Edward Snowden asylum: US 'disappointed' by Russian decision

White House says Moscow should hand back whistleblower and hints Barack Obama might boycott Vladimir Putin meeting

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/01/edward-snowden-asylum-us-disappointed

The White House expressed anger and dismay on Thursday after Russia granted temporary asylum to the American whistleblower Edward Snowden and allowed him to leave the Moscow airport where he had been holed up for over a month.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said the US was "extremely disappointed" by the decision, almost certainly taken personally by President Vladimir Putin. He said Moscow should hand Snowden back and hinted that Barack Obama might now boycott a bilateral meeting with Putin in September, due to be held when the US president travels to Russia for a G20 summit.

Carney added that Snowden had arrived in both China and Russia carrying with him thousands of top secret US documents. He said: "Simply the possession of that kind of highly sensitive classified information outside of secure areas is both a huge risk and a violation.

"As we know he's been in Russia now for many weeks. There is a huge risk associated with … removing that information from secure areas. You shouldn't do it, you can't do it, it's wrong."

With US-Russian relations now at a cold war-style low, Snowden slipped out of Sheremetyevo airport on Thursday afternoon. His lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena, said Russia's federal migration service had granted him temporary asylum for one year. Snowden had left the airport to stay at an undisclosed location with expatriate Americans, he added.

Putin made no immediate comment. But having weighed Russia's options for some weeks, he appears to have decided that Snowden's propaganda value outweighs any possible US repercussions. Obama's already floundering attempts to "reset", or improve, relations with Moscow are in effect over.

In a statement released by WikiLeaks, Snowden thanked the Russian authorities and accused the US of behaving illegally. He made no explicit mention of the trial of Bradley Manning, who this week was convicted of espionage and faces 136 years in jail.

Snowden said: "Over the past eight weeks we have seen the Obama administration show no respect for international or domestic law, but in the end the law is winning."

He added: "I thank the Russian Federation for granting me asylum in accordance with its laws and international obligations."

Snowden has been given a temporary Russian travel document, with his name in Cyrillic and a fresh passport photo. "This gave him the right to temporary asylum on the territory of the Russian Federation, Kucherena said, holding up a copy of the document. US authorities had cancelled his American passport.

Security officials said Snowden officially crossed the border into Russia from the airport's transit zone at about 3.30pm local time. Russia had apparently not informed the US of the move in advance. The state TV channel Rossiya 24 showed a photograph of Snowden's departure, as he clambered into a grey unmarked car.

Despite being pictured from behind Snowden was instantly recognisable wearing his trademark grey shirt and carrying a black backpack. Next to him was Sarah Harrison, the WikiLeaks representative who accompanied him last month on his flight from Hong Kong.

Kucherena declined to provide details on where Snowden was heading, citing safety concerns. "Since he is the most hunted person in the world, he will address the question of security today," he told journalists.

The former NSA employee will himself choose his place of residence and forms of protection, he added. Previously, some speculated that the Russian government was keeping Snowden hidden, although the whistleblower and his lawyer have denied that, adding that he has had no contact with Russian security services.

The whistleblower's father, Lon Snowden, had reportedly been planning to visit his son. Kucherena said on Wednesday that he was sending an invitation to Snowden's father so he could obtain a Russian visa. Kucherena told Rossiya 24 on Thursday that he would be speaking to the father later in the day to arrange his visit.

US authorities have repeatedly called on Moscow to return the fugitive to face charges in America. Last week America's attorney general, Eric Holder, sent a letter to Russia's justice minister promising that Snowden would not be tortured and that he would not face the death penalty if handed over to the US.

Russian officials previously said they had no jurisdiction to return Snowden, as he was not officially located on Russian territory, and that the US had not filed an official extradition request.

The Kremlin did not immediately comment on Snowden's temporary asylum. Putin has previously said repeatedly that to remain in Russia, Snowden must stop activities harming the United States. His lawyer suggested that fresh revelations published by the Guardian on Wednesday and Thursday had come from documents that Snowden had already given the paper before Putin made his comments.

Russia's decision has emboldened hawkish critics of the White House, who have long dubbed Obama's attempts to improve relations with Putin as naive and inappropriate. In a statement on his website, Senator John McCain said: "Russia's action today is a disgrace and a deliberate effort to embarrass the United States. It is a slap in the face of all Americans. Now is the time to fundamentally rethink our relationship with Putin's Russia."

He proposed in response to expand the Magnitsky Act list of banned Russian officials, push for Georgia's acceptance into Nato and implement US missile defence programmes in Europe.

At the White House, Carney made it clear that President Obama was frustrated by the decision by Russia to allow Snowden to enter the country, and that a planned presidential summit was now in jeopardy.

Obama is scheduled to travel to Russia in September for a meeting of G20 leaders in St Petersburg. He also planned to meet Putin for a bilateral summit during the trip in what would have been a sign of improving relations between the two powers.

That meeting is now under review. "Obviously this is not a positive development," Carney said. "We have a wide range of interests with the Russians. We are evaluating the utility of the summit."

Amnesty International called for the focus to switch from Snowden's asylum plight to the "sweeping nature and unlawfulness" of the US government's surveillance programmes.

Widney Brown, senior director for international law and policy at Amnesty, said in a statement: "Now that Edward Snowden has left the airport and has protected status in Russia, the focus really needs to be on the US government's surveillance programs. Snowden would not have needed temporary asylum but for revealing the sweeping nature and unlawfulness of a massive system of domestic and international surveillance by the United States government."

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Bank of America's Twitter Account Is One Really Really Dumb Robot

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http://gizmodo.com/bank-of-americas-twitter-account-is-one-really-really-713634226

It's always nice to get a response from Company X's official Twitter account when you rage tweet about how Company X is so terrible and awful and that you'd never do anything with them again. It seems like they care about you! It seems like they want to help! It seems like they're... human. Too bad they're usually just stupid robots like this Bank of America Twitter account.

It's a hilariously epic mistake by the official BofA Help Twitter account. When Twitter user @darthmarkh tweeted about how he was chased away by cops after drawing chalk in front of a New York City Bank of America that was pointing out how BofA was taking away people's homes, the BofA Help Twitter account decided to jump in and asked @darthmarkh if he needed help with his account... completely ignoring the fact that @darthmarkh was eviscerating Bank of America right in front of its face.

It gets worse for BofA though. When other people jumped into @darthmarkh's replies, they all get mentioned by the same BofA Help Twitter account with the same generic answers. It's completely embarrassing because NO ONE is actually asking for help, they're all just destroying Bank of America (with the ammo Bank of America is providing no less).

You'd think the robot behind these tweets would have better filters that would allow it to ignore people who don't have Bank of America bank accounts and are clearly making fun of Bank of America but NOPE. 

You'd think there might be some human oversight but NOPE. It's just large corporations making a fool of themselves on the Internet.

Here's the disastrous Tweet session by Bank of America. You can see the entire exchange here and the Tweet that started off this hilarious meth here. [eksith]

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Bank Of America Demonstrates How Not To Conduct Customer Service On Twitter

By Allison Stadd on July 9, 2013 5:00 PM

http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/bank-of-america-twitter_b46078

In an embarrassing episode picked up by Gizmodo, Bank of America’s customer service Twitter account @BofA_Help made a downright fool of itself – demonstrating exactly how not to conduct customer relations on Twitter.

What Gizmodo calls a “hilariously epic mistake”on Bank of America’s part started off with this tweet from @darthmarkh:

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The tweet referenced the @bankofamerica Twitter handle, but had nothing to do with anyone’s bank account. Rather, the context was a protest against Bank of America foreclosures.

Nonetheless, the BofA Help Twitter account, obviously attuned to a Twitter search for references of the bank, replied with the following tweet:

[...]

Then, when other tweeters chimed in to reply to the original tweet, @BofA_Help continued its automated “customer service,” inquiring if it could be of service when really the topic at hand had nothing to do with balance transfers, deposit slips, and the like.

Lesson for the Bank of America social media crew: you need to fine-tune your help account to filter out tweets like these so you don’t come across as lifeless and ignorant. The lack of human oversight on the bank’s part here is stunning – and should be a word to the wise!

You can read the full exchange on Twitter here.

First National Bank Announces: 'Suckers, We're Keeping All the Money'

http://www.theonion.com/articles/first-national-bank-announces-suckers-were-keeping,20442/

BOSTON—The First National Bank of Boston, the nation’s largest commercial bank, announced yesterday that it will no longer hold on to its customers’ money and instead keep it all for itself to use in any way it pleases. Bank officials cited the expense of several ambitious projects, including the construction of an immense corporate palace, as cause for the policy change.

“Possession is nine-tenths of the law, so it is with the law on our side that I say to all First National customers, you are shit out of luck,” CEO J. Ephraim Gunderloy said at a press conference.

Added Vice President of Sales and Marketing Theobald T. Worthington: “An internationally renowned financial giant like First National has far more important uses for this money than do our small-time accountholders, many of whom live paycheck to paycheck, occasionally withdrawing a few dollars to pay their rent or buy corn dogs.”

According to the bank’s statement, merely protecting the money of commoners was a short-sighted and unprofitable goal. The paltry interest earned on accounts and even on high-rate loans was nothing compared to the outright liquidation of all capital held in the bank.

“The numbers just made sense for us,” Worthington said. “We add up all of our fees and service charges and it still amounts to nothing in relation to the gross capital in the bank proper. I mean, this is a pretty big bank, and not to give away too much, but all told, we’ve got billions of dollars just sitting there for the taking.”

Customers’ money will now largely go to fund the construction of a new state-of-the-art First National headquarters, made entirely of ivory, bank spokespeople said. Precious stones will be set into the walls, and all light fixtures will be made of solid gold. Because of the building’s enormous size, officials hope to interconnect various departments with an elaborate system of canals and viaducts, each flowing with molten gold and cruised by luxurious onyx pleasure barges.

“Our executives will be distinguished by the height of the ostrich they ride,” Gunderloy said. “The taller the ostrich, the more significant the job title. My ostrich, for example, will measure eight feet, three and one-half inches, while Mr. Worthington’s will be only six feet, two and three-quarters.”

Junior executives, meanwhile, will have to content themselves with emus.

Other uses for the money include a First National corporate space shuttle, weekly bonfires of bills with bent corners, and 800 Faberge eggs for First National executives to throw at each other for no reason at all.

First National informed its customers of the change in their account status by enclosing a form letter in lieu of January account statements. The note read, “Due to a shift in corporate policy, we are keeping all money currently held at First National. Your First National account is officially closed. We have eliminated our customer service department, so, we will be unable to answer any questions about this change. Thank you for banking with us.”

Many accountholders expressed disappointment in having all their money taken by the bank.

“Not only is my retirement fund gone, but also my children’s college money,” First National customer Gerard Falstaff said. “Now I will have to sell at least two of my children into indentured servitude and will either have to start saving from scratch again or just kill myself. This is pretty disappointing.”

Bank of America knows its customer service is awful

Chief executive Brian Moynihan tells employees to be nicer, but it's the bank's proposed fees that consumers loathe.

By Jason Notte 

http://money.msn.com/now/post.aspx?post=793f12ae-b1bb-4cfd-ae66-bc23db18733e

When even the CEO thinks employees need to ease up on consumers, it's a pretty good sign a company's customer service could use some work.

Bank of America (BAC +2.33%) chief executive Brian Moynihan has sent a letter to nearly 270,000 employees telling them to make it easier for customers to do business with the bank, especially in light of its poor performance in customer satisfaction surveys. 

Moynihan's letter, which Reuters viewed a copy of, urges workers on the phones at customer call centers to use the same "problem-solving approach" as U.S. Trust and Bank of America's own Merrill Lynch representatives do with their well-off clientele.

As it stands, Bank of America customers feel like chattel compared to other banks' human assets. The latestAmerican Customer Satisfaction Index shows Bank of America's score sliding 3% from last year to 66, its poorest showing in a decade and well beneath the 79 scored by small banks and credit unions or even the 74 posted byJPMorgan Chase (JPM +1.45%).

"Customers increasingly are rejecting the ever-mounting fees charged by large banks and taking their business to credit unions instead," Claes Fornell, ACSI founder, said in a statement. "Bank of America, in particular, stands out as the only bank that is still below its pre-recession customer satisfaction level. It is clear that this is mostly because of fees."

Though Bank of America has had problems coordinating its banking and lending branches since acquiring troubled mortgage broker Countrywide in 2008, its customer relations nightmare began in earnest back in 2011 when it suggested a $5 monthly fee for debit card use. The Occupy movement seized on the ensuing customer anger to encourage the transfer of assets from Bank of America and other large banks to small banks and credit unions.

That didn't stop Bank of America from trying a fee hike again last year, with representatives from Massachusetts blowing the whistle on those plans to The Wall Street Journal in March. By November, plans to force customers toavoid fees by shunning tellers, maintaining minimum balances, getting Bank of America credit cards and holding mortgages with the bank were dead and Moynihan was in full retreat.

The bank's chief executive says his new customer service plan will roll out during a big company event on Thursday, but he's still in as tough a spot as ever. Profits were down 63% in the fourth quarter as $5 billion in mortgage-related charges dragged down Bank of America's numbers. Investors don't care much about low rates, federal regulations or the bank's mortgage mess -- which predates the Countrywide deal. Customers, meanwhile, have been adamant that investor profits shouldn't be paid for by the bank's low-income accountholders, who are disproportionately affected by new and rising fees.