Snowden warns of increase in U.S. domestic spying after Trump victory

nhboy

Ubi bene ibi patria
" Donald Trump's election as U.S. president raises concern that Washington may increase the intrusiveness of domestic intelligence gathering, former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden said on Monday, warning that democratic checks and balances were losing ground to authoritarianism.

Snowden lives in Moscow under an asylum deal after he leaked classified information in 2013 that triggered an international furor over the reach of U.S. spy operations. He spoke at a teleconference hosted by Buenos Aires University's law school.

"We are starting to substitute open government for sheer authoritarianism, a government based not upon the principle of informed consent granted by people who understand its activities but rather a trust in personalities, a trust in claims, a trust in the hope that they will do the right thing," Snowden said.

Washington pledged not to engage in indiscriminate espionage following Snowden's 2013 disclosures. But Snowden questioned if that policy could be modified by new officials "who have a very different set of values and can govern in the dark."
"If government does actually win our trust, because they go for some years and they do operate in a way that we should support, what happens when it changes?" he asked. "

More here: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-snowden-idUSKBN1392IG?utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&utm_content=582a826804d301571e678e19&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter
 

Larry Gude

Strung Out
Ah, yes. NOW spying will matter. NOW the homeless will suddenly re-appear. NOW the vile-ness of the drone program will make the news. NOW there will be calls to scale back the Pat Act and so forth. NOW we will hear of the homohpobia and sexism and racism in Islam and what are we gonna do about it.

OK, so, 4 out of 5 ain't bad. :lol:
 

Clem72

Well-Known Member
Snowden wasn't an analyst, wasn't an agent, he was a systems administrator. And he hasn't had access to classified information for years now. His opinion is worth about as much as and random IT professional, scratch that, random IT professional who hasn't worked in his field for years and has been living in a country where he doesn't speak the language.
 
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