NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden brought a rousing call to arms to Vancouver Tuesday night, when he spoke live via weblink to a captivated audience at Queen Elizabeth Theatre.
“Technology has been used as a sword against people but it can also be used as a shield,” he told the sold-out theatre.
“To what do we owe a greater loyalty – to the law or to justice?”
Addressing everything from the recently leaked Panama Papers to the best way to keep your personal data private, Snowden was certainly hard-hitting and at times felt radical.
But his sense of humour and candour was also clear from the start, when host CBC senior correspondent Laura Lynch thanked him for getting up early at around 5 a.m. Moscow time.
Snowden said he hadn’t gotten up early for the discussion – he just hadn’t gone to bed yet.
Here are some highlights as they happened:
#Snowden is live in Vancouver! #BigData @VancityBuzz pic.twitter.com/UEkPstTwr9
— Jenni Sheppard (@jenni_sheppard) April 6, 2016
On the Panama Papers:
#Snowden says #panamapapers show basics of democracy changing, some people operating by different laws – whistleblowers are vital #BigData — Jenni Sheppard (@jenni_sheppard) April 6, 2016
#Snowden says governed are now accountable to government without even knowing what governments are doing #BigData
— Jenni Sheppard (@jenni_sheppard) April 6, 2016
#Snowden says participation of public in bringing about change is vital, we need to hold government to account #BigData — Jenni Sheppard (@jenni_sheppard) April 6, 2016
On why he became a whistleblower:
#Snowden – What is role of whistleblower? What are consequences of inaction? Not about what you say, it’s about what you can prove. #BigData
— Jenni Sheppard (@jenni_sheppard) April 6, 2016
#Snowden – When I sat at that NSA desk, I signed up to defend my country and constitution #BigData — Jenni Sheppard (@jenni_sheppard) April 6, 2016
#Snowden : What if reporting a crime is in itself a crime? To what do we owe a greater loyalty – to the law or to justice? #BigData
— Jenni Sheppard (@jenni_sheppard) April 6, 2016
On the best everyday encryption out there:
#Snowden says #Whatsapp end-to-end encryption is current best in class and has protected a billion people’s data #BigData — Jenni Sheppard (@jenni_sheppard) April 6, 2016
On why governments want your data:
#Snowden : Security agencies collect data under premise of counterterrorism, but science shows it doesn’t work #BigData
— Jenni Sheppard (@jenni_sheppard) April 6, 2016
#Snowden : So why are they doing it? These programs are about social control, political control #BigData — Jenni Sheppard (@jenni_sheppard) April 6, 2016
#Snowden :It’s about power. Once someone comes to your attention, you know everything about them & they’re powerless to do anything about it
— Jenni Sheppard (@jenni_sheppard) April 6, 2016
On why metadata matters:
#Snowden – Metadata is a perfect record of a private life. The government don’t fire missiles at people, they fire at cellphones #BigData — Jenni Sheppard (@jenni_sheppard) April 6, 2016
On where we are now:
#Snowden Technology has been used as a sword against people but it can also be used as a shield #BigData
— Jenni Sheppard (@jenni_sheppard) April 6, 2016
#Snowden – We need a culture of political accountability, the government work for us, not us for them #BigData — Jenni Sheppard (@jenni_sheppard) April 6, 2016
#Snowden – We have become subjects. We have exchanged an open society for one of being controlled. #BigData
— Jenni Sheppard (@jenni_sheppard) April 6, 2016
On what you can do:
#Snowden – Disguise metadata by using TOR project. #BigData — Jenni Sheppard (@jenni_sheppard) April 6, 2016
#Snowden – download apps Signal or Whatsapp to encrypt phone calls, texts, pics #BigData
— Jenni Sheppard (@jenni_sheppard) April 6, 2016
#Snowden – Use a password manager to prevent people who hack into one of your accounts gaining access to your other accounts #BigData — Jenni Sheppard (@jenni_sheppard) April 6, 2016
#Snowden – opt for 2-step verification so hackers need more than just your password to get in #BigData
— Jenni Sheppard (@jenni_sheppard) April 6, 2016
On why you should care:
#Snowden – Ultimately the cost of democracy is uncertainty. That’s not a weakness, that’s a strength. #BigData — Jenni Sheppard (@jenni_sheppard) April 6, 2016
#snowden – Freedom of speech has no meaning if we don’t have the privacy to figure out what we think is important. #BigData
— Jenni Sheppard (@jenni_sheppard) April 6, 2016
Snowden was speaking at a discussion of big data hosted by SFU’s Public Square, moderated by CBC senior correspondent Laura Lynch, with panellists Micheal Vonn of the BC Civil Liberties Association and SFU’s Peter Chow-White.
A former NSA contractor, Snowden famously leaked classified information from the U.S. National Security Agency in 2013, revealing sweeping global surveillance programs.
After consequently being charged with espionage by the U.S. government, Snowden was eventually granted asylum by the Russian government and now lives in Moscow.