Edward Snowden's interview yesterday was televised in Germany, but for legal reasons could not be shown anywhere but Germany.
I will do my best here to paraphrase the transcript, which is an English translation of the German translation of Snowden being interviewed by a German reporter in English. Talk about getting lost in the translation!
SOME US GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS WANT TO KILL SNOWDEN
Snowden:
There was an article in an online website called Buzz Feed, in which Pentagon and NSA officials were interviewed. It assured them anonymity so they could say what they wanted, and they told the reporter that they wanted to kill me. These people - and they are government officials - said they would like to put a bullet in my head or poison me when I come back from the supermarket, and then watch me die in the shower.
THE NSA IS TAPPING YOUR PHONE, LAPTOP, YOU NAME IT, WITHOUT A WARRANT
Snowden:
Every time you call, write an email, transfer something, go with a mobile phone on a bus, or swipe a card through a reader, you leave a trace, and the government has decided that it is a good idea, to collect all of this data with these programs. Everything, even if you have never been suspected of a crime. Usually, the state goes to a judge to tell him that someone is suspected of having committed a particular crime, then there is an arrest warrant, and only then do they use the official authority for the investigation. Today, the government is the authority already, before any investigation begins.
THE FIVE EYES ALLIANCE: I'LL SNOOP ON YOUR CITIZENS, YOU SNOOP ON MINE
Snowden:
There is a multilateral agreement for cooperation between the intelligence agencies. This alliance is known as the Five Eyes.The Five Eyes alliance is a kind of artifact from the period after the Second World War in which the English-speaking countries were the major powers, which came together to cooperate and share the cost of the infrastructure of the intelligence services. So we have the GCHQ in England, we have the NSA in the United States, and we have Canada C-Sec, we have the Australian Signals Intelligence Directorate and we have the New Zealand DSD Defence Signals Directorate. The result has been for decades a kind of supra-national intelligence organization, that does not comply with the laws of their own countries.
In many countries, as well as in America, organizations like the NSA are not legally allowed to spy on the citizens in their own country. .. but the NSA could spy on the British and vice versa, so that they can exchange data. And so they follow the law officially.
If you ask the governments immediately thereafter, they will deny it and refer to the Agreement between the members of the Five Eyes... One sticking point is that the collection of data does not count as espionage. The GCHQ gathers an incredible amount of data on British citizens, just like the National Security Agency collects a tremendous amount of data on U.S. citizens. They claim that they don't monitor any targeted person with this data...This Agreement may at any time be circumvented or broken...Thus there is a kind of trade dynamics, but this is not out in the open, it is more of a wink and a nod. In addition, the monitoring abuse does not happen only when people look at the data, it is done by people collecting the data.
GERMAN BND'S RELATIONSHIP WITH THE NSA
Snowden:
I would describe it as close...the German and American intelligence go to bed together. I say this because they not only share information, but also share tools and infrastructure. They work against common targets, and therein lies a great danger.
X KEY SCORE
Snowden:
One of the major programs the National Security Agency abuses is "X Key Score." It is a technique with which the NSA can search through all the data that is stored around the world every day.You could read every e-mail around the world. You can obtain the e-mail address, you can watch the traffic on any website, on any computer, and you can locate any laptop, you can follow it from place to place all over the world. It is a one stop shop, over which one can retrieve all the information the NSA collects. Moreover, one can use X Key Score to track individuals. Let's say I found something about you interesting, what you do, or you have access to something that interests me, let's say you work in a large German company, and I want to get access to this network. I can find your user name from a website on a form somewhere, I can find out your real name, I can pursue relationships with your friends, and I can make something that is called a fingerprint, that is network activity that is unique to you . So that, no matter where you go in the world, no matter where you try to get your online presence, to hide your identity, the NSA can find you. And everyone who is entitled to use this program or shares this software with the the NSA can do the same. Germany is a country that has access to X Key Score.
ECONOMIC ESPIONAGE
Snowden:
There is no doubt that the United States engages in industrial espionage. If there is information at Siemens, which they think is for the national interest or advantage, but not for the national security of the United States, they will keep the information they get.
NSA MONITORS GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS
Snowden:
What I can say is that we know that the National Security Agency monitored Angela Merkel. The logical question is, can we assume she is the only government official who was monitored...I would say it is not very likely that someone who cares about the intentions of the German government only monitors Merkel and not her advisers, no other known members of the government, no ministers or even members of municipal governments.
WORKING FOR THE ENEMY PUBLIC GOOD
Snowden:
The head of the working group that examined my case said in December that there is no evidence that I could get outside help or even have been instructed from the outside. .. I worked alone, I needed no help from anyone, I have no foreign governments connections, and I'm not a spy for Russia, China or any other country.If it is true that I am a traitor, who am I supposed to have betrayed? I told everything that I know to the American public and have given it all to American journalists. If this is considered treason, government officials should ask who they really work for. The public is, after all, their boss, not their enemy.
I believe that it is becoming increasingly clear that these revelations have done no harm, but rather have served the public good. It will be difficult to continue a campaign against someone whom public opinion maintains is working for the public good.
ESPIONAGE ACT
The Espionage Act dates from 1918. Its goal was never to pursue journalistic sources, i.e., people who give newspapers information of general public interest. Rather, it was directed against people who sell documents to foreign governments, blow up bridges, sabotage communication, and not against people who act in the public interest. It is significant that the President says that I am to answer before a court, even if he knows that such a process would only be a show trial.