© JonathanTurley.org
Mr. Snowden spoke candidly in a thirty-minute English language interview with the reporter from ARD.
He says his "breaking point" was "seeing Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, directly lie under oath to Congress." That was when Clapper denied the existence of a domestic spying programs when he testified before Congress in March of last year. Snowden added, "The public had a right to know about these programs. The public had a right to know that which the government is doing in its name, and that which the government is doing against the public."
In case Ben Swann's page is taken down, along with the LiveLeak video, here is the interview on Vimeo. Offered without commentary, since Edward Snowden can speak for himself.
Update: An internet search revealed the Edward Snowden interview is up on Rutube. It is a Russian video site somewhat similar to YouTube. The text is in Russian and doesn't have an English language version. I have a feeling Rutube will not be as knee-jerk responsive to take-down orders from western countries. Here is the Snowden interview as presented on Rutube. WordPress does not support Rutube for embedding, but this link will take you to the interview:
Consider this: If the US government is capable of blanketing an entire nation from viewing specific websites or accessing certain pieces of media (a.k.a. ideas) simply by rerouting all traffic towards a specific site to one of its own choosing, one may begin to wonder what happens if this type of technology is taken to a more advanced state. What happens if the subject is no longer an entire nation but a specific target? What happens if the site redirected to is not blocked or blacked-out entirely but instead a shell with certain changes made? Is it possible to create a filter which replaces certain words, or perhaps even whole ideas with others? (Rhetoric)
Yours,
-K