Government surveillance no longer targets individuals, but entire populations, former CIA contractor Edward Snowden has said. The whistleblower appeared via video link in a Toronto debate over the NSA intelligence gathering programs. Commenting on the antics of the National Security Agency, which have been described in the past as “Orwellian in nature,” Snowden said every citizen is affected by intelligence gathering programs Its no longer based on the traditional practice of targeted taps based on some individual suspicion of wrongdoing, Snowden said in the brief video. It covers phone calls, emails, texts, search history, what you buy, who your friends are, where you go, who you love. Snowden’s video link was screened during a Munk debate in Toronto, where former US National Security Administration director General Michael Hayden and Harvard law Professor Alan Dershowitz went head to head with Glen Greenwald and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian over government surveillance. Greenwald, who worked with Snowden publishing the classified material he leaked on the NSA, argued that governments should use targeted surveillance, not the indiscriminate, dragnet method currently in use. Hayden and Dershowitz, however, stuck to the American government stance, maintaining that surveillance is necessary to ensure national security. Snowden addressed the debate from Russia, where he is currently residing after being granted temporary political asylum in the country in June of last year. The whistleblower was forced to stay in Russia after Washington issued an extradition order against him and charged him under the Espionage Act.
Posted on: Sun, 04 May 2014 17:26:49 +0000
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