14 DAY TRIAL // The governmental monitoring of metadata is perhaps more intrusive than having your phone tapped or your emails read, Edward Snowden and Glenn Greenwald say.
The whistleblower and the journalist who shed light on the NSA’s mass surveillance practices based on Snowden’s files appeared together via live feed in a conference of Amnesty International, Reuters reports.
While Greenwald connected to the event from Brazil, Snowden was patched in from Russia, where he’s been offered asylum last summer.
The pair said that government monitoring of metadata is more intrusive than traditional wiretaps, while stressing the importance of a free press that’s not afraid to challenge the government over its activity.
Telephony metadata includes phone number, call times and duration, as well as location data, while emails include quite a bit more details. Metadata, by definition, does not include the content of the calls or emails, which makes people believe it’s not as harmless.
Studies have shown over the past few months that things aren’t nearly as innocent as the US government paints them to be. Analyzed metadata can give the NSA insight into a lot of personal details about people, including who their closest relatives are, which friends they talk to the most, whether they’re religious or not, when they go to work, their sleeping patterns and day-to-day habits.
“Metadata is what allows an actual enumerated understanding, a precise record of all the private activities in all of our lives. It shows our associations, our political affiliations and our actual activities,” said Snowden during his intervention.
In the US, the metadata programs have gotten the most attention from media and government officials, even though programs that are even more intrusive and important have been unveiled.
The US government is currently under pressure to put an end to the metadata program, although the White House seems reluctant to do so, especially after intensive lobbying from the intelligence community.
Barack Obama has announced several measures that are supposed to reform the NSA’s program, but they seem to be particularly weak and barely touch the core issues.
Amnesty International, who organized the conference, has been campaigning against the US government to end mass surveillance as a whole, including the metadata programs.
So far, however, the response has been weak and faith is fading that actual changes are going to happen when it comes to the way the United States and its partners collect intelligence around the world.