I care more about the country than what happens to me. But we can’t allow the law to become a political weapon or agree to scare people away from standing up for their rights, no matter how good the deal. I’m not going to be part of that.
Category Archive: Edward Snowden
I think the most important idea is to remember that there have been times throughout American history where what is right is not the same as what is legal.
Citizens with a conscience are not going to ignore wrong-doing simply because they’ll be destroyed for it: the conscience forbids it.
If I target for example an email address, for example under FAA 702, and that email address sent something to you, Joe America, the analyst gets it. All of it. IPs, raw data, content, headers, attachments, everything. And it gets saved for a very long time – and can be extended further with waivers rather than warrants.
I am not trying to bring down the NSA, I am working to improve the NSA. I am still working for the NSA right now. They are the only ones who don’t realize it.
When people say, ‘Why don’t you face the music?’ I say, ‘You have to understand the music is not an open court and a fair trial.’
When you are in positions of privileged access… you see things that may be disturbing. Over time, that awareness of wrongdoing sort of builds up.
I grew up with the understanding that the world I lived in was one where people enjoyed a sort of freedom to communicate with each other in privacy, without it being monitored, without it being measured or analyzed or sort of judged by these shadowy figures or systems, any time they mention anything that travels across public lines.
I will be satisfied if the federation of secret law, unequal pardon and irresistible executive powers that rule the world that I love are revealed even for an instant.
What the government wants is something they never had before. They want total awareness. The question is, is that something we should be allowing?