Edward Snowden left an impact on the international security world. After revealing how vast the NSA's surveillance network was, Snowden had to leave America and request amnesty in Russia. This, on top of the U.S. government's desire to arrest and punish Snowden, has made getting a hold of him difficult. Snowden has appeared remotely at TED events, surveillance conferences and in his own documentary, "Citizenfour."
Now, the team behind Snowden's documentary allowed him and his fellow filmmakers to answer questions on Reddit.
Snowden, "Citizenfour" director Lauren Poistras and Intercept journalist Glenn Greenwald hosted a Reddit AMA on Monday to answer questions about tech, security and the cultural perception of Snowden.
When asked about Neil Patrick Harris' joke about him, Snowden found it to be quite funny. "To be honest, I laughed at NPH.......My perspective is if you're not willing to be called a few names to help out your country, you don't care enough." When asked whether he would change how he acted when revealing the NSA, Snowden stated that he would have come forth sooner when the systems weren't as entrenched as they originally were.
When a user asked Snowden what citizens could do to fight against the prevalence of the NSA, Snowden said: "We can develop new tools and traditions to protect our rights, and we can do our best to elect new and better representatives, but if we cannot enforce consequences on powerful officials for abusive behavior, we end up in a system where the incentives reward bad behavior post-election."
Greenwald argued that the issue needs to be pushed by both parties, considering that the original NSA bill was supported by Democrats and Republicans.
