Months after going into hiding, following his revelations about the surveillance program of the U.S. government earlier this year, former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden has finally surfaced and spoken to the world through British mainstream media on Wednesday.
The broadcast over Channel 4 is the first public statement of the whistleblower after seeking temporary asylum in Russia in August. Snowden's one minute and 43 second Christmas address had nothing to do about the merriments during the holiday season, but his worries about privacy of people.
Prior to the TV message, Snowden gave an interview with The Washington Post where he revealed his thoughts about what he has done after exposing the secrets of the American government.
"For me, in terms of personal satisfaction, the mission's already accomplished. I already won," he said during the interview.
Amid criminal complaints filed by the U.S. Justice Department for violating the country's Espionage Act, stealing government property, and exposing sensitive information to unauthorized individuals, the Christmas message continues on the same tone with Snowden calling on governments and individuals to seek the end of mass surveillance.
"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 the problem because privacy matters. privacy is what allows us to determine who we are and who we want to be," Snowden said. "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," he added.
The Channel 4 network broadcasts a yearly holiday message to counterpoint Queen Elizabeth's annual address. It has featured the likes of Marge Simpson from the popular American cartoon satire and former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmedinejad.
Snowden's NSA loot included documents that exposed the PRISM program of the government and mass surveillance through the networks of the biggest technology companies. The leaks have resulted in several countries distancing themselves from the U.S., especially after they found out that U.S. intelligence agencies spied on their leaders. The Silicon Valley companies also united in asking the government to reform its spying program. A federal judge in the U.S. has also condemned the surveillance programs, calling them "indiscriminate" and "arbitrary invasion" of privacy.
