A Manifesto for the Truth

Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency (NSA) contract employee, meeting in Moscow with activists., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

A manifesto for the truth

November 5, 2013
Opinion & Analysis

Edward Snowden

IN a very short time, the world has learned much about unaccountable secret agencies and about sometimes illegal surveillance programs. Sometimes the agencies even deliberately try to hide their surveillance of high officials or the public. While the NSA and GCHQ seem to be the worst offenders — this is what the currently available documents suggest — we must not forget that mass surveillance is a global problem in need of global solutions.

Such programs are not only a threat to privacy, they also threaten freedom of speech and open societies.

The existence of spy technology should not determine policy.

We have a moral duty to ensure that our laws and values limit monitoring programs and protect human rights.

Society can only understand and control these problems through an open, respectful and informed debate. At first, some governments feeling embarrassed by the revelations of mass surveillance initiated an unprecedented campaign of persecution to suppress this debate.

They intimidated journalists and criminalised publishing the truth. At this point, the public was not yet able to evaluate the benefits of the revelations.

They relied on their governments to decide correctly.

Today we know that this was a mistake and that such action does not serve the public interest.

The debate which they wanted to prevent will now take place in countries around the world.

And instead of doing harm, the societal benefits of this new public knowledge is now clear, since reforms are now proposed in the form of increased oversight and new legislation.

Citizens have to fight suppression of information on matters of vital public importance.

To tell the truth is not a crime.

This text was written by Edward Snowden on November 1, 2013 in Moscow. It was sent to SPIEGEL staff over an encrypted channel.