Snowden Rallies Privacy Advocates In New York City

An anonymous reader writes 'Mass global surveillance "isn't just an American problem, this is a global problem," Edward Snowden told the Personal Democracy Forum (PDF) conference in New York on Thursday. Appearing via video call from Moscow, Snowden spoke with John Perry Barlow, cofounder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, in front of a crowd of hundreds gathered in downtown Manhattan. Barlow announced the launch of the Courage Foundation, an organization dedicated to financially supporting Snowden's considerable legal battles. "I'm afraid we've descended to this point," Barlow said, "But why do animals lick their genitals? Because they can. Why do governments do this? Because they can't lick their own." "They're licking ours," Snowden quipped, "and taking pictures."'

Comments

Re:We're supposed to take this seriously?

[Anonymous Coward]

because they can't hold an intelligent debate.

There's no intelligent debate to be had, or a debate at all. It's just the government violating the highest law of the land, and people who give a shit trying to stop them. They had no moral high ground since the beginning.

Snowden For President

[Anonymous Coward]

Let's vote him in and he can pardon himself. Problem solved.

Thank you Snowden

[MildlyTangy]

Thank you Mr Snowden for everything you have done.

We always suspected, but never really knew how bad things really are until now.

Again, I thank you.

Re:We're supposed to take this seriously?

[MrKaos]

There's no intelligent debate to be had, or a debate at all. It's just the government violating the highest law of the land, and people who give a shit trying to stop them. They had no moral high ground since the beginning.

The point is, if the situation is dire and serious, the message should be as well.

Whilst that is true, paradoxically, the more dire and serious the message is, the easier for our controlled press outlets to manipulate it into something else, so the less people listen. Perhaps Snowden is just pressing a point in presenting the argument that way to make it, feel, really personal because it is.

When you're pointing out an injustice being committed by the government, you should be trying to get people to think.

You are right, I sense they will think 'EWWWW', however it's a mammoth task getting people to do anything until they understand why its in their own self interest. Slowly the legal framework is put in place, the use of such powers concealed and, sometimes not acted on. People never feel the impact and are dumbed down enough to be apathetic enough to allow more freedoms to be stolen. Look at the silly monkey

The self involved aspects of our own culture works against us as vanity makes so many of us desperately shallow and ignorant. Meanwhile those remaining in our western society who understand what freedoms are being stolen and twisted against us, scream in frustration as democracy is turned into a parody of what was supposed to be. A trapped is only closed when all avenues of escape are.

It would seem though that even in the intelligence agencies there are people saying 'this is gone far enough', recognised whoever is pushing this agenda as a domestic enemy and have been brave enough to stand up to the systemic corruption that is threatening to collapse Western society the same way the USSR was. They are ejected from the machinery.

I just hope that democracy doesn't become the experimental blip in history between monarchies and ogliarchies because we were too afraid and lazy to face the responsibilities of living in one.