Snowden to Warn British Against Orwellian ‘Dangers’ in Televised Christmas Message
As the end of 2013 approaches, Edward Snowden is actively choosing to break his silence from inside Russia. First, he gave an extensive interview with the Washington Post’s Barton Gellman, in which he declared his mission of exposing NSA surveillance programs is “already accomplished.” Next, he will deliver Channel 4’s annual “alternative Christmas Day message” in the UK, with a statement filmed by Glenn Greenwald collaborator Laura Poitras from Russia.
The Guardian reported the news, which includes excerpts from Snowden’s planned address, to be broadcast at 4:15pm local time on Christmas Day. He will reportedly describe how author George Orwell “warned us of the danger of this kind of information” in his novel, 1984:
“The types of collection in the book – microphones and video cameras, TVs that watch us – are nothing compared to what we have available today. We have sensors in our pockets that track us everywhere we go. Think about what this means for the privacy of the average person.
A child born today will grow up with no conception of privacy at all. They’ll never know what it means to have a private moment to themselves an unrecorded, unanalysed thought. And that’s a problem because privacy matters; privacy is what allows us to determine who we are and who we want to be.”
Later, Snowden will emphasize how the “conversation” he started about the NSA, along with Britain’s GCHQ, will help shape the future of government surveillance:
“The conversation occurring today will determine the amount of trust we can place both in the technology that surrounds us and the government that regulates it. Together we can find a better balance, end mass surveillance and remind the government that if it really wants to know how we feel, asking is always cheaper than spying.”
The alternative Christmas message has been broadcast by Channel 4 since 1993 as an often satirical response to the official address from the Queen. Past presenters have included everyone from Rev. Jesse Jackson in 1994 to Sacha Baron Cohen (in character as Ali G) in 1999 to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2008.
[photos via Wikimedia Commons, screengrab]
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