Edward Snowden doesn’t appear as worried about the election of Donald Trump as half of America is. Speaking from Moscow today, in a live stream hosted by private search engine maker StartPage, Snowden said that for those concerned about privacy, they should not worry too much about Trump, they are the ones who can make a change. In a remarkably optimistic speech, he said the focus of the global populace should be on providing worldwide protections from spies and that this was entirely possible.
“While I care what happens to me… this is not about me, it’s about us,” Snowden said. Noting that President Barack Obama said he would end mass surveillance, torture, extrajudicial killings, he failed to deliver. “We all put a lot of hope on him because of this,” Snowden said. “But unfortunately once he took that office he didn’t actually fulfil those promises.” Mass surveillance perpetuates, as does Guantanamo Bay.
And so it is unwise to put too much faith or fear into the incoming leader of the free world. “This is just one president,” added Snowden. “Politicians do what they think will gain them support… ultimately if we want to see a change we must force it through.
“We should not fear a Donald Trump, rather we should build it ourselves.”
Think not of Trump, but of everyone
Asked by cryptography luminary Phil Zimmerman about the potential for Trump to abuse the power of the National Security Agency, Snowden said the focus should be on protecting people across the world, not just Americans. “I try not to look at this as a question of a single election or single president or even a single government,” Snowden said. He pointed to recent legislative changes in Russia and China, where regulations allowing mass surveillance were passed this year.
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