Posted on 12/25/2013 2:46:41 PM PST by Third Person
As we reported on Tuesday, NSA leaker Edward Snowden will deliver Channel 4 UK’s “Alternative Christmas Message,” the network’s annual response to the Queen’s address. They aired on Christmas Day at 4:15 p.m. local time in England.
Snowden’s remarks were filmed by Glenn Greenwald‘s film collaborator Laura Poitras, from an undisclosed location in Russia.
Full remarks transcribed below, followed by the video:
Hi and Merry Christmas. I’m honored to have a chance to speak with you and your family this year.
Recently we learned that our governments, working in concert, have created a system of worldwide system of mass surveillance watching everything we do. Great Britain’s George Orwell warned us of the danger of this kind of information.
The types of collection in the book -– microphones and video cameras, TVs that watch us –- are nothing compared to what we have available today. We have sensors in our pockets that track us everywhere we go. Think about what this means for the privacy of the average person.
A child born today will grow up with no conception of privacy at all. They’ll never know what it means to have a private moment to themselves an unrecorded, unanalyzed thought. And that’s a problem because privacy matters; privacy is what allows us to determine who we are and who we want to be.
The conversation occurring today will determine the amount of trust we can place both in the technology that surrounds us and the government that regulates it. Together we can find a better balance, end mass surveillance, and remind the government that if it really wants to know how we feel, asking is always cheaper than spying.
For everyone out there listening, thank you and Merry Christmas.
You speak as though we are in a time of war. We are not.
Therefore Snowden is not a traitor.
And Snowden is exposing where the govt. has exceeded its constitutional authority which may be acceptable in wartime, it is unacceptable in peacetime.
We ARE in a war, several in fact, but the Obama regime acts as though we aren’t. Radical jihadist Islam is at war with us, all over the war, including inside the US.
So is communism, be it Putin’s crypto-Communist thugacracy or the ultra-extreme Communists of Peking and Pyongyang.
Don’t forget Cuba, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Bolivia, possibly Argentina (a Peronista state), elements in Brazil (the marxists run the country, remember?), and of course, Hugo’s Venezuela.
Al Qaeda, the Taliban, the Islamic Caliphate, the Moslem Brotherhood - they ain’t democracy-loving brothers, in case you haven’t noticed. Their ideological/religious philosophies call for our subjugation or destruction.
Where I come from that is called “WAR”.
Some people are just blind to reality, like Neville Chamberlain and the guys who screwed up the fleet at Pearl Harbor, and ignored local FBI agents’ warnings before 9/11.
I’m not blind and don’t intend to be.
We are AT WAR on many fronts, so get used to it, prepare for it, and go for victory.
If we are at war (or “WAR”, if you prefer), then declare it through constitutional means.
Kinda odd, coming from someone whose snarky, sarcastic FReeper handle is “The_Media_never_lie.”
A traitor, exposing what the government does to its citizens? The Founders would’ve been shooting the day the government passed NFA.
The article just confirmed my opinion of Snowden. I just do not see why he had to release all the damaging information on the US. All countries have espionage services. What gives him the right to damage the US? Is this the self loathing liberal mindset? He could have resigned his high paying job and opposed the spying by legal legitimate means. Why didn’t he take on the KGB or the Chinese espionage services, since he is so brilliant?
The man is a traitor. What is there about him that is admirable? He is in the same category as John Walker or Jonathan Pollard.
If I'm still cognizant of what's going on around me, and can move under my own power, I'll oppose to my last breath.
May your chains rest lightly upon you.
I am actually very proud of my “snarky, sarcastic Freeper handle”. I learned in 1991 that the media was spiking stories of political interest that did not fit their agenda or world view. The media would just explain it away as an unconfirmed story, when the story was confirmed by credible, independent sources. Some people have, however, took the handle literally and thought I am a defender of the media, and that is the reason for the explanation in the tagline.
Yes, Snowden is a traitor who could have exposed what he deemed was being done to US citizens without damaging US interests. Instead, he denigrated our country’s position with regard to our allies and adversaries. He is getting what he deserves.
I have to say, Edward Snowden has shown COURAGE and CHARACTER far exceeding that of anyone in Washington I can think of - especially exceeding that of Obama and the RINOs.
!
We ALREADY KNEW this was going on - remember Project Eschelon? Snowden just CONFIRMED it, and fleshed out the details. BOTTOM LINE: If they can lie and cover up the truth shoot-down of TWA Flight 800, they can lie and cover up ANYTHING. Maybe the story of the killing of Osama Bin Laden is a hoax, too.
I personally think Snowden is a tool. an Obama tool.
The only things concrete that have come of this are the diminution of US trustworthiness, and the seeding of the populace with the thought, the fear or realization of the fact that the government owns them. Both are fundamental Obama crypto-communist goals.
The outrage is already forgotten, there has been no downside, the people have answered and said “we don’t care”.
I think Snowden has done minimal damage to us regarding military or intelligence operations. What did he reveal that everyone didn’t already know or strongly suspect was going on?
The REAL damage he inflicted was economic. It’s going to be a tough sell to get businesses in other countries to buy products and services from us, especially when electronics/communications are involved and could be compromised. The long term damage could go into the $Trillions.
I am also thankful for Snowden, “a traitor to the traitors.”
The gubbamint’s fabricating an electronic barbed wire fence around it's citizens...and Snowden’s the traitor for sounding the alarm?
Man oh man, no wonder the gubbamint’s gotten away with this for so long. Folks are so willing to just hand over their liberty lock, stock and barrel.
Snowden standing on privacy for the individual, the gubbamint violating privacy for the individual guaranteed by our founding documents.....and Snowden’s the traitor! Wow...just wow!
We’ll put you in the, “government good for illegally spying on and monitoring every move of the law abiding, and anyone exposing them bad” category...
Since ya already knew you were being gang banged by nasty corrupt government, it’s cool...
Good thinken...
Who’s job has been lost, who has been tried yet alone convicted, since this “exposure” of what was already known came to light?
There were some who lied to Congress about it subsequent to the release and even they have not been charged with any crimes.
>> The outrage is already forgotten, there has been no downside, the people have answered and said “we don’t care”.
I agree.
There’s no angle to this story including public reaction that is acceptable to me.
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson & Patrick Henry were traitors.
I think your point is correct.
They should just follow orders.
Oh, wait...
Revolting cat! for the thread win!
Actually, I'm thinking that Woolsey is the punk.
Snowden kept a copy of the Constitution on his desk so's he could gig Statist punks like Woolsey.
You sound like a Statist.
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