TED2014: Edward Snowden makes surprise visit at Vancouver conference

Edward Snowden, the leaker of National Security Administration secrets and perhaps the most wanted man in the world, made a surprise visit to the TED conference in Vancouver Tuesday.

That he did so from a robotic mobile camera he controlled from his secret location in Russia didn't take away from the moment.

Snowden, a one-time NSA contractor, whose decision to abscond with more than seven million secret documents has revealed the depth of illegal spying activities by the NSA, said his work is far from over.

""There are absolutely more revelations to come. Some of the most important revelations are still to come," he told TED curator Chris Anderson, who conducted a 39-minute interview with him.

Snowden, appearing in front of a black screen to obscure clues to his location, talked at length as to why he chose to break his confidentiality agreement and reveal the breadth of the U.S. government's spying activities.

He criticized web companies like Amazon for allowing the NSA access to data, and in an impromptu meeting on the stage with Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the founder of the World Wide Web, endorsed his call for a Magna Carta bill of rights for the Internet.

"We need to encode our values not just in writing, but in the structure of the Internet," Snowden said.

"People should be able to buy a book online . . . without wondering about how these events are going to look to an agent of the government."

To view Snowden's talk, click here

Some recent stories based on Snowden's leaks have pointed out that the U.S. government has repeatedly broken its own laws.

Originally posted here:
TED2014: Edward Snowden makes surprise visit at Vancouver conference