Edward Snowden to discuss Donald Trump's potential impact on privacy issues

By Mark Coppock November 10, 2016

snowden live talk privacy impact president trump wants more security — Image used with permission by copyright holder

With the recent American elections over and Donald Trump being selected as the President-elect, a number of industries and communities are trying to determine the impact of the unexpected selection. Technology is one of those industries and the closely related intelligence community is another.

Edward Snowden spans both of them, having been at the center of a scandal involving the illegal removal and dissemination of a trove of documents from the National Security Agency (NSA). On Thursday, Snowden will hold a live question-and-answer session starting at 1:30 p.m. (PT) where he will discuss his views on the potential impact of a Trump presidency.

In 2013, Snowden was forced to leave the U.S. and seek asylum in foreign countries after handing over numerous classified documents to a handful of journalists. He ended up in Russia, where he continues to communicate with the world under the protection of Moscow. It’s from that city that Snowden will be addressing an audience discussion the U.S. elections and live streaming the event worldwide.

The stream is being hosted by StartPage, self-billed as “the world’s most private search engine.” Robert Beens, StartPage’s CEO, says, “Edward Snowden’s revelations about government spying and mass data collection are of crucial importance to our society, but he had to sacrifice his free life for it. We are proud to honor his service and help bring his privacy message to the world.”

The event is being held with the support of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, with assistance provided by Amnesty International and PardonSnowden.org for their sponsorship of a petition calling on outgoing U.S. President Barack Obama to pardon Snowden before handing over the reins to President Trump in January.

You can watch the event live here. Check out the hashtag #StartPageSnowden for information on how to submit your questions remotely. Regardless of your opinion on the validity of Snowden’s actions in releasing classified information highlighting alleged abuses by government intelligence agencies, if you’re interested in privacy in general, then this is one event you likely don’t want to miss.

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