Under Pressure, Swiss Cybersecurity Forum Disinvites Snowden

After proclaiming a “massive coup” in getting the world's most famous whistleblower, American former National Security Agency Consultant Edward Snowden as a special guest, he was disinvited from the Swiss Cyber Security Days (SCSD) forum after criticism from business and political leaders.

His appearance for the online event March 10-11 at Forum Friborg was featured by the organizers who noted his celebrity for “how he risked everything to expose the US government’s mass surveillance system.”

Snowden had detailed his experiences in his 2019 autobiography Permanent Record and was to speak live from Russia, where he now lives, about the technologies and practices that non-governmental agencies are also using that have created “The most effective means of social control in the history of our species.”

In a statement to the media, it was explained that the organizing committee spoke out against the appearance of the American computer scientist after complaints, including that he might overshadow the event he was headlining.

Doris Fiala, National Councilor and President of the SCSD, admitted he was pulled from the event because of pressure and, while his scheduling drew attention and was a marketing success, the organizers relented to demands he not take part.

“Edward Snowden is a controversial figure. For some he is a hero, for others a criminal. Among the speakers, some felt a certain uneasiness in presenting themselves in this context, ”she said, reported ICT Journal.

In earlier releases touting his appearance, SCSD said that while he is either adored or reviled for revealing the extent of global surveillance by United States and United Kingdom intelligence agencies, that he was an important whistleblower who risked all.

"The whistleblower has forcefully demonstrated that, contrary to the initial promise of openness, the Internet has developed over the past decades to become a government surveillance network,” Nicolas Mayencourt, Director of the SCSD said then.

Mayencourt initially emphasized Snowden's critical role in exposing how the Internet had become a government spy tool that authorities wanted to keep secret even as they wanted to continue snooping on citizens.

“We’d like to hear Snowden’s take on the last decade’s developments, what he believes needs to be done to get back on track with the internet’s original purpose, and whether there’s any chance of that happening,” he added.

The event had praised him as “one of the most passionate and authoritative voices on data privacy and cybersecurity,” for warning about the threats of the digital age and government tools to invade people's lives.

Snowden had written in his book that, “Everything we do now lasts forever – not because we want to remember but because we are no longer permitted to forget,” what he said was the central theme. “Helping to create that system is my greatest regret,” he added.

In the summer of 2013 he left the intelligence establishment after revealing the US government was pursuing an unprecedented system of mass surveillance that had the potential to log every phone call, text message and email of every person on the planet.

Fearing arrest, he fled to Hong Kong, where he held secret meetings with journalists from The Guardian newspaper and filmmaker Laura Poitras, who won an Academy Award for her documentary about him, Citizenfour.

While The Guardian and The Washington Post won Pulitzer Prizes for public service journalism for reporting the NSA's actions, thanks to Snowden's leaks, he continues to be a target of the US government.

That's much like WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is fighting extradition from the UK for revealing US forces killed civilians and journalists in Iraq. He could face espionage charges and 175 years in jail for what he said was acting as a journalist.

Snowden has received the Right Livelihood Award, the German Whistleblower Prize, the Ridenhour Prize for Truth-Telling and the International League for Human Rights’ Carl von Ossietzky Medal.

He currently serves as the President of the Freedom of the Press Foundation’s Board of Directors and has been unrelenting in advocating privacy, civil liberties and cybersecurity that has only grown since he exposed its use by government.

But much good has been done, with Internet companies making encryption more of a common practice and tool – which some governments want to strip away – and he keeps raising the alarm about mass surveillance and data collection activities undertaken by both governments and corporations.

Among those on the all-virtual program, noted as the most important cybersecurity event in Switzerland, are Chief of the Armed Forces Thomas Süssli; the Commander of Cyber Defence in France, Didier Tisseyre; and groups including Interpol, the World Economic Forum, the Geneva Centre for Security Policy and the CyberPeace Institute.