Edward Snowden is coming to Australia, well at least virtually. After exposing government security techniques, Snowden gave up his life and his freedom to be a whistleblower and is renowned for fighting back against unauthorised government surveillance. He exposed invasive actions of the National Security Agency (NSA) and other intelligence agencies during his time as a high-level technology and cybersecurity specialist.
Appearing via video link, Snowden will enlighten Australian audiences on how he did what he did, and most importantly, why he did it in a series of events in Australia’s capital cities. The event titled ‘An Evening with Edward Snowden’ comes on the back of ‘An Evening with Steve Wozniak’ in April and is run by Think Inc. The team also put together Australian tours of Dr Neil deGrasse Tyson, Sam Harris, Maajid Nawaz and Dr Cornel West.
Snowden will take questions from the audience but they will need to be pre-selected in advance and the chance to submit questions will open soon.
Back in 2013, Snowden revealled that the NSA was secretly seizing private records from everyday civilians, which led to a nationwide scandal resulting in the most significant US surveillance policy reform in three decades and, consequently, criminal charges being laid against Snowden, leading him to flee the country. While it’d be great to have Snowden visit Australia in person, his circumstances means he’s not able to travel freely as he faces controversial “espionage” charges in the US, and is currently leveraging protections in Russia.
“Just months ago, an aggressive new ‘bulk collection’ program came into effect in Australia, mandating the indiscriminate interception of private records without regard to an individual’s guilt or innocence.
This is the most classic form of mass surveillance, and it radically redefines the balance of power between citizen and state…a battle is beginning, and the internet and democracy hang in the balance.”
Australian event dates:
Fri 20 May 2016 | PCEC, Perth
Sat 21 May 2016 |ACC, Adelaide
Sun 22 May 2016 | MCEC, Melbourne
Fri 27 May 2016 | Courier Mail Piazza, Brisbane
Sat 28 May 2016 | Big Top, Sydney
Sun 29 May | Llewellyn Hall, Canberra
More info at ThinkInc.
