Snowden supporters, what say you?
BUENOS AIRES, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Donald Trump's election as U.S. president raises concern that Washington may increase the intrusiveness of domestic intelligence gathering, former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden said on Monday, warning that democratic checks and balances were losing ground to authoritarianism. Snowden lives in Moscow under an asylum deal after he leaked classified information in 2013 that triggered an international furor over the reach of U.S. spy operations. He spoke at a teleconference hosted by Buenos Aires University's law school.
"We are starting to substitute open government for sheer authoritarianism, a government based not upon the principle of informed consent granted by people who understand its activities but rather a trust in personalities, a trust in claims, a trust in the hope that they will do the right thing," Snowden said.
Washington pledged not to engage in indiscriminate espionage following Snowden's 2013 disclosures. But Snowden questioned if that policy could be modified by new officials "who have a very different set of values and can govern in the dark."
"If government does actually win our trust, because they go for some years and they do operate in a way that we should support, what happens when it changes?" he asked.
"This is kind of the challenge that we're facing today in the United States with the result of the last election."
http://www.aol.com/article/news/201...-us-domestic-spying-after-trump-win/21606352/
BUENOS AIRES, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Donald Trump's election as U.S. president raises concern that Washington may increase the intrusiveness of domestic intelligence gathering, former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden said on Monday, warning that democratic checks and balances were losing ground to authoritarianism. Snowden lives in Moscow under an asylum deal after he leaked classified information in 2013 that triggered an international furor over the reach of U.S. spy operations. He spoke at a teleconference hosted by Buenos Aires University's law school.
"We are starting to substitute open government for sheer authoritarianism, a government based not upon the principle of informed consent granted by people who understand its activities but rather a trust in personalities, a trust in claims, a trust in the hope that they will do the right thing," Snowden said.
Washington pledged not to engage in indiscriminate espionage following Snowden's 2013 disclosures. But Snowden questioned if that policy could be modified by new officials "who have a very different set of values and can govern in the dark."
"If government does actually win our trust, because they go for some years and they do operate in a way that we should support, what happens when it changes?" he asked.
"This is kind of the challenge that we're facing today in the United States with the result of the last election."
http://www.aol.com/article/news/201...-us-domestic-spying-after-trump-win/21606352/
