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Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Government Surveillance (HBO)

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    Our main story tonight
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    is government surveillance.
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    And I realize most people
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    would rather have a conversation
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    about literally any other topic.
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    Including: 'Is my smartphone
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    giving me cancer?
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    To which the answer is: probably.
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    Or: Do goldfish suffer from depression?
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    To which the answer is:
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    Yes, but very briefly.
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    But the fact is, it is vital that we
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    have a discussion about this now.
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    Because an important date is just around the corner.
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    "One big day to circle on the calendar,
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    when it comes to a very controversial subject.
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    The re-authorization of the Patriot Act,
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    and all of the controversial
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    provisions therein.
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    June 1 they've got to come to an agreement
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    to re-authorize or curttail those programs.
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    Yes. Some controversial provisions within
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    the Patriot Act are to expire on June 1.
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    So circle that date
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    on your calendars, everyone.
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    And while you're at it:
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    Circle June 2 as well.
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    Because that's Justin Long's birthday.
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    You all forgot last year...
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    and he f*cking noticed.
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    Now, over the last couple of years,
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    you've probably heard a lot about
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    strange-sounding programs. Such as:
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    X-Keyscore, Muscular, Prism, and Mystic.
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    Which are, coincidentally, also the names
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    of some of Florida's least popular
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    stripclubs.
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    "Welcome to X-Keyscore!
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    Our dancers are fully un-redacted
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    and Tuesday is wing-night!"
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    But if you don't mind, I would like to
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    refresh your memory over some of this.
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    And let's start our focussing on the most
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    controversial portion of the Patriot Act,
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    that is up for renewal. Section 215.
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    Which, I'm aware, sounds like the name
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    of an Eastern European boy-band.
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    "We are Section 215.
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    Prepare to have your hearts...
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    throbbed."
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    There's the cute one, the bad-boy,
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    the one who strangled a potato-farmer,
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    and the one without an eye-deficiency.
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    They're incredible.
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    But the contentst of the real Section 215
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    is actually even more sinister.
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    It's called Section 215.
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    Nicknamed: the library records provision.
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    Which allows the Government to require
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    businesses to hand over records of any
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    "any tangible things"
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    including: books, records, documents,
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    and other items.
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    If that sounds broad, that's because
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    it was very much written that way.
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    Section 215 says the Government can ask
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    for "any tangible things" so long as it's
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    "for an investigation to protect
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    against international terrorism".
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    Which is basically a blank cheque.
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    It's letting a teenager borrow the car,
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    under the strict condition that they
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    only use it for 'car-related activities'.
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    "Okay, mom and dad, I'm gonna use this
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    for a hand-job in the Wendy's parking lot,
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    but that is car-related,
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    so I think I'm covered."
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    Section 215 is overseen
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    by a secret intelligence-court,
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    known as the Pfizer-court.
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    And they've interpreted it to mean
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    the Government could basically
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    collect and store phone-records for
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    every American.
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    The vast majority of whom, of course, have
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    no connection to terrorism.
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    Unless, Aunt Cheryl has been greatly
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    mis-characterized the activities
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    of her needle-point club.
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    "It's a sleeper-cell!
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    Isn't is, Aunt Cheryl?"
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    "You are hanged for this, Aungt Cheryl.
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    You're a traiter and a terrible aunt.
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    Not in that order."
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    Now, the Government will point out
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    that under 215, they hold phone-records,
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    and not the calls themselves.
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    What the intelligence-community is doing,
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    is looking at phone-numbers,
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    and durations of calls,
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    they are not looking at peoples names,
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    and they are not looking at content.
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    Yes, but that's not entirely reassuring.
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    Because you can extrapolate a lot
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    from that information.
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    If they knew that you'd called your ex
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    12 times last night, between 1 and 4 AM,
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    for a duration of 15 minutes each time,
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    they can be fairly sure that you've left
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    some pretty pathetic voice-mails.
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    "I don't care whose monitoring this call,
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    Vicky, we should be together!
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    Pick up the phone, dammit!
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    I'm a human being, not an animal!"
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    Now, the Patriot-act was written,
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    just after 9-11.
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    And for years,
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    it was extended and re-authorized
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    with barely a passing thought.
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    In fact, it became so routine,
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    that when it was extended in 2011,
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    one newscaster just tacked it
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    onto the end of a report
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    about a Presidential trip abroad.
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    Chip Reemes. CBS-news is travelling
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    with the President in Dovell, France.
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    Also in France, by the way,
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    President Obama signed in
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    the law 4- year extension
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    of the terrorism fighting Patriot-Act.
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    Also in France, by the way?
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    By the way?
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    He threw that in,
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    like a mother telling her young daughter
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    that her childhood pet just died.
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    "Oh, nice talking to you, sweety.
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    Also, by the way, Mr. Peppers is dead,
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    see you at Christmas." BANG
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    But all of that,
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    was before the public was made aware
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    of what the Government's capabilities
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    actually were.
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    'Cause that all ended in June of 2013.
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    Edward Snowden has just
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    taken responsibility for one of the
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    biggest Government leaks in US history.
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    We learned that the Government has the
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    capacity to track virtually every American
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    phone-call, and to scoop up
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    impossibly vast quantities of data
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    across the Internet.
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    Revelations that the NSA eavesdropped
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    on world leaders.
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    Have you've ever been to the Bahamas,
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    the NSA could've recorded your phone-calls
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    and stored them up to a month.
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    All that information was exposed
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    by Edward Snowden.
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    And it is still kind of incredible,
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    that a 29-year old contractor,
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    was able to steal top-secret documents
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    from an organization
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    that LITERALLY has the word 'security'
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    in it's name.
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    Clearly, that was not great for them.
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    Because the only place where it should
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    be that easy for employees in their 20-ies
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    to steal, is a Lids store.
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    "Dude, you sure we should take this?"
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    "Relax, dude, it's a Miami Marlins-cap,
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    we're not exactly selling
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    Fabergé eggs here."
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    It is still unclear,
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    exactly how many documents
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    Edward Snowden stole.
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    Although he is consistently trying
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    to re-assure people that he put them
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    in good hands.
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    Honestly, I don't want to be the person
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    making the decisions about what should
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    be public and what shouldn't.
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    Which is why I, rather than publishing
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    these on my own or putting them openly,
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    I'm putting them through journalists.
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    Well, that sounds great.
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    But of course it's not a fail-safe plan.
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    As was proven when the New York Times
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    published this slide,
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    but did such a sloppy job of blocking out
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    redacted information, that some people
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    were able to read the information behind
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    that black bar,
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    which concerned how the US was monitoring
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    Al-Qaida in Mosul,
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    a group now known as ISIS.
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    So essentially,
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    a national security secret was leaked,
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    because no-one at the Times knows
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    how to use Microsoft Paint.
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    And look, you can think
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    that Snowden did the wrong thing, or
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    did it in the wrong way.
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    But the fact it,
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    we have this information now,
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    and we no longer get the luxury
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    of pleading ignorance.
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    It's like you can't go to Sea World and
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    pretend Sha-Mu's happy anymore.
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    When we now know,
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    at least have the water in her tank
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    is whale-tears.
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    We know that now.
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    You can't un-know that information.
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    So you have to bear that in mind.
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    But here's the thing:
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    It's now 2 years later,
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    and it seems like we've kind of
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    forgotten to have a debate
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    over the content of what Snowden leaked.
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    A recent Pew-report found that nearly
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    half of Americans say they're
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    'not very concerned', of 'not at all
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    concerned' about Government surveillance.
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    Which is fine.
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    If that's an informed opinion.
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    But I'm not sure that it is.
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    Because we actually sent a camera-crew
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    to Times Square to ask some random
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    passers by who Edward Snowden was,
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    and what he did.
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    And there are the responses that we got.
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    I have no idea who Edward Snowden is.
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    Have no idea who Edward Snowden is.
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    I've heard the name, I just can't picutre
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    right now exactly what it is.
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    Edward Snowden...
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    No. I do not.
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    Just for the record, that wasn't
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    cherry picking.
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    That was entirely reflective of everyone
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    we spoke to.
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    Although, to be fair, some people
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    did remember his name,
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    they just couldn't remember why.
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    He sold some information to people.
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    He revealed some information
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    that shouldn't have been revealed.
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    I think from what I remember,
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    is that the information that he shared
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    was detrimental to our military secrets?
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    And keeping our soldiers
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    and our country safe?
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    He leaked documents what the Army's
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    operations in Iraq.
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    Edward Snowden revealed a bunch
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    of secrets, I guess, or information
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    into Wiki, Wikileaks?
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    Edward Snowden leaked...
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    he's in charge of Wikileaks?
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    Edward Snowden revealed a lot of
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    documents through Wikileaks...?
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    Okay, so here's the thing:
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    Edward Snowden is NOT the Wikileaks guy.
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    The Wikileaks guy is Julian Assange.
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    And you do not want to
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    be confused by him.
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    Partly because he was far less careful
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    than Snowden with what he released,
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    and how.
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    And partly because he resembles
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    a sandwich-bag full of biscuits while
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    wearing a Stevie Knicks-wig.
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    And that is, that is ciritical.
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    Julian Assange is not a like-able man.
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    Even Benedict Cumberbatch could not
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    make him like-able.
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    He's un-Cumberbatch-able.
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    That was supposed to be
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    physically impossible.
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    I don't blame people for being confused.
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    We've been looking at this story
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    for the last 2 weeks,
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    and it is hard to get your head around.
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    Not just because there are so many
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    complicated programs to keep track of,
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    but also because
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    there are no easy answers here.
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    We all naturally want perfect privacy,
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    and perfect safety.
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    But those 2 things cannot coexist.
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    It's like how you can't have
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    a badass pet falcon...
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    and an adorable pet vole named Herbert.
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    Either you have to lose one of them,
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    which obviously you don't want to do.
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    Or you have to accept some reasonable
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    restrictions on both of them.
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    Now to be fair, the NSA will argue
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    that just because they can do something
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    doesn't mean they do do it.
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    And, that there are restrictions on their
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    operations, such as the Pfizer-court,
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    which, must approve requests for
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    foreign surveillance.
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    But.
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    In 34 years, that court has approved
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    some 35000 applications,
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    and only rejected 12.
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    Yes. Much like Robert Durst's second wife.
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    The Pfizer-court is alarmingly accepting.
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    "Listen, Robert, I'm not gonna
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    ask you too many questions.
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    I'm just gonna give you the benefit of the
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    doubts that you clearly don't deserve."
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    At least tell him to blink and burp less.
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    The burping might be the most troubling
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    thing about that show.
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    So, so maybe there's time for us to talk.
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    About where the limits should be.
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    And the best place to start would be
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    Section 215.
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    Not just because it's the easiest one
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    to understand,
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    but there is wide-spread agreement
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    it needs to be reformed.
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    From the President, to Ted Cruz,
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    to both the ACLU and the NRA,
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    to even the guy who wrote the thing
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    in the first place.
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    I was the principal author
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    of the Patriot Act.
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    I can say that without qualification
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    Congress never did intend to allow
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    bulk-collections when it passed
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    Section 215.
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    And no fair reading of the text would
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    allow for this program.
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    Think about that.
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    He was the author.
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    That's the legislative equivalent
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    of Lewis Carrol seeing the tea-cups ride
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    at Disney Land, and saying:
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    "This has got to be reined in.
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    No fair reading of my text would allow
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    for this ride."
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    "You've turned my perfectly nice
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    tail of psychedelic paedofilia
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    into a garish vomitorium."
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    "This is not what I wanted!"
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    And even the NSA has said that
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    the number of terror-plots
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    in the US, that the Section 215
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    phone-records program has disrupted is 1.
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    And it's worth noting that that 1 plot
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    involved a cabdriver in San Diego
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    who gave $8500 to a terror-group.
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    And that is the shittiest terrorist-plot
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    I've ever seen, other than the plot of
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    A Good Day To Die Hard.
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    But here's the big problem here:
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    If we let Section 215 get renewed in it's
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    current form, without serious public
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    debate, we're in trouble.
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    Because Section 215
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    is the canary in the coalmine.
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    If we cannot fix that,
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    we're not gonna fix any of them.
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    And the public debate so far,
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    has been absolutely pathetic.
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    A year ago, a former congresswoman
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    was discussing the 215 program on the news.
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    Watch wat happened.
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    This vast collection of data
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    is not that useful, and infringes
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    substantially on personal privacy.
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    I think at this point we should seriously
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    consider not continuing...
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    Congress woman, let me interrupt you.
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    Let me interrupt you just for one moment.
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    We've got some breaking news out of Miami.
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    Stand by if you will.
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    Right now in Miami, Justin Beiber
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    has been arrested on a number of charges.
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    The judge is reading the charges,
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    including resisting arrest and driving
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    under the influence.
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    He's appearing now before the judge
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    for his bond-hearing. Let's watch.
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    Actually, you know what?
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    Bad news, we're gonna have to interrupt
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    your interruption of the Beiber news,
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    for a new interruption.
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    This time featuring a YouTube video of a
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    tortoise having sex with a plastic clog.
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    Let's watch.
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    That. Is essentially the current tone
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    of this vitally important debate.
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    And again: I'm not saying this is
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    an easy conversation.
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    But we have to have it.
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    I know this is confusing.
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    And unfortunately, the most obvious
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    person to talk to about this,
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    is Edward Snowden.
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    But he currently lives in Russia.
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    Meaning, if you wanted to ask him
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    about any of these issues,
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    you'd have to fly all the way there
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    to do it, and it is not a pleasant flight.
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    And the reason I know that...
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    is that last week, I went to Russia
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    to speak to Edward Snowden.
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    And this is what happened.
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    Yes, last week I spent 48 paranoid hours
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    in Moscow.
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    Arguably the last place on earth where you
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    can find an overweight Josef Stalin
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    impersonator arguing with an unconvinsing
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    fake Lenin.
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    And after experiencing Russia's famously
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    warm hospitality, I went to meet
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    Edward Snowden.
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    Who is supposed to show up in this room
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    at noon.
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    However, after 5 minutes after
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    the interview was scheduled to begin,
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    I had a troubling thought.
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    I don't know.
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    You think he's coming?
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    'Cause my argument is:
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    Why would he?
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    When you think about it.
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    I got 2000 roebels that says
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    he doesn't make it.
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    Without understanding how much that is.
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    All I'm saying is...
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    a 10-hour flight for an empty chair...
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    I'm gonna lose my shit.
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    Okay, it turns out that there may be
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    a bit of a problem.
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    'Cause our Russian producer...
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    booked us in a room
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    directly overlooking...
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    the old KGB-building.
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    And the home of the current
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    Federal Security Bureau.
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    And I'm just been told that they know
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    we're here.
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    So uhm...
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    So that happened.
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    Uhm, just if the Russian...
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    Russian KGB is listening:
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    we'll ring the fire-alarm
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    if he's not coming.
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    Oh shit.
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    Oh God.
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    -So sorry for the delay.
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    It's fine.
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    HOLY SHIT.
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    He actually came.
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    Edward f*cking Snowden.
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    The most famous here and/or traitor
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    in recent American history!
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    And I've started with a question designed
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    to test his loyalties.
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    How much do you miss America?
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    -You know, my country is something
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    -that travels with me, you know.
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    -It's not just a geogro...
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    Well that's already
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    a way too complicated answer.
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    The right answer is:
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    I miss it a lot, it's the greatest
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    country in the world.
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    -I do miss my country.
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    -I do miss my home, I do miss my family.
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    Do you miss hot pockets?
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    -Yes.
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    -I miss hot pockets. Very much.
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    Okay. The entire state of Florida?
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    Let's just let that silence
  • Not Synced
    hang in the air.
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    Truck nuts?
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    You miss truck nuts?
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    -I don't know what they are.
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    Lucky for you, Edward...
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    Not just truck nuts.
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    Stars and stripes truck nuts.
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    That is 2 balls of liberty
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    in a freedom sack.
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    -You really thought ahead.
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    Well, at least one of us did.
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    You know, 'cause of the... uhm...
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    the quandary... the...
  • Not Synced
    Kafka-esque nightmare that you're in.
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    Okay. Let's dive in.
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    Why did you do this?
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    -The NSA has the greatest surveillance
  • Not Synced
    capabilities that we've ever seen
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    in history.
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    Now, what they will argue
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    is that they don't use this
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    for nefarious purposes against
  • Not Synced
    American citizens.
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    In some ways that's true.
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    But the real problem is that
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    they're using these capabilities
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    to make us vulnerable to them,
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    and then saying:
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    While I've got a gun pointed at your head,
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    I'm not going to pull the trigger.
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    Trust me.
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    So, what does the NSA you want look like?
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    'Cause you applied for a job at the NSA.
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    So you clearly see an inherent value
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    in that shadowy organization.
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    I worked with mass-surveillance systems
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    against Chinese hackers.
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    I saw, that you know, these things
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    do have some purpose.
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    And you want your spies to be good
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    at spying.
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    To be fair.
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    Right.
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    What you don't want...
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    is you don't want them spying inside
  • Not Synced
    their own country.
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    Spies are great when they're on our side.
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    But we can never forget that they're
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    incredibly powerful,
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    and incredibly dangerous,
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    and when they're off the leash...
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    they can end up coming after us.
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    But just to be clear, we're talking about
  • Not Synced
    2 different things here.
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    Domestic surveillance,
  • Not Synced
    and foreign surveillance.
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    Right.
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    'Cause domestic surveillance...
  • Not Synced
    Americans give some of a shit about.
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    Foreign surveillance...
  • Not Synced
    they don't give any remote shit about.
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    Well the second question is
  • Not Synced
    when we talk about foreign surveillance
  • Not Synced
    are we applying it in ways that are
  • Not Synced
    beneficial...
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    No-one cares.
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    In terms...
  • Not Synced
    No. They don't give a shit.
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    We spied on UNICEF.
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    The children's fund.
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    Sure.
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    We spied on lawyers negotiating...
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    What was UNICEF doing?
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    I mean, that's the question there.
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    Isn't it?
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    The question is:
  • Not Synced
    are these projects valuable?
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    Are we going to be safer when we're spying
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    on UNICEF and lawyers who are talking about
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    the price of shrimp and clove cigarettes.
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    I don't think people say that's good.
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    I think they'll say:
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    I definitely don't care.
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    Americans do not give a shit.
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    I think you're right.
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    About foreign surveillance.
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    What some people do care about
  • Not Synced
    is whether Snowden considered
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    the adverse consequences of leaking
  • Not Synced
    so much information at once.
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    How many of those documents
  • Not Synced
    have you actually read.
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    I've evaluated all the documents
  • Not Synced
    that are in the archive.
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    You've read every single one?
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    I do understand what I've turned over.
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    But there's a difference between
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    understanding what's in the documents
  • Not Synced
    and reading what's in the documents.
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    I recognized the concern.
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    'Cause when you're handing over
  • Not Synced
    thousands of NSA documents,
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    the last thing you want to do
  • Not Synced
    is read them.
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    I think it's fair to be concerned about,
  • Not Synced
    'did this person do enough?
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    were they careful enough?'
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    Especially when you're handling material
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    like we know you are handling.
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    Well, in my defense:
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    I'm not handling anything anymore.
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    That's been passed to the journalists,
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    and they're using extraordinary
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    security measures that this is reported
  • Not Synced
    in the most responsible way.
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    But, those are journalists
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    with a lower technical skill-set than you.
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    That's true,
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    but then they do understand
  • Not Synced
    just like you and I do.
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    Just how important it
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    to get this right.
  • Not Synced
    So the New York Times took a slide,
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    didn't redact it properly...
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    and...
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    in the end it was possible
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    for people to see that something
  • Not Synced
    was being used in Mosul.
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    On Al'Qaida.
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    That is a problem.
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    Well, that's a f*ck-up.
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    It is a f*ck-up.
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    And these things do happen in reporting.
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    In journalism we have to accept
  • Not Synced
    that some mistakes will be made.
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    This is a fundamental concept of liberty.
  • Not Synced
    Right.
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    But you have to own that then.
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    You're giving documents with imformation
  • Not Synced
    you know could be harmful...
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    which could get out there.
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    Yes.
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    If people act in bad faith.
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    You're not even talking about bad faith.
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    You're talking about incompetents.
  • Not Synced
    We are.
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    But you will never be
  • Not Synced
    completely free from risk,
  • Not Synced
    if you're free.
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    The only time you can be free from risk
  • Not Synced
    is when you're in prison.
  • Not Synced
    While the risks were significant,
  • Not Synced
    Snowden himself has made it clear.
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    He feels the rewards have been worth it.
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    You've said in you letters to Brasil:
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    "I was motivated by a believe that
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    the citizens of the world deserve to
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    understand the system in which they live.
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    My greatest fear was that no-one
  • Not Synced
    would listen to my warning.
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    Never have I been so glad
  • Not Synced
    to have been so wrong."
  • Not Synced
    How did that feel?
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    I was initially terrified that this
  • Not Synced
    was going to be a 3 day story,
  • Not Synced
    everybody was going to forget about it.
  • Not Synced
    But when I saw that...
  • Not Synced
    everybody around the world said:
  • Not Synced
    "Wow, this is a problem.
  • Not Synced
    We have to do something about this",
  • Not Synced
    it felt like vindication.
  • Not Synced
    Even in America?
  • Not Synced
    Even in America.
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    And I think we're seeing
  • Not Synced
    something amazing.
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    Which is if you ask... the American people
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    to make tough decisions,
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    to confront tough issues,
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    to think about hard problems...
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    they'll actually surprise you.
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    Okay.
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    Here's the problem:
  • Not Synced
    I did ask some Americans.
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    And, boy did it surprise me.
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    I have no idea who Edward Snowden is.
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    You've never heard of Edward Snowden?
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    No.
  • Not Synced
    I have no idea who Edward Snowden is.
  • Not Synced
    I've heard the name...
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    I just can't picture and think right now
  • Not Synced
    exactly who it is.
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    Well, he's... uhm...
  • Not Synced
    He sold some information to people.
  • Not Synced
    He revealed some information
  • Not Synced
    that shouldn't have been revealed.
  • Not Synced
    Edward Snowden revealed a lot of documents
  • Not Synced
    through Wikileaks.
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    Edward Snowden revealed a bunch
  • Not Synced
    of secrets, I guess...
  • Not Synced
    or information into Wikileaks.
  • Not Synced
    Edward Snowden leaked... uhm...
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    he's in charge of Wikileaks.
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    I'm in charge of Wikileaks.
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    Not ideal.
  • Not Synced
    I guess, on the plus side...
  • Not Synced
    you might be able to go home.
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    'Cause it seems like no-one knows
  • Not Synced
    who the f*ck you are.
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    Or what the f*ck you did.
  • Not Synced
    We can't except everybody to be uniformly
  • Not Synced
    informed.
  • Not Synced
    So, did you do this to solve a problem?
  • Not Synced
    I did this to give the American people
  • Not Synced
    a chance to decide for themselves
  • Not Synced
    the kind of government they want to have.
  • Not Synced
    That is a conversation that I think that
  • Not Synced
    the American people deserve to decide.
  • Not Synced
    There is no doubt that it is
  • Not Synced
    a critical conversation.
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    But is it a conversation that we have
  • Not Synced
    the capacity to have?
  • Not Synced
    Because it's so complicated.
  • Not Synced
    We don't fundamentally understand it.
  • Not Synced
    It is a challenging conversation.
  • Not Synced
    I mean, it's difficult for most people
  • Not Synced
    to even conceptualize.
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    The problem is,
  • Not Synced
    the internet is massively complex,
  • Not Synced
    and so much of it is invisible.
  • Not Synced
    Service providers, technicians, engineers,
  • Not Synced
    the phonenumbers....
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    Let me stop you right there, Edward.
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    'Cause this is the whole problem.
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    Right.
  • Not Synced
    This is the whole problem.
  • Not Synced
    I just, I glaze over.
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    'Cause it's like the IT-guy
  • Not Synced
    comes into your office,
  • Not Synced
    and you go: "Ooh shit."
  • Not Synced
    In fairness...
  • Not Synced
    "Ooh shit, don't teach me anything."
  • Not Synced
    "I don't want to learn."
  • Not Synced
    "You smell like canned soup."
  • Not Synced
    It's a real challenge to figure out
  • Not Synced
    how do we communicate
  • Not Synced
    things that require sort of years and years
  • Not Synced
    of technical understanding.
  • Not Synced
    And compress that into seconds of speech.
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    So, I'm sympathetic to the problem there.
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    But the thing is,
  • Not Synced
    everything you did only matters
  • Not Synced
    if we have this conversation properly.
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    So let me help you out there.
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    You mentioned in an interview
  • Not Synced
    that the NSA was passing around
  • Not Synced
    naked photo's of people.
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    Yeah. This is something where it's...
  • Not Synced
    it's not actually seen as a big deal.
  • Not Synced
    In the culture of NSA.
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    Because you see naked pictures
  • Not Synced
    all of the time.
  • Not Synced
    That.
  • Not Synced
    Terrifies people.
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    'Cause when we asked people about THAT...
  • Not Synced
    this is the response you get.
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    The Government should not be able
  • Not Synced
    to look at dick-pictures.
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    If the Government was looking at
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    a picture of Gordon's penis,
  • Not Synced
    I definitely feel it would be an invasion
  • Not Synced
    of my privacy.
  • Not Synced
    Ah, yeah, if the Government was looking at
  • Not Synced
    pictures of my penis, that would upset me.
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    They should never, ever,
  • Not Synced
    the US Government have a picture,
  • Not Synced
    of my dick.
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    If my husband sent me
  • Not Synced
    a picture of his penis,
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    and the Government could access it,
  • Not Synced
    I would want that program to be shut down.
  • Not Synced
    I would want the Dick-pic Program changed.
  • Not Synced
    I would also want
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    the Dick-pic Program changed.
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    I think it would be terrific,
  • Not Synced
    if the program could change.
  • Not Synced
    I would want it to be tweeked,
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    I would want it to have
  • Not Synced
    clear and transparent laws
  • Not Synced
    that we knew about.
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    And that were communicated to us.
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    To understand what they
  • Not Synced
    were being used for.
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    Or why the were being kept.
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    Do you think that program exists?
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    I don't.
  • Not Synced
    I don't think that program exists at all.
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    No.
  • Not Synced
    No.
  • Not Synced
    No.
  • Not Synced
    No.
  • Not Synced
    If I had knowledge that the US Government
  • Not Synced
    had a picture of my dick...
  • Not Synced
    I would be very pissed off.
  • Not Synced
    Well...
  • Not Synced
    The good news is that there's no
  • Not Synced
    program named 'the Dick-pic Program'.
  • Not Synced
    The bad news is that they're still
  • Not Synced
    collecting everybody's information.
  • Not Synced
    Including your dick-pics.
  • Not Synced
    What's the over/under of that last guy
  • Not Synced
    sent a dick-pic recently?
  • Not Synced
    You don't need to guess.
  • Not Synced
    I'll show you.
  • Not Synced
    I did.
  • Not Synced
    I did take a picture of my... dick.
  • Not Synced
    And I sent it to a girl. Recently.
  • Not Synced
    This is the most visible line in the sand
  • Not Synced
    for people.
  • Not Synced
    "Can they see my dick?"
  • Not Synced
    So, with that in mind...
  • Not Synced
    look inside that folder.
  • Not Synced
    That.
  • Not Synced
    Is a picture of my dick.
  • Not Synced
    So let's go through each NSA program,
  • Not Synced
    and explain to me it's capabilities
  • Not Synced
    in regards to that photograph...
  • Not Synced
    of my penis.
  • Not Synced
    So.
  • Not Synced
    702 Surveillance: can they see my dick?
  • Not Synced
    Yes.
  • Not Synced
    The Pfizen act of 2008,
  • Not Synced
    which Section 702 falls under,
  • Not Synced
    allows the bulk-collection of
  • Not Synced
    internet communications that are
  • Not Synced
    one-end foreign.
  • Not Synced
    Bulk-collection:
  • Not Synced
    now we're talking about my dick.
  • Not Synced
    You get it.
  • Not Synced
    I do.
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    Because it's, it's, yeah.
  • Not Synced
    So, if you have you're email somewhere...
  • Not Synced
    like G-mail, hosted over seas or
  • Not Synced
    transferred somewhere over seas,
  • Not Synced
    or any time crosses outside the borders
  • Not Synced
    of the United States...
  • Not Synced
    you're junk ends up in the database.
  • Not Synced
    So it doesn't have to be
  • Not Synced
    sending your dick to a German?
  • Not Synced
    No.
  • Not Synced
    Even if you sent it to somebody
  • Not Synced
    within the United States,
  • Not Synced
    your wholly domestic communication
  • Not Synced
    between you and your wife
  • Not Synced
    can go from New York...
  • Not Synced
    to London and back.
  • Not Synced
    And get caught up in the database.
  • Not Synced
    Executive Order 12-333: Dick or no dick?
  • Not Synced
    Yes.
  • Not Synced
    EO 12-333 is what the NSA uses
  • Not Synced
    when the other authorities aren't
  • Not Synced
    aggressive enough,
  • Not Synced
    or they're not catching as much
  • Not Synced
    as they like.
  • Not Synced
    For example...
  • Not Synced
    How are they gonna see my dick?
  • Not Synced
    I'm only concerned about my penis.
  • Not Synced
    When you send your junk
  • Not Synced
    through G-mail, for example,
  • Not Synced
    that's stored on Google-servers.
  • Not Synced
    Google moves data.
  • Not Synced
    From datacenter to datacenter.
  • Not Synced
    Invisibly to you, without your knowledge.
  • Not Synced
    Your data could be moved outside
  • Not Synced
    the borders of the United States.
  • Not Synced
    Oh no.
  • Not Synced
    Temporarily.
  • Not Synced
    When your junk was passed by G-mail,
  • Not Synced
    the NSA caught a copy of that.
  • Not Synced
    Prism.
  • Not Synced
    Prism is how they pull your junk
  • Not Synced
    out of Google, with Google's involvement.
  • Not Synced
    All of the different Prism partners,
  • Not Synced
    people like Yahoo, Facebook, Google,
  • Not Synced
    the Government deputizes them, to be,
  • Not Synced
    sort of their little surveillance sherif.
  • Not Synced
    They're a dick-sherif.
  • Not Synced
    Correct.
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    Uhm, Upstream.
  • Not Synced
    Upstream is how they snatch your junk
  • Not Synced
    as it transes the internet.
  • Not Synced
    Okay. Mystic.
  • Not Synced
    If you're describing your junk
  • Not Synced
    on the phone?
  • Not Synced
    Yes.
  • Not Synced
    But do they have the content
  • Not Synced
    of that junk-call,
  • Not Synced
    or just the duration of it?
  • Not Synced
    They have the content as well,
  • Not Synced
    but only for a few countries.
  • Not Synced
    If you are on vacation in the Bahamas?
  • Not Synced
    Yes.
  • Not Synced
    Finally. And you need to remind yourself?
  • Not Synced
    No, I'm just not sure...
  • Not Synced
    what to do with this.
  • Not Synced
    Just hold on to it.
  • Not Synced
    It's a lot of responsibility.
  • Not Synced
    Yeah. It is a lot of responsibility.
  • Not Synced
    That's the whole point.
  • Not Synced
    Should I...?
  • Not Synced
    No, you should absolutely not.
  • Not Synced
    And it's unbelievable
  • Not Synced
    that you would do that.
  • Not Synced
    Actually, it's entirely believable.
  • Not Synced
    215 meta-data?
  • Not Synced
    No.
  • Not Synced
    Good.
  • Not Synced
    But...
  • Not Synced
    Come on, Ed.
  • Not Synced
    They can probably tell who you're sharing
  • Not Synced
    your junk pictures with.
  • Not Synced
    Because they're seeing
  • Not Synced
    who you're texting with,
  • Not Synced
    who you're calling.
  • Not Synced
    If you're calling
  • Not Synced
    the penis enlargement centre at 3 AM
  • Not Synced
    and that call lasted 90 minutes?
  • Not Synced
    They would have a record
  • Not Synced
    of YOUR phone-number
  • Not Synced
    calling THAT phone-number.
  • Not Synced
    (Which is a penis enlargement center).
  • Not Synced
    They would say they don't know
  • Not Synced
    it's penis enlargement center,
  • Not Synced
    but of course they can look it up.
  • Not Synced
    Edward, if the American people
  • Not Synced
    understood this...
  • Not Synced
    they would be absolutely horrified.
  • Not Synced
    I guess I never thought about putting it
  • Not Synced
    in the...
  • Not Synced
    in the context of your junk.
  • Not Synced
    Would a good take-away from this be...
  • Not Synced
    'Until such time as we sorted
  • Not Synced
    all of this out...
  • Not Synced
    don't take pictures of your dick'.
  • Not Synced
    Just don't do it anymore.
  • Not Synced
    No.
  • Not Synced
    If we do that.
  • Not Synced
    Wait, hold on, you're saying 'no'?
  • Not Synced
    Yeah.
  • Not Synced
    You should be
  • Not Synced
    taking pictures of your dick?
  • Not Synced
    Yes.
  • Not Synced
    You shouldn't change your behavior
  • Not Synced
    because a Government agency somehwere
  • Not Synced
    is doing the wrong thing.
  • Not Synced
    If you sacrifice our values
  • Not Synced
    because we're afraid...
  • Not Synced
    we don't care
  • Not Synced
    about those values very much.
  • Not Synced
    That is a pretty inspiring answer
  • Not Synced
    to the question:
  • Not Synced
    "Hey, why did you just send me a picutre
  • Not Synced
    of your dick?"
  • Not Synced
    "Because I love America, that's why."
  • Not Synced
    So there you have it, America.
  • Not Synced
    All of us should now be equipped
  • Not Synced
    to have this vital debate.
  • Not Synced
    Because by June 1,
  • Not Synced
    it is imperative we have a rational,
  • Not Synced
    adult conversation
  • Not Synced
    about whether our safety is worth
  • Not Synced
    living in a country of barely regulated
  • Not Synced
    Government sanctioned dick-sherifs.
  • Not Synced
    And with my work here done,
  • Not Synced
    there was just time to take care of
  • Not Synced
    one more thing.
  • Not Synced
    Finally, congratulations
  • Not Synced
    on winning the Oscar.
  • Not Synced
    I know you couldn't be at the ceremony
  • Not Synced
    for obvious reasons, so...
  • Not Synced
    Hah?
  • Not Synced
    Wow.
  • Not Synced
    I thought we'd celebrate ourselves.
  • Not Synced
    Cheers.
  • Not Synced
    Wow, that's...
  • Not Synced
    that's really something.
  • Not Synced
    Thank you.
  • Not Synced
    You're welcome.
  • Not Synced
    What's the over/under on me
  • Not Synced
    getting home safely?
  • Not Synced
    Well, if you weren't on the list before,
  • Not Synced
    you are now.
  • Not Synced
    Is that like, uhm...
  • Not Synced
    is that like a figu... is that like a joke
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    or is that actually possible?
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    No, it's... it's a real thing.
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    You're associated now.
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    Okay.
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    Just to be clear NSA:
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    I never met this guy, so
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    take me off you're f*cking list.
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    I do not want to get stuck in Russia.
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    I want to go home I want to go home
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    I want to go home I want to go home
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    Now, just for the record.
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    Just so you know.
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    We got in touch with the NSA,
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    the National Security Council,
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    and the White House,
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    and we asked them to comment
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    on the dick-pick capabilities
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    of each of the programs Edward Snowden
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    just discussed.
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    Which incidentally was some very fun
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    emails to write to Government agencies.
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    They didn't wish to comment on the record.
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    And I can see why,
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    for every possible reason.
Title:
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Government Surveillance (HBO)
Description:

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Video Language:
English
Team:
Captions Requested
Duration:
33:15

English subtitles

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