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Edward Snowden gives a confident outlook of a freer world on the pages of The New York Times as his fate in Russia is still uncertain. You can read it here.
In his piece, the former NSA contractor details his emotions right after the leaks were made and today, two years on. He lauds the changes that have been made to security systems around the world.
“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 criticized its disclosure has now ordered it terminated,” says Snowden.
“Since 2013, institutions across Europe have ruled similar laws and operations illegal and imposed new restrictions on future activities. The United Nations declared mass surveillance an unambiguous violation of human rights. In Latin America, the efforts of citizens in Brazil led to the Marco Civil, an Internet Bill of Rights. Recognizing the critical role of informed citizens in correcting the excesses of government, the Council of Europe called for new laws to protect whistle-blowers,” he goes on to say.
Snowden has been on the wanted list in the US who wants to prosecute him. There’s been even an attempt to ground the flight of Ecuadoran President because Washington suspected the fugitive CIA worker was on board.
“For the first time since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, we see the outline of a politics that turns away from reaction and fear in favor of resilience and reason. With each court victory, with every change in the law, we demonstrate facts are more convincing than fear. As a society, we rediscover that the value of a right is not in what it hides, but in what it protects,” Snowden concludes.
He also makes a barb against Russian legislators who are tightening the screw on civil society, in his opinion.
“Structural technological changes can ensure access to basic privacies beyond borders, insulating ordinary citizens from the arbitrary passage of anti-privacy laws, such as those now descending upon Russia,” he says.
“Structural technological changes can ensure access to basic privacies beyond borders, insulating ordinary citizens from the arbitrary passage of anti-privacy laws, such as those now descending upon Russia,” he says.
Sources: http://www.nytimes.com
Author: Mikhail Vesely
