LEWISBURG — International whistleblower Edward Snowden told a crowd of students and faculty at Bucknell University that surveillance is not about safety, but control.
“Our choices are being limited, guided. I think all our activities are being ‘permissioned,’” he said, via virtual visit from Russia. “Liberty is freedom from permission. That ability to act without asking.”
Snowden's visit was sponsored by the Bucknell Program for American Leadership, a faculty association, with a grant provided by the Open Discourse Coalition, consisting of Bucknell alumni. Fr. Deacon Paul Siewers, associated professor of Literary Studies at Bucknell, said Snowden was contacted through the Free Speech Foundation in San Francisco.
Snowden, a former American intelligence contractor revealed the existence of secret wide-ranging information-gathering programs conducted by the National Security Agency (NSA) in 2013 interviews with the newspaper The Guardian. Those secrets included the existence of PRISM, a program that allowed for court-approved direct access to Americans' Google and Yahoo accounts and of a court order that compelled Verizon to turn over data such as numbers dialed and duration of calls for millions of its subscribers.
“I’ve been following Snowden for a long time,” said Vivienne Wildes, professor of management. She said in her course she does a chapter on Snowden and discussion if he was a hero or villain. She expected an informative event, still unsure whether to call Snowden...
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