Ben Wizner, Edward Snowden’s attorney discussed details of the Snowden case in his presentation at Peacestock, 2014. In this excerpt of his full presentation, he reminded the audience that Snowden published nothing, his material was turned over to legitimate journalistic organizations including the Guardian and the Washington Post who then decided what to publish and now his work is essentially done.
Wikipedia says, “In June 2013, the first of Snowden’s documents were published simultaneously by The Washington Post and The Guardian, attracting considerable public attention. The disclosure continued throughout the entire year of 2013, and a significant portion of the full cache of the estimated 1.7 million documents was later obtained and published by many other media outlets worldwide, most notably The New York Times, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Der Spiegel (Germany), O Globo (Brazil), Le Monde (France), L’espresso (Italy), NRC Handelsblad (the Netherlands), Dagbladet (Norway), El País (Spain), and Sveriges Television (Sweden).”
Wizner described the breadth of the NSA data collection programs with the resulting invasion of privacy for all. This was done with the complicity of all three branches of the Federal Government. Now as a result of the revelations the people have a seat at the table. The courts are finally exhibiting courage in taking up these cases. Wizner is director of the ACLU Speech, Privacy & Technology Project, which is dedicated to protecting and expanding the First Amendment freedoms of expression, association, and inquiry; expanding the right to privacy and increasing the control that individuals have over their personal information; and ensuring that civil liberties are enhanced rather than compromised by new advances in science and technology. He has litigated numerous cases involving post-9/11 civil liberties abuses, including challenges to airport security policies, government watchlists, extraordinary rendition, and torture. He has appeared regularly in the media, testified before Congress, and traveled several times to Guantánamo Bay to monitor military commission proceedings.