kong as we know not clear whether it was because hong kong officials did not receive the notification in time or because they made a decision to overlook it we know that the u. was has put a lot of pressure on hong kong to arrest in those days and not to let him leave the country but in a statement the government of hong kong says u.s. documentation did not fully comply with the legal requirements on the hong kong law but also in the same statement the government of hong kong that they want more information about the hacking of computer systems in hong kong by u.s. government agencies something that was part of snowden's revelations so in this official statement we see how hong kong shifts the focus from the messenger edward snowden back to the message to the revelations that he has made demanding an explanation from the e.u. was because these revelations show that the u.s. ally that it has been doing the save as what it accuses china of doing policymakers

here in the u.s. are doing everything to shift the attention away from snowden's revelations by focusing on snowden himself or even by attacking other countries like russia the freedom trail is not exactly china russia cuba venezuela so i hope we'll chase him to the ends of the earth bring him to justice and let the russians know there will be consequences if they harbor this guy and i was listening to a former director of the cia saying over russia and china are going to use this meaning snowden to embarrass the u.s. and what would argue it's his revelations that embarrass the u.s. not china or russia the u.s. government is clearly afraid of more revelations from snowden i want to get him caught and brought back for trial and i think we need to know exactly what he has. he could have a lot lot more it may really put people in jeopardy i don't know. but. i think the chase is on and we'll have to see what happens debate in the u.s.

media has shifted to this chase moche to this captain mouse game it's not all about how we're going to catch him so right now the media is unsympathetic to edward snowden although just a week ago some of the same journalists who are almost cheerleading for his capture now were grateful for snowden's revelations which were indeed eye opening for all of us as far as the prospect of being caught here's what edward snowden himself said i could be you know rendered by the cia i could have people come after me or any of their third party partners you know they would they work closely with a number of other nations and that's a fear i'll live under for the rest of my life however long that happens to be you can come forward against the world's most powerful intelligence agencies and be completely free from risk because they're such powerful adversaries the no one can meaningfully oppose them. if they want to get you they'll get you in time edward

snowden also said it's not government persecution that he fears he said the greatest fear that i have about the outcome of these disclosures is that nothing will change more on that in my report america is split on the word snowden traitor or hero mixed in between but regardless of what anyone thinks about snowden his revelations have shed unprecedented light on the u.s. government's massive spying program even if you're not doing anything wrong you're being watched and recorded a former n.s.a. employee william binney was prosecuted as a traitor when he blew the whistle on the government's sweeping collection of data and communications it's setting up a tele tarion state. when the government has that much information they can do those things they can use the i.r.s. to intimidate people or anything else they can send the f.b.i. . what they did to me and some others bradley manning to is being prosecuted as a traitor although it's so his war logs that the public learned about the.

collateral murder it was committed in iraq the obama administration has prosecuted more whistleblowers under the espionage act than all previous administrations combined but it was a lower say so not government persecution that they fear the greatest fear that i have regarding the outcome. for america of these disclosures is that nothing will change the administration is not trying to convince the american people that government secrets programs are a trade off they have to make in the name of national security they always have the same stories about you know science manning is known you know psychological stories what is wrong with these people cause them to do this i mean the real question is what is wrong with everyone else from who doesn't see what they can see but it was a lowers are not the only targets there is an obligation both moral but also legal i believe against a reporter that was the chairman of the house committee on cutting teligent and

terrorism peter king calling to punish the journalist who exposed the government's surveillance programs in its hunt for meeks the obama administration has already targeted its it's trying to set the precedent for the communicating with the media is the same as communicating with the enemy and that's a death penalty offense the administration doesn't have to go after her or he certainly isn't up to create an environment of fear but will that fear stop information from coming out here that we're snowden to answer that by. kone in response is simply build better whistleblower. in washington i'm going to take. medea benjamin a co-founder of the activist group code pink says persecuting snowden will only help spread his vision of a more transparent government. i think it's ridiculous that the government has revoked his passport the way the government has reacted to this is making snowden a hero drought there are countries around the world they're making

a huge deal out of this and they're giving him a platform to be in kenya to expose what is supposed to be this great open free society has really turned into something very different so the government reaction is actually feeding what i hope will be the growth of a movement to pressure the u.s. government to the kind of activity we've got more on snowden for you after a short break right here.

this month. could help with laser cutters. russian innovators are working hard to keep you healthy for some companies it's been a winding road from car simulators to cutting edge streaming systems for others it's been a lifetime of work along the mysteries of the cell. phone technology. developing story i wanted to buy the u.s. on espionage charges n.s.a. whistleblower edward snowden has formally applied for political asylum in ecuador snowden is currently in a moscow airport and is reportedly waiting to board another flight within the next twenty four hours meanwhile washington is ramping up in the pressure on latin america urging that no country to offer him

a safe haven snowden is the seventh person the obama administration has sought to punish for leaking classified data let's get a recap of some of his major revelations that sparked washington's fury in the first place he disclosed documents showing that the n.s.a. has access to huge streams of internet data including emails chat rooms and videos from large companies such as facebook and google and that the u.s. government used the secret foreign intelligence surveillance court to gather an extensive range of information from phone service provider verizon he revealed also . how both mainland china and hong kong have been victims to hundreds of cyber attacks by u.s. hackers and according to his latest leak the u.k. is collecting and storing huge amounts of sensitive data personal data from online and telephone traffic and also sharing it with america peter tatchell who is a u.k. human rights activist says that u.s.

surveillance tactics are outrageous and go beyond all legal boundaries and she will deny the states will be doubling its efforts to try and intercept him and to get an extradition from whatever country they can i think the context of this is that the united states spies on its own citizens it also spies almost a distance of millions of other countries i mean millions of people in other countries and this is done without the permission of those countries it is technically illegal and what is extraordinary is that what snowden was employed by the united states as a spy yet now they are seeking to arrest him for spying it seems completely not proceeding well in the united states is spying on its own citizens and citizens around the world on a massive scale without governmental into strict oversight within the united states or other countries around the world in another twist

a whistleblower russell tice who released his secrets during the george w. bush era says that former cia head general petraeus and even barack obama were once targets for n.s.a. snooping he also confirmed that data is indeed being stored james corbet a jab at a panda based independent journalist believes tice's revelations didn't get the attention that they deserved. while the snowden drama unfolds something that's being swept under the rug are these new revelations from n.s.a. whistleblower russell tice who is in fact one of the people who was one of the sources for the original two thousand and five new york times story on the n.s.a. wiretapping scandal at that time but now russell tice to step forward with more information into explosive interviews from the last few days he talked about how the the n.s.a. is in fact storing not just the metadata which has been the talking point in the news so far but the content of all electronic communications that are going across the u.s. servers from e-mails to faxes to phone calls all of it being stored now at the new

data center and in utah he also went on records in the names of some of the specific targets of n.s.a. spying with the implication that this information was being used for blackmailing purposes on including senator then senator barack obama including general david petraeus and others who he mentioned by name including supreme court justices and top ranking military and republican congressional officials so this is being specifically avoided right now and the implication is that the news outlets are as we've seen with the snowden story and other stories collaborating with the intelligence agencies behind the scenes to repress this information but this is this is absolutely explosive and again coming from a key n.s.a. whistleblower who is right now being ignored with these allegations and as a whistleblower such as snowden revealed government appetite for personal data we're interested in how you feel about your private information being collected by security agencies on our website we've asked for your opinions and this is how it's

been panning out so far let's take a look at this big huge blue part of the pie seventy four percent saying that spying on people is absolutely unacceptable getting their private data without warning them and significantly less people about sixteen percent in pink they don't really have an opinion and they're not going to put it down because they say the government will be tracking their answers you know security engine things doing what they do down here in the. golden yellow seven percent say it's justifiable if the governments are looking for terrorists without the mass tracking of everyone else and finally a tiny little sliver here three percent say that there is nothing wrong about it whatsoever they're not worried about the government getting access to their personal information because well they're not doing anything wrong anyway so you can get involved cast your vote we want to hear from you had to r t dot com now the unwavering support of many u.s. companies for the government's surveillance program including the one snowden worked for as sparked some awkward questions or counterfeit off looks at what might

be in it for some of the firms themselves. we know now that thousands of companies have been sharing sensitive information with the u.s. government in exchange for various benefits now this raises concerns about the extent of the private sector collaboration with the u.s. government not to mention questions about what exactly those benefits were now the details may be murky at this point but let's go over exactly what information we have now companies who did hand over data to the government got a big thank you that's according to michael hayden who used to head the cia as well as the national security agency which runs of course the prism program and mr hayden told bloomberg this if i were the director and had a relationship with a company who was doing things that were not just directed by law but were also valuable to the defense of the republic i would go out of my way to thank them and give them a sense as to why this is necessary and useful all right well what kind of thank

you exactly are we talking about here well again not a lot of details but anonymous sources did tell bloomberg that leaders of the companies who handed over data to the government were showered with attention and information by government agencies in fact in some instances that meant quick warnings about the threats that could affect their bottom line for example serious internet attacks and who's behind them of course this exchange of information is supposed to be voluntary and well at this point we don't exactly have evidence that this is not the case but well most of the companies seem to have participated simply because the government asking for help one former c.e.o. paints a slightly different picture in two thousand and one when some telecom giants allegedly were asked to participate in an n.s.a. information sharing program one company qwest initially refused to play ball in according to court documents filed by its then c.e.o. joseph nacho as a result of that decision the company was denied lucrative n.s.a.

contracts he believed to be worth fifty to one hundred million dollars retaliation he says for refusing to port. take in the government spy program so to sum it up companies that share data are into government goodwill information about threats possible classified information and of course there's concern that those who did not play along could could have been left out of lucrative government contracts course we don't have more information on this but that's person i see the point the lack of transparency about this data swap is a major concern now it's done in the name of security but at what cost and to whom this account for reporting for our team in moscow where with snowden's revelations showing internet users being spied on globally people are increasingly turning to alternative technologies to protect their private data. reports on the boom in the use of encrypted communications services. in a post prism world some are losing and others are gaining google for arise in

facebook apple and other u.s. technology companies have lost credibility and the trust of their customers encrypted communications services on the other hand are seeing their businesses boom oh it's going crazy. you know a lot of people suspected these. the government u.s. government was spying on americans but now we have this confirmation and so everybody is contacting us now when we've had a huge surge in orders hill zimmerman is the co-founder and c.e.o. of silent circle a global encrypted mobile service that protects users' privacy from the u.s. national security agency and big data companies we have created an architecture that doesn't share the key cryptographic keys with the servers the servers that we control so. if the government tries to persuade us to hand over something

that we might have on our servers. we can't give them the keys and we can't give them the decrypted messages we don't keep logs of the of the connections between people so a court order can make us give them something we don't have however privacy doesn't come free and annual membership to silent circle cost one hundred twenty dollars the newest kid on the block is secret the mobile app encrypts voice calls and text messages the south african company has clients in two hundred countries with skyrocketing demands recently coming from the u.s. and u.k. i mean it's not growing every day percentages. or growth. the application as sensually allows you to create a new identity with a secure phone number. needs to be every day and trying to. go in forward not just. of the. other countries.

as you call it easy as you were the day meanwhile daily traffic at the search engine start page has doubled in less than a month jumping to nearly four million queries the netherlands based company doesn't store ip addresses search history or use tracking codes and it's not subject to us jurisdiction we strip out anything that would identify you and then we submit the search for you to google on your behalf and then we get the results back from google we strip out any kind of tracking cookies or anything that might be included with that we serve the results to you privately and then we delete all records of your visit so we delete your ip address we delete your search terms and at the end of the day we have no record of anyone even having that on our website while the global push for privacy is accelerating experts say encryption alone won't be enough the n.s.a. surveillance has is worse than mine were somebody's thought and. i

think that the technology we provide is only part of the solution i think we also have to try to push back. with public policy debates in the u.s. and get the laws to change the exposure of america's global electronic surveillance program has also revealed alternatives to all those who want to secure their privacy however in most cases people will have to pay to protect their communication from a government that's been accessing and story data for years reporting from new york marina heartache. where does it for me i'll see you tomorrow but artie's news team and my colleague rory sushi will bring you more updates on the edward snowden story in around thirty minutes time but before that our special report on the consequences of the military conflict in chechnya the face of war is coming up right here on our team. were.

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