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Reuters
US whistleblower Edward Snowden urged Israelis to be wary of heavy government and private surveillance in a video-link speech on Tuesday and defended his mbadive leak of clbadified material in 2013.
Snowden pointed to Israel's high-tech capabilities, but warned that it would accept too much oversight on the part of the government and too easily accept the argument that it was necessary for reasons safety posed serious risks.
"If we can afford to be terrorized by someone who only has the knife, reorganize our societies for the comfort of the state power (…) we have ceased to be citizens and we started being subjects, "said Snowden, who spoke from an unknown location in Moscow.
Aged 35, he also spoke about the NSO group, a company based in Israel known for its spyware Pegasus.
Independent experts felt that the software was probably used in a number of countries with poor human rights records.
"The idea is that such companies are appearing more and more around the world," Snowden said.
In one case, international experts investigating the disappearance of 43 students in Mexico in 2014 were targeted by spyware after its sale to the government, experts said.
NSO Group claims that its product is intended to be used solely to investigate and prevent crime and terrorism.
He says he's investigating allegations of misuse.
Snowden, a former contractor to the US National Security Agency, leaked thousands of clbadified documents to the press in 2013, revealing the scope of private data monitoring capabilities set up after the September 11 attacks.
He has been living in exile ever since.
The United States accused him of spying and stealing state secrets, but Snowden said he still loved his country and hoped to return home.
But he added that risks must be taken because "this world will never be as good as we conceive it".
Snowden has addressed a guest audience in Tel Aviv at an event organized by the Israeli public relations agency OH! Orenstein Hoshen.
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