Snowden: balance of power has shifted as people defy government surveillance

[umbertino]

Whistleblower says ‘profound difference’ has occurred over past two years after leaking of NSA documents as public demands privacy

 

 

Rebecca Ratcliffe

 

Friday 5 June 2015 01.48 BST

 

 

 

A “profound difference” has occurred over the past two years, following the leaking of NSA documents that led to revelations about US surveillance on phone and internet communications, whistleblower Edward Snowden has said.

 

Writing in the New York Times, the computer analyst said that the balance of power is changing as a post-terror generation “turns away from reaction and fear in favour of resilience and reason”.

 

Snowden said that bulk data collection programmes had been declared illegal and disavowed by the US Congress.

 

“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 propriety and criticised its disclosure has now ordered it terminated,” he said in the piece, also published in the French newspaper Liberation.

 

Snowden said the achievement was driven by “the power of an informed public” and added the end of the mass surveillance of private telephone calls under the US Patriot Act was a “landmark victory for the rights of each citizen”.

 

“Since 2013, institutions across Europe have declared laws and similar operations illegal and imposed new restrictions on such activities in the future. The UN has said that mass surveillance was clearly a violation of human rights.

 

“In Latin America, Brazilian citizens’ efforts have led to the adoption of the Marco Civil, the first declaration of the rights of the internet in the world. Recognising the essential role of an informed public in correcting excesses of government, the Council of Europe called for the adoption of new laws to prevent the persecution of whistleblowers.”

 

Progress had also been made towards improving the safety of devices used for communication, he added. “Basic technical protection safeguards such as encryption ... are now enabled by default in the products of pioneering companies such as Apple, which ensures that even if your phone is stolen, your private life remains private.”

 

But Snowden warned that the right to privacy remains under threat, adding that “as you read this online, the United States government makes a note”.

 

“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.”

 

The heads of the secret services in Australia, Canada and France have exploited the recent tragedies in order to try to get new intrusive powers, he added.

 

Snowden also pointed to British prime minister David Cameron’s recent comments to the National Security Council: “Do we want to allow a means of communication between the people we [the state] can not read?... For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens: as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone.”

 

“At the turning of the millennium, few imagined that citizens of developed democracies would soon be required to defend the concept of an open society against their own leaders,” Snowden said.

 

 

Edward Snowden during an interview with the Guardian. He said that there has been a shift in the balance of power over government surveillance.

Photograph: The Guardian/AFP/Getty Images

 

 

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/05/snowden-balance-power-shifted-people-defy-government-surveillance-nsa

[Jim1cor13]

I have some problems with Snowden in regards to his current statements.

 

A power shift? Hardly, most have no idea of the behemoth that is government,

and their ability to nose in on anyone. yes, there have been a few alterations,

a few changes, mostly outside of the US, so in those places there has been

some power shift, not so in the US. We watched the ruse of letting the 'unpatriot'

act go in favor of one that is called 'USA freedom act'

 

Nothing freedom about it, for anything lost from the unpatriot act will be covered

elsewhere, much of it within the new TPP trade bill, that so few have actually read,

yet we see the politicians passing another bill they have not read. THIS is a circus,

it is a ruse...it is too easy to sell these games to the public in the US, most have

no clue what is going on and do not care.

 

ALL the tools put in place over the last 12 years or so will not be removed, they are

in place still gathering data, much of it from the internet, so to say to people there

was a victory with the cessation of phone data gathering, is quite deceptive. Everyone

is connected in some way, what we are seeing is not a shift in power, only a shift in

terms and methods used. I think Snowden is taking credit for more than he should,

although I have no problem with his exposing of NSA tactics, I do have a problem with

his current statements and must wonder if he is actually a 'tool' himself for the establishment

or if he is not the hero some think he is. Something is not right with a few of his statements,

and this makes me cautious as to his knowledge.

 

The unpatriot act was in action for too long to ever think the harm caused by this despicable

"act" would be able to be undone. It just changes methods and tactics, while offering a false

sense of somehow, we were returned liberties that were blindly given away by most...there were

NO liberties restored when it comes to data gathering, that one can be sure of.

 

Thanks Umbert