SXSWORLD

3 0 S X S W O R L D / M A R C H M U S I C 2 0 1 4 capacity crowd packed the Austin Convention Center's Exhibit Hall 5 on Monday to hear directly from Edward Snowden, the ex-government contractor and former CIA employee whose leaks of a series of strategic documents last year brought privacy and security to the center of many tech and policy discussions. Snowden spoke from Russia via live video feed in a discussion format with Ben Wizner and Chris Soghoian, both of the American Civil Liberties Union. Why did Snowden choose SXSW for a rare public (if virtual) appearance? "e people who are in the room in Austin, they're the folks who can really fix things, who can enforce our rights for tech- nical standards," he said. He added that even though he believes change is needed at the federal level, that alone will not bring true pri- vacy within the reach of everyone: "ere's a policy response that needs to occur, but there's also a technical response that needs to occur. And it's the makers ... it's the thinkers … it's the devel- opment community that can really craft those solutions to make sure we're safe." e trio discussed the fact that solutions are available in the market today, but a comprehen- sive security program is not enabled by default and instead must be pieced together indi- vidually. Soghoian, Principal Technologist with the ACLU's Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, pointed out that if we as individ- uals want more control over our data, we need to reconsider how we choose our tools: "If you're getting the service for free, the company isn't going to be optimizing the experience with your best interests in mind." How does one begin to tighten controls on information security? End-to-end encryption is the cornerstone of secure communications, said Snowden. Encryption works by essentially garbling all data from the point of transmission. e sender and recipient hold secure encryp- tion keys that cooperatively render the data intelligible. Without those keys, the data is meaningless. "We need to think about encryption not as a sort of arcane black art but sort of a basic protection," Snowden said. "It's the defense against the dark arts of the digital realm." He added that data can be encrypted at both the disk level and network level. With SSL now enabled by the likes of Google and Yahoo!, the availability of network encryption is gradually improving. But disk security requires action by the end user to secure local devices. And today, that often requires learning and running software that seems to be beyond the average user's skill level. Snowden quipped that a successful information security program must pass "the Glenn Greenwald test," named after the journalist who helped Snowden take public his concerns over federal security policies and programs. e Brazil-based Greenwald appeared via a live video feed in his own SXSW session later Monday afternoon and acknowl- edged some initial hurdles in establishing secure communication with Snowden. However, he added, those hurdles were by no means insur- mountable. "e barrier that people have to using encryption is more psychological than anything else," Greenwald said. "Once I actually did it, I realized how incredibly easy it is." By taking advan- tage of encryption and emerging tools to better control who can get visibility into our data, we limit the utility of mass surveillance efforts that collect, store and analyze massive amounts of informa- tion indiscriminately. is, Snowden said, has been his goal. "It wasn't so I could s i n g l e - h a n d e d l y change the govern- ment, tell them what to do and sort of over- ride what the public thinks is proper. What I'd hoped to do is inform the public so they could make a decision." If we continue to opt in to advertising-driven data collection in exchange for useful services or free software, that is our right. But we should also expect that those collecting our data use it for intended purposes only, Snowden said. "It's not that you can't collect any data, it's that you should only collect the data and hold it for as long as necessary for the operation of your users." Most of the discussion centered on concerns with the American gov- ernment and American firms' attitudes toward protecting their users' privacy, but the issue is truly global, Snowden added. "Every citizen in every country has something to lose. We all are at risk of unfair, unjusti- fied, unwarranted interference in our private lives." Elevating these issues into the public realm has resulted in life- changing experiences for Snowden. On the one hand, he has helped increase awareness of information security. On the other hand, he is cur- rently ensconced in Moscow to remain outside the reach of American authorities. Knowing the personal costs as he does now, would he still choose to pay them if he were able to jump back in time? "e answer is absolutely yes," he said. n Monday Sessions Bring Privacy and Security to Interactive's Center Stage by Patrick Nichols A A Virtual Conversation with Edward Snowden M I C H A E L B U C K N E R / G E T T Y I M A G E S

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