Edward Snowden Jumps On Reddit AMA To Answer Questions Like It’s Nothing

Wait…what? That Edward Snowden? The real Edward Snowden? That’s the coherent reaction this journalist had upon clicking on the “rising submissions” tab of Reddit and seeing a popular thread titled “We are Edward Snowden, Laura Poitras and Glenn Greenwald from the Oscar-winning documentary CITIZENFOUR” on Reddit that is growing more popular and gaining comments by the minute. Edward Snowden’s name is in red, proof that it’s really Edward Snowden via a link to an Imgur photo of Snowden claiming he’s a little bit shy as he holds a sign like a hostage with Monday’s date of February 23, 2015.

To those who don’t troll Reddit on a daily basis looking for juicy news stories, AMA means “ask me anything,” and according to the response that Snowden is receiving on Reddit, folks are taking him up on that offer. First, however, Edward Snowden complained that Reddit had instituted a ban, and that the moderators were limiting him to replying only once per every 10 minutes. In an update, it was revealed that Snowden would also answer from the /u/SuddenlySnowden sub-Reddit, and Glenn Greenwald provided a helpful Twitter link to his own profile and status as well.

“Hello reddit! Laura Poitras and Glenn Greenwald here together in Los Angeles, joined by Edward Snowden from Moscow. A little bit of context: Laura is a filmmaker and journalist and the director of CITIZENFOUR, which last night won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. The film debuts on HBO tonight at 9PM ET| PT. Glenn is a journalist who co-founded The Intercept with Laura and fellow journalist Jeremy Scahill. Laura, Glenn, and Ed are also all on the board of directors at Freedom of the Press Foundation. We will do our best to answer as many of your questions as possible, but appreciate your understanding as we may not get to everyone.”

Indeed, after such a popular AMA Reddit for Snowden, the Citizen Four documentary should get plenty of attention. With Snowden releasing a statement after the documentary’s Oscar win, as reported by the Inquisitr, and Nicolas Cage set to star in Oliver Stone’s upcoming Snowden film, it seems the name Edward Snowden isn’t going to fade away anytime soon. Some of the most interesting responses thus far have questioned Snowden about regrets… or lack thereof.

“Mr. Snowden, if you had a chance to do things over again, would you do anything differently? If so, what?”

“I would have come forward sooner. I talked to Daniel Ellsberg about this at length, who has explained why more eloquently than I can. Had I come forward a little sooner, these programs would have been a little less entrenched, and those abusing them would have felt a little less familiar with and accustomed to the exercise of those powers. This is something we see in almost every sector of government, not just in the national security space, but it’s very important: Once you grant the government some new power or authority, it becomes exponentially more difficult to roll it back. Regardless of how little value a program or power has been shown to have (such as the Section 215 dragnet interception of call records in the United States, which the government’s own investigation found never stopped a single imminent terrorist attack despite a decade of operation), once it’s a sunk cost, once dollars and reputations have been invested in it, it’s hard to peel that back. Don’t let it happen in your country.”

[Image of Edward Snowden via Imgur]