NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden appeared in a public broadcast a couple days after GOP candidate Donald Trump won the presidency.
Snowden spoke during a live stream at 4:30 pm ET Thursday. Speaking via satellite feed from Moscow, he addressed questions from an audience in Amsterdam. He told viewers to be vigilant and proactive on privacy issues.
“We should be cautions about placing to much faith or fear in a [president]”, said Snowden.
Instead of letting politicians drive policy decisions, he said the people should organize and advocate for privacy. That’s because politicians will only do what’s popular, he said.
“If we want to have a better world we can’t hope for a Obama and we should not fear for a Donald Trump. Rather we should build it ourselves.”
Snowden countered the narrative that people shouldn’t worry about surveillance if they have nothing to hide. During the hour-long presentation he commented on the extent of mass surveillance from the NSA’s PRISM program to Yahoo’s participation in US email spying. Snowden said privacy is a fundamental right that fosters a diversity in opinions.
“If you disagree with the majority opinion, this is who privacy is for, ” Snowden said. “Privacy is not about something to hide, it’s about something to protect.”