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Snowden warns of dangers of NSA spying on citizens

341976_Edward Snowden

Former US National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, who revealed details of massive surveillance by American and British spy agencies, on Wednesday warned of the dangers posed by loss of privacy in Channel 4’s ‘Alternative Christmas Message’.

Snowden, who currently lives in Russia where he has been granted a temporary asylum, said US government surveillance methods far surpass those of an ‘Orwellian’ state.

The whistleblower was referring to George Orwell’s dystopic novel “1984,” which describes a society where personal privacy is continuously invaded by government surveillance.

“Great Britain’s George Orwell warned us of the danger of this kind of information. The types of collection in the book – microphones and video cameras, TVs that watch us are nothing compared to what we have available today,” Snowden said. “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,” he said, adding, “They’ll never know what it means to have a private moment to themselves, an unrecorded, unanalyzed 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.”

In an interview with The Washington Post published on Monday, Snowden who has disclosed thousands of confidential documents since June – said he had achieved what he set out to do.

“For me, in terms of personal satisfaction, the mission’s already accomplished. I already won,” he said.

The US has revoked Snowden’s passport and demanded he be sent home from Russia to face charges for stealing secrets and espionage.

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