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Snowden says 'I told you so'
http://www.rt.com/news/568848-snowden-covid-spying-normalized/Date Written: 2022-12-24 Publisher: RT Year Published: 2022 Resource Type: Article Cx Number: CX24773 Former CIA and National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden has claimed vindication after a media report exposed how surveillance tools deployed to fight Covid-19 are now being abused by law enforcement and other authorities – as he predicted over two years ago. Abstract: - Excerpt: Snowden linked to an April 2020 interview with VICE founder Shane Smith in which he predicted that emergency measures used to deal with the Covid-19 crisis would become permanent and be used to infringe civil liberties. At the time, pandemic fears were at their height, and many governments across the globe were being lauded for using cutting-edge surveillance applications to track infections and quarantine people who had possibly been exposed to the virus. “When any of us looks at where this is heading, we need to think about where we’ve been,” Snowden told Smith. “And sadly, these kinds of emergency powers that are born out of crises have a perfect history of abuse. I mean, down the board, whenever you look at these things, the funniest part about it, in a dark way, is that the emergency never ends and becomes normalized.” The AP article cited mobile-phone tracking and other technology being used to accuse people of crimes, block citizens from traveling, harass “marginalized communities” and link personal health data to surveillance and law enforcement systems. Subject Headings |