U.S. fugitive Edward Snowden is set to address hundreds of high school students at a world affairs conference being held Monday night at a Toronto private school. <\/p>\n
The former NSA contractor is the keynote speaker at the annual World Affairs Conference, which was organized by students from Upper Canada College and Branksome Hall in Toronto. <\/p>\n
The moderated discussion is called Privacy vs. Security: A Discussion of Personal Privacy in the Digital Age. <\/p>\n
Snowden, who now lives in asylum in Russia, will be joined by journalist Glenn Greenwald via video link from Brazil. <\/p>\n
Snowden fled the U.S. in 2013, after leaking thousands of classified documents. Greenwald, then a journalist for a British daily newspaper, worked with Snowden to expose American espionage secrets. The leak sparked a global discussion on government, mass surveillance and privacy. <\/p>\n
The 31-year-old remains a polarizing figure in the U.S., with some viewing him as a courageous whistleblower, while others slam him for potentially endangering public safety. <\/p>\n
In Toronto, his involvement in the student-run conference has sparked a similar division within the UCC community. <\/p>\n
On the schools website, a commenter who identified himself as a UCC alumnus expressed his concern with having a self-admitted thief as keynote speaker. <\/p>\n
By condoning his participation at the WAC, UCC is lending its name to legitimization of his actions. I fear this will have negative repercussions for the schools reputation and it is not a lesson that I personally want my son to receive, the commenter wrote. <\/p>\n
Another commenter suggested the school take a more balanced approach. <\/p>\n
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