> A child born today will grow up with no conception of privacy at all. They'll never know what it means to have a private moment to themselves -- an unrecorded, unanalyzed thought.
This is hyperbole and also it's just not true in any real sense. We can still have private moments and we can certainly still have "unrecorded, unanalyzed thoughts".
I really wish Snowden wouldn't overstate the current state of affairs, the facts alone are enough.
I press play and get "You are using 'incognito mode' in your browser. Please open a normal browser window to view 4oD". Amazing.
It's not playing for me. Most news sites seem heavily dependant on loads of 3rd party javascript that gets blocked by Ghostery, so I loaded up an incognito window, same thing, just spins forever at the loading screen.
EDIT: Found a mirror on a not-shit site http://vimeo.com/82666985
Perhaps it's worth updating the title to mention that this was delivered by Edward Snowden.
I know he has very few places to run to, but putting out a message about the dangerous overreach of state surveillance as he sits in Russia takes away some of the gusto for me.
It's worth noting that this was broadcast at the same time as the traditional Christmas day speech pre-recorded and delivered by the Queen. Channel 4 has a history of doing things a little differently, and this certainly piqued my interests today.
Snowden is so smart: He knows how to avoid media oversaturation.
I bet every year now he'll put out nothing more than a couple 2 minute videos, and give one major nytimes interview.
In this way, every word that he says will get a helluva lot of attention... even a decade from now.
Yeah I found the video shocking too ...
Saying "Happy Christmas" is just wrong man!
Transcript:
Hi, and Merry Christmas. I'm honored to have the chance to speak with you and your family this year.
Recently, we learned that our governments, working in concert, have created a system of worldwide mass surveillance, watching everything we do.
Great Britain's George Orwell warned us of the danger of this kind of information. The types of collection in the book -- microphones and video cameras, TVs that watch us -- are nothing compared to what we have available today. We have sensors in our pockets that track us everywhere we go.
Think about what this means for the privacy of the average person. A child born today will grow up with no conception of privacy at all. They'll never know what it means to have a private moment to themselves -- an unrecorded, unanalyzed thought. And that's a problem, because privacy matters. Privacy is what allows us to determine who we are and who we want to be.
The conversation occurring today will determine the amount of trust we can place both in the technology that surrounds us and the government that regulates it. Together, we can find a better balance. End mass surveillance. And remind the government that if it really wants to know how we feel, asking is always cheaper than spying.
For everyone out there listening, thank you, and Merry Christmas.