Edward Snowden speaks here to the TED2014 audience in Vancouver British Columbia from a remote location in Russia via a “telepresence robot”.
He speaks with his extraordinary trademark articulateness and with such an astounding degree of integrity and honor on the many, many topics this far uncovered: such as the “deputization” of telecommunications and social media corporations, to do “dirty work” on the behalf of the NSA, which was technically illegal for the NSA to do, to begin with (spying on US Citizens); on how these activities have opened up the doors not just to the NSA’s snooping but for any other entities’ espionage teams to do the same.
In effect, by enjoining US businesses to spy on their own clients, the NSA has weakened America’s National Security.
Snowden also speaks on the efforts of the NSA to disable SSLs (Secure Sockets Layers) – which currently protect banking and credit card activities and are something, which Snowden feels should be a part of the coding of every page on the Internet, to return privacy to its users.
To those who would say, “I’m not doing anything wrong, I don’t care if they’re spying on everything I do,” he brings up the issue that agents from other governments, years down the road could misinterpret plane rides you took and purchases you made, to wrongfully charge you with crimes you did not commit:
“Your rights matter,” he says, “because you never know when you’re going to need them.” Chris Anderson interviews, with special guest, the founder of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee.
