Edward SnowdenVerified account

@Snowden Neither should top-end drug traffickers in the more affluent US. And yet by the time the process trickles to the corner boys....

@AoDespair Tbf, mass surveillance wasn't pitched to catch "corner boys" or even "The Greek," but on thwarting OBLs. And there, never worked.

@AoDespair Commercial activities (drug sales) will always generate records that sporadic offensive operations (terrorism) will not.

@Snowden Differences sure. But it's remains that coms are the singular place where any conspiracy is vulnerable prior to crime. Gotta try.

@Snowden I acknowledge fears of a panopticon. I wish others would also acknowledge that coms are an elemental investigative avenue.

@AoDespair Nobody argues against comms surveillance. They argue about scope. Handsets v. networks. "Collect it all" v. individual warrants.

@Snowden We are not equating a court order with a Title III are we? Cuz metadata has never required a full warrant. Nor should it.

@AoDespair Many disagree. And NSA gets metadata and content in advance of warrant, by virtue of tech. Only use ("targeting") is caveated.