Over the course of a seven-hour interview conducted with The Guardian in Moscow, Edward Snowden offered a glimpse into his life in Russia and said he’s game for being chained up in military prison if that’s what the future holds for him. The most interesting revelation Snowden disclosed, however, was about pervy NSA employees who he says routinely pass around naked picture of attractive people that they “stumble upon … during the course of their daily work.”
So what they do? They turn around in their chair and show their co-worker — and their co-workers says ‘hey, that’s great, send it to Bill down the way.’ And then Bill sends to George, George sends it to Tom, and sooner or later this person’s whole life has been seen by all of these other people.
“These are seen as sort of the fringe benefits of a surveillance position,” he said.
Now that he’s no longer in a position to look at naked photos all day, Snowden tells The Guardian he’s spending his time developing encryption tools to protect sensitive communications between journalists and sources, among others who’d prefer their messages remain private. Though he’d like to come back to the U.S., Snowden admitted the unlikelihood of that happening. He said he fears an unfair trail that might land him in a place like Guantánamo Bay. Though, he said, “if I end up in chains in Guantanamo, I can live with that.”
