If there were one thing Edward Snowden could have done differently, what would it be? “I would have come forward a lot sooner,” he told a roomful of students Friday evening, at the International Students for Liberty conference.
Snowden spoke via video conference, clad in his signature black, and was greeted with a standing ovation so loud it temporarily took out his sound. He was virtually awarded SFL’s Alumnus of the Year Award.
He described his conversations with Daniel Ellsberg, and how they both struggled to overcome their fear of breaking the law. He now worries America may have been better off had he overcome that faster.
Snowden dismissed arguments about whether he’s a “hero” or a “traitor” as “irrelevant.” “There’s been a lot of criticism about me, in particular, there’s been this debate—you’re a traitor, all that stuff. And that’s really irrelevant,” he said. “It doesn’t matter whether I’m a good guy or a bad guy. I could be the worst person on earth, but what really matters to you are the policies and programs of the government.”
And when asked what person he admires most, Snowden declined to give an answer. “We should never admire individuals for who they are,” he said, noting that this, too, applies to debates about whether he’s a “hero.” “Ultimately there are no heroes, there are only heroic acts. The same way, there are no admirable people, so much as there are admirable acts.”
Snowden suggested that questions and disagreements about his actions are “fair,” but that “We need to remember that we’re not just talking about surveillance. We’re talking about democracy, and we’re talking about control. Because at the end of the day surveillance is a mechanism of control.”
He stressed the importance of continuing to question surveillance programs. “Why are we funding and instituting a system of mass surveillance that affects everyone in this country and people around the world if there’s no track record that says it even works?” he asked. “This is a question that prior to 2013 was never discussed.”
