The latest bombshell from The Intercept debunks a popular Snowden lie
(originally posted 20.06.2015 on Google+)

This is fascinating. And it is not the first time a Snowden-”revelation” is contradicted.

So The Intercept reports that the U.S. government demanded business records (metadata, not content) about Jacob Appelbaum’s Gmail-Account. That’s what their scandalizing article is about. But much more interesting is that Google vigorously fought the order. Not only the order, they also fought for the right to inform Appelbaum about the order.

Do you remember what Edward Snowden said about PRISM, the U.S. government and Google? Here you go:

”We've got PRISM, which is a demonstration how the U.S. government co-ops U.S. corporate power to its own ends. Companies like Google, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft — they all get together with the NSA and provide the NSA with direct access to the backends to all of the systems you use to communicate, to store your data, to put things in the cloud, and even just to send birthday wishes and keep a record of your life. And they give the NSA direct access so that they don't need to oversee so they can't be held liable for it.”

This was a lie from the very beginning. There never was a “direct access”. There never was a “partnership”. The Intercept’s article clearly proves this. Snowden’s claim is and always was a plain lie. But Snowdenistas will not care, I’m sure. 

Revealed: How DOJ Gagged Google over Surveillance of WikiLeaks Volunteer - The Intercept