HUFFINGTON POST
By Paige Lavender
10/12/2013
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American hero Edward Snowden |
"If we can't understand the policies and programs of our government, we can't grant our consent in regulating them," Snowden said in one of the videos posted Friday night.
Watch a video of Snowden receiving the award above, and see more videos from the event here.
Below, more from the AP on Snowden's award:
MOSCOW (AP) — The former National Security Agency systems analyst, Edward Snowden, said that the mass surveillance programs used by the United States to tap into phone and internet connections around the world are making people less safe.
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Snowden revelations changed course of history - for the better |
A U.S. court has charged Snowden with violating the Espionage Act for disclosing those programs.
Snowden described them as a "dragnet mass surveillance that puts entire populations under sort of an eye that sees everything even when it's not needed."
"They hurt our economy. They hurt our country. They limit our ability to speak and think and live and be creative, to have relationships and to associate freely," Snowden said.
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Snowden exposed lies of Obama propaganda minister Carney |
Snowden said the U.S. government was "unwilling to prosecute high officials who lied to Congress and the country on camera, but they'll stop at nothing to persecute someone who told them the truth."
In a note accompanying the videos, WikiLeaks said Snowden spoke on Wednesday in Moscow as he accepted the Sam Adams Award, named for a CIA analyst during the Vietnam War who accused the U.S. military of deliberately underestimating the enemy's strength for political purposes, and given annually by a group of retired U.S. national security officers. Four former U.S. government officials who were at the ceremony told The Associated Press on Thursday that Snowden is adjusting to life in Russia and said they saw no evidence that he was under the control of local security services. They refused to say where they met with Snowden or where he is living.