Whistleblower Edward Snowden says ‘no regrets’ after 10 years in exile

Whistleblower Edward Snowden warned that surveillance technology has become much more advanced and intrusive in today's time. He said thatthe surveillance technology which wasbeing used by the US and British intelligence agencies earlier and was revealed by him in 2013 looks like child’s play.

Speaking at the 10th anniversary of his revelations about the scale of surveillance which was used by the US National Security Agency and its British counterpart GCHQ, some of which was illegal, Snowden said that he does not regret what he did and cited positive changes.

However, he feels depressed about inroads into privacy, both in the digital and physical world.

“Technology has grown to be enormously influential. If we think about what we saw in 2013 and the capabilities of governments today, 2013 seems like child’s play,” Snowden said.

Dangers of AI, video surveillance cameras, facial recognition

He also emphasised the dangers that Big Tech and governments posed and also expressed concerns about artificial intelligence, commercially available video surveillance cameras, and facial recognition, along with intrusive spyware such as Pegasus which are used against journalists and dissidents.

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Talking about the revelations he made in 2013 about surveillance, Snowden said, “We trusted the government not to screw us. But they did. We trusted the tech companies not to take advantage of us. But they did. That is going to happen again because that is the nature of power.”

End-to-end encryption “was a pipe dream in 2013 when the story broke”, he said. “An enormous fraction of global internet traffic travelled electronically naked. Now, it is a rare sight,” the whistleblower added.

However, Snowden expressed his worry about the technological advances that have been eating into privacy. “The idea that after the revelations in 2013, there would be rainbows and unicorns the next day is not realistic. It is an ongoing process. And we will have to be working at it for the rest of our lives and our children’s lives and beyond,” he said.

Exile since 2013

Since 2013, Snowden has been in exile in Russia after he fled from Hong Kong, where tens of thousands of top-secret documents were handed over by him to journalists.

He has been denounced by his detractors for staying in Russia, though it looks like the only realistic option he has other than staying in jail in the US.

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He has faced a lot of criticism since Ukraine was invaded and he acquired Russian citizenship last year, two years after his application.

However, despite his personal predicament, the whistleblower does not prefer to dwell on the past. “I have no regrets,” he stated. In the last two years, Snowden has reduced his public profile, giving less number of speeches, and avoiding press interviews as well as social media.

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