Edward Snowden: Why he declares himself a patriot - What led him to become a "deep throat" - Why he characterizes NSA investigators as "absolutely incompetent" - What is his relationship with Greek Mythology - The MonsterMind program and the dangers it hides
A patriot who does not care what will happen to him but only the good of his country, says Edward Snowden in a torrent of interviews he gave to Wired magazine.
The interview has already provoked mixed reactions to both the new revelations and the accompanying photos, in which Snowden appears to have the US flag thrown on a couch.
Despite the revelations that it has done to the detriment of the US National Security Agency, the former NSA associate states that "I'm more interested in my country than what will happen to me. But we can not allow the law to turn into a political weapon or agree to intimidate citizens battling for their rights, as good as the deal, "thus excluding the possibility of returning to the US and moving to someone kind agreement with the NSA despite the fact that it states that "I would volunteer to jail as long as it serves the right purpose."
Στη συνέντευξη που παραχωρήθηκε κάτω από άκρα μυστικότητα μετά από ένα χρόνο προσπάθειας του Τζέιμς Ράμφορντ και με την εφαρμογή όλων των συνομοτικών κανόνων – όπως η αφαίρεση της μπαταρίας από το κινητό τηλέφωνο – ο Edward Snowden περιγράφει τη ζωή του, τη συνεργασία του με την εθνική υπηρεσία ασφαλείας και τη CIA αλλά και τους λόγους που τον οδήγησαν στο να γίνει ένα νέο «βαθύ λαρύγγι». Ο Edward Snowden ζει σε ώρα Νέας Υόρκη ώστε να επικοινωνεί better with their supporters and avoids areas of Moscow frequented by Westerners.
Speaking, in fact, about his childhood - although he did not want to go into details - he reveals that one of his best readings was Greek mythology. As he puts it, characteristically, "I think that's when I started thinking about how we recognize problems and came to the conclusion that a person's worth comes from how he or she tackles those problems."
Θέλοντας να πείσει για την αγαθότητα των προθέσεων του ο Snowden εξομολογείται ότι λειτούργησε με τέτοιο τρόπο ώστε η government να έχει μια ιδέα του τι ακριβώς έκλεψε. Όπως λέει άφησε ψηφιακά «ψίχουλα» ώστε αυτοί που θα αναλάμβαναν την έρευνα να μπορούσαν εύκολα να καταλάβουν ποια έγγραφα έχει αντιγράψει και ποια έγγραφα έχει απλά «ακουμπήσει» ώστε να γίνει κατανοητό ότι πρόθεσή του δεν ήταν να γίνει κατάσκοπος για λογαριασμό μιας τρίτης χώρας αλλά να προχωρήσει σε αποκαλύψεις. Παράλληλα με τον τρόπο αυτό η κυβέρνηση θα είχε τον απαραίτητο χρόνο να «καλύψει τα νώτα της» αλλάζοντας κωδικούς και αναθεωρόντας τα επιχειρησιακά της πλάνα. Τελικά όμως πιστεύει ότι το μόνο που έκαναν όσοι ασχολήθηκαν με την υπόθεσή του ήταν να καταλήξουν στον αριθμό των εγγράφων που ακούμπησε – 1,7 εκατομμύρια έγγραφα. «Πίστευα ότι απλά θα τους δυσκόλευε. Δεν πίστευα ότι θα ήταν τόσο απόλυτα ανίκανοι».
Trying to interpret the US government's reactions, Snowden estimates that the failure of their investigation - that they do not know exactly what was stolen and are constantly talking about these 1,7 million documents - implies that they believe that the intercepted data is something that scares.
Snowden, however, wasn't always sure if what he was doing would have the intended impact. He remembers thinking at first flight to Hong Kong with the hot documents in hand that "it was very likely that society collectively would be indifferent and continue on its course". The reality of course denied him as the NSA surveillances became for a long time one of the first topics on the world agenda.
How did the "deep throat"
The first concerns about US intelligence practices were raised by Snowden during the Bush administration when "we tortured people and had warrantless surveillance." But then he changed his mind in the run-up to Obama's election. “He was saying he wasn't going to sacrifice our rights. That we're not going to change who we are just to catch a small percentage of terrorists." But the first African-American president disappointed him: “They went the complete opposite way. What does it mean for democracy and for a society when the people you elect to base of their commitments can they buy the will of the voters?' he wonders.
Το επόμενο χτύπημα ήρθε τον Μάρτιο του 2012 όταν ο Snowden ανακάλυψε ότι η NSA διοχέτευε χωρίς επεξεργασία επικοινωνίες και δεδομένα στην Ισραηλινή αντικατασκοπεία. Αυτά αφορούσαν κυρίως τα email και τα τηλεφωνήματα εκατομμυρίων αμερικανών αραβικής και παλαιστινιακής κατtreatmentand whose relatives in Palestine could be targeted based on their communications alone.
And "surprises" continued for Snowden when he learned that in 2012 a group of hackers within the NSA (TAO) attempted to "invade" a large Internet service provider in Syria in the midst of civil war in the country. With the program that the team would install, the NSA would have access to the internet "traffic" of the whole country. But something went wrong and eventually with their intervention the hackers threw the whole internet in Syria even though the Syrians never realized that behind this move was the American government.
The drop that overflowed the glass was the existence of a secret program that allows it to pass through a one million square meter building known as the Mission Data Repository in which it is possible to maintain a quadruize million gigabyte of data.
And the occasion was given when NSA Director James Klapper appeared in his jury's testimony before the Senate to admit, according to Snowden, that the cheating of the Americans was something quite normal.
The MonsterMind program
According to Snowden, the program codenamed MonsterMind developed by the NSA is even more worrying. This program, which is presented for the first time in public in the interview on Wired, is the US guard against possible cyber attacks. But what makes it unique is that it has the ability to "counterattack" on its own without human intervention. And that's a problem, Snowden explains, because these attacks are usually covert. "One could be in China and make the attack look like it started in Russia. And then we would end up bombing a Russian hospital. What happens then? " he wonders.
At the same time, this program is the end of privacy as, as the former NSA associate explains, in order to detect a possible cyber-attack, he must first monitor all private conversations of people from the other side of the Atlantic with American citizens.
His biggest fears
Two are at the moment Snowden's biggest fears. First, it will do some blunder that will destroy as many reforms have been made. Nevertheless he recognizes that at some point he will make the mistake and then catch him.
The second reason for concern is that with the thunder of these revelations they will have the same impact as a news story about deaths during a war. "A death is a tragedy, one million deaths are statistical," he says using Stalin's phrase. "Just as the first spy was sparked by Merkel and not the 80 spying of millions of Germans."
That is why he believes that the solution to the whole problem lies in technology and not in politicians. “The answer is simply coding. By making the encryption of all communications an international standard we could end mass surveillance once and for all wherever it originates.
