Here is an interesting remark by Edward Snowden during the interview:
Journalists should ask a specific question: since these programs began operation shortly after September 11th, how many terrorist attacks were prevented SOLELY by information derived from this suspicionless surveillance that could not be gained via any other source? Then ask how many individual communications were ingested to acheive that, and ask yourself if it was worth it. Bathtub falls and police officers kill more Americans than terrorism, yet we've been asked to sacrifice our most sacred rights for fear of falling victim to it
I think the best part about this is he is not completely willing to say that the U.S. should or should not be doing what it is doing per se, just that it should not be doing it without the consent of the governed. He wants us to ask where the line should be drawn as a people, and his basic concern is that we are not being informed, not that the wiretapping is happening. This shows a profound respect for democracy and the country, since he seems to have faith that if all the facts are laid bare our country will do the right thing.
I wish that were true, but in the context of everything he says it doesn't seem true.
This part especially his belief that privacy is a universal right:
More fundamentally, the "US Persons" protection in general is a distraction from the power and danger of this system. Suspicionless surveillance does not become okay simply because it's only victimizing 95% of the world instead of 100%. Our founders did not write that "We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all US Persons are created equal."
Journalists should ask a specific question: since these programs began operation shortly after September 11th, how many terrorist attacks were prevented SOLELY by information derived from this suspicionless surveillance that could not be gained via any other source? Then ask how many individual communications were ingested to acheive that, and ask yourself if it was worth it. Bathtub falls and police officers kill more Americans than terrorism, yet we've been asked to sacrifice our most sacred rights for fear of falling victim to it