O Edward Snowden she made a passionate appearance on Saturday inviting hackers and technologists to help would-be whistleblowers leak more government secrets.
Speaking via a remote Google Hangout video from Russia, Edward Snowden addressed the audience. Hackers on Planet Earth (HOPE) this weekend, a conference being held at the Pennsylvania Hotel in New York.
Arguing that “technology enables dissent,” as well as “democracys", Snowden said that the only way for whistleblowers to continue their work is to give them the best tools to pass secrets to journalists, to protect their communication, their identity so that they are not led to prison.
To do this, Snowden said, the help of hackers, programmers gathered at the congress, and those who watched it live stream.
"We. you, who are in this room right now have both the means and the possibilities to help build a better future by codifying our rights into the programs and protocols we rely on every day," he said during his conversation with Daniel Ellsberg, who was a whistleblower when he leaked Pentagon secrets to the press in 1971.
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Snowden has suggested in a recent Guardian interview that he intends to work on creating such technologies, while avoiding further details.
Ellsberg's speech was also optimistic, urging people working in government, as well as those working in companies, to go out and expose crimes and corruption - in other words: to start leaking secrets.
The conversation between Ellsberg and Snowden was long-awaited, and all the conference halls at the Pennsylvania hotel were crowded with people who watched the two informants in giant screens.
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