Snowden Tells EU Nations Risk Having Policy Dictated by Spies

The “suspicionless” mass surveillance of people by programs in the U.S. and other parts of the world must be stopped or nations run the risk of having their policy dictated by spies, former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden told European Union lawmakers.

“I know the good and the bad of these systems, and what they can and cannot do, and I am telling you that without getting out of my chair, I could have read the private communications of any member of this committee, as well as any ordinary citizen,” Snowden said in a 12-page testimony to the European Parliament’s justice committee today.