Luke Harding

Terrorism is just an excuse.

You ever hear about the Nuremberg trials, Trev? They weren't that long ago. Yeah, well, the big shots were the first trial, but then the next trial were just the judges, and lawyers, and policemen, and guards, and ordinary people just doing their jobs, following orders. That's where we got the Nuremberg principles, which then the UN made into international law, just in case ordinary jobs become criminal again.

So, this is data collection for the month of March worldwide, emails and Skype calls. So France, 70 million. Germany, 500 million. Brazil, two billion. Inside the U.S., 3.1 billion emails and calls. That's not including any of the telecom company data.

I think the greatest freedom that I have gained, the fact that I don't have to worry about what happens tomorrow, Because I'm happy with what I've done Today.

And ultimately, the truth sinks in that no matter what justification you're selling yourself, this is not about terrorism. Terrorism is the excuse. This is about economic and social control. And the only thing you're really protecting is the supremacy of your government.

You didn't tell me we were running a dragnet on the whole world, Corbin.

No matter who you are, every day of your life, you're sitting in a database just ready to be looked at.

And it's just gonna get worse for the next generation, as they extend the capabilities of this sort of architecture of oppression.

Look, Mr. MacAskill, uh, this is not about money or anything for me. There's no hidden agenda. I just wanted to get this data to established journalists like yourselves, so that you can present it to the world, and the people can decide either I'm wrong or there's something going on inside the government that's really wrong.