Edward Snowden: Gov spy games tapering

Edward Snowden

Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who went public with the U.S. government’s secret spy and data collection programs, said surveillance of innocent Americans’ has fallen off a bit, thanks in part to the awareness and outrage of the U.S. public.

There’s been a “profound difference” in the past two years, he said, in a New York Times op-ed. In short: The new tone in America, post-September 11, “turns away from reaction and fear in favour of resilience and reason,” he wrote.

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He cited the recent congressional revamp of the government’s bulk data collection program as an example of positive change, the Guardian reported.

“After a White House-appointed oversight board investigation found that this program had not stopped a single terrorist attack, even the president who once defended its proppriety and criticized its disclosure has now ordered it terminated,” Snowden wrote.

And this “landmark victory for the rights of each citizen” was fueled by “the power of an informed public,” he said.

“Since 2013, institutions across Europe have declared laws and similar operations illegal and imposed new restrictions on such activities in the future,” Snowden said.

He also warned privacy rights are still a threat, and wrote: “As you read this online, the United States government makes a note.”

Snowden went on, warning more citizen protections are needed: “Some of the world’s most popular online services have been enlisted as partners in the NSA’s mass surveillance programs and technology companies are being pressured by governments around the world to work against their customers rather than for them. Metadata revealing the personal associations and interests of ordinary Internet users is still being intercepted and monitored on a scale unprecedented in history,” he wrote.

 

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