Snowden Calls on People to Rise Above Government Wrongdoing

© AFP 2023 / TOBIAS SCHWARZEdward Snowden greets the audience before he is honoured with the Carl von Ossietzky medal by International League for Human Rights to during a video conference call after he received the award in Berlin December 14, 2014
Edward Snowden greets the audience before he is honoured with the Carl von Ossietzky medal by International League for Human Rights to during a video conference call after he received the award in Berlin December 14, 2014 - Sputnik International
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US whistleblower Edward Snowden said that people should not change their behavior on the Internet because a government agency somewhere is doing the wrong thing.

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MOSCOW (Sputnik) — People should not change their behavior on the Internet over the fear that it might be tracked by the government, US whistleblower Edward Snowden told HBO.

In 2013, the former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor leaked about 1.7 million classified documents revealing that US intelligence agencies had been gathering large amounts of data on US citizens, foreign nationals and government representatives.

"You shouldn't change your behavior because a government agency somewhere is doing the wrong thing," Snowden said Sunday, adding that US authorities were still collecting people's information.

He said that sacrificing values over fear would mean that these values did not mean much in the first place.

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Snowden said he disclosed the data about the US government surveillance activities to give the American people a chance to decide for themselves what kind of government they wanted to have.

The whistleblower pointed out that the real problem was that the authorities were using their surveillance capabilities to make people vulnerable.

He said it was as if the government were saying, "Well, I have a gun pointed at your head. I'm not going to pull the trigger. Trust me."

He also pointed out that big corporations, such as Google, Facebook and Yahoo were "deputized" by the government to be "surveillance sheriffs" and were collecting information about people who used their services.

Snowden is charged with espionage in the United States and currently resides in Moscow where he has been granted asylum and a three-year residency permit.

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