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An open letter to the people of Brazil, from Edward Snowden
Posted by Cottidianos
on
21:10
Terça-feira, 17 de dezembro
Apresento, a seguir, o texto original da carta
aberta, escrita por Edward Snowden, extraída do site da Folha. Em postagem seguinte, falo das circunstâncias de sua
publicação, as reações no Brasil, e a respectiva tradução em português.
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| Imagem: http://www.heavy.com/news/2013/06/edward-snowden-iceland-asylum/ |
An open letter to the people of Brazil, from Edward Snowden
From Edward Snowden
Six months ago, I
stepped out from the shadows of the United States Government's National
Security Agency to stand in front of a journalist's camera. I shared with the
world evidence proving some governments are building a world-wide surveillance
system to secretly track how we live, who we talk to, and what we say. I went
in front of that camera with open eyes, knowing that the decision would cost me
family and my home, and would risk my life. I was motivated by a belief that
the citizens of the world deserve to understand the system in which they live.
My greatest fear was
that no one would listen to my warning. Never have I been so glad to have been
so wrong. The reaction in certain countries has been particularly inspiring to
me, and Brazil is certainly one of those.
At the NSA, I
witnessed with growing alarm the surveillance of whole populations without any
suspicion of wrongdoing, and it threatens to become the greatest human rights
challenge of our time. The NSA and other spying agencies tell us that for our
own "safety"—for Dilma's "safety," for Petrobras'
"safety"—they have revoked our right to privacy and broken into our
lives. And they did it without asking the public in any country, even their
own.
Today, if you carry a
cell phone in Sao Paolo, the NSA can and does keep track of your location: they
do this 5 billion times a day to people around the world. When someone in
Florianopolis visits a website, the NSA keeps a record of when it happened and
what you did there. If a mother in Porto Alegre calls her son to wish him luck
on his university exam, NSA can keep that call log for five years or more. They
even keep track of who is having an affair or looking at pornography, in case
they need to damage their target's reputation.
American Senators
tell us that Brazil should not worry, because this is not
"surveillance," it's "data collection." They say it is done
to keep you safe. They’re wrong. There is a huge difference between legal
programs, legitimate spying, legitimate law enforcement — where individuals are
targeted based on a reasonable, individualized suspicion — and these programs
of dragnet mass surveillance that put entire populations under an all-seeing
eye and save copies forever. These programs were never about terrorism: they're
about economic spying, social control, and diplomatic manipulation. They're
about power.
Many Brazilian
senators agree, and have asked for my assistance with their investigations of
suspected crimes against Brazilian citizens. I have expressed my willingness to
assist wherever appropriate and lawful, but unfortunately the United States
government has worked very hard to limit my ability to do
so -- going so far as to force down the Presidential Plane of Evo Morales to
prevent me from traveling to Latin America! Until a country grants permanent
political asylum, the US government will continue to interfere with my ability
to speak.
Six months ago, I
revealed that the NSA wanted to listen to the whole world. Now, the whole world
is listening back, and speaking out, too. And the NSA doesn't like what it's
hearing. The culture of indiscriminate worldwide surveillance, exposed to
public debates and real investigations on every continent, is collapsing. Only
three weeks ago, Brazil led the United Nations Human Rights Committee to
recognize for the first time in history that privacy does not stop where the
digital network starts, and that the mass surveillance of innocents is a violation
of human rights.
The tide has turned,
and we can finally see a future where we can enjoy security without sacrificing
our privacy. Our rights cannot be limited by a secret organization, and
American officials should never decide the freedoms of Brazilian citizens. Even
the defenders of mass surveillance, those who may not be persuaded that our
surveillance technologies have dangerously outpaced democratic controls, now
agree that in democracies, surveillance of the public must be debated by the public.
My act of conscience
began with a statement: "I don't want to live in a world where everything
that I say, everything I do, everyone I talk to, every expression of creativity
or love or friendship is recorded. That's not something I'm willing to support,
it's not something I'm willing to build, and it's not something I'm willing to
live under."
Days later, I was
told my government had made me stateless and wanted to imprison me. The price
for my speech was my passport, but I would pay it again: I will not be the one
to ignore criminality for the sake of political comfort. I would rather be
without a state than without a voice.
If Brazil hears only
one thing from me, let it be this: when all of us band together against
injustices and in defense of privacy and basic human rights, we can defend
ourselves from even the most powerful systems.
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