**CAF Note: Edward Snowden is describing an economic warfare machinery. If the machine turned off, the slow burn would be difficult, if not impossible, to maintain, and we might have to return to a less centralized, more market economy. That would be healthy in the long run, but immediately shocking and traumatic for the millions of people – both rich and poor alike – currently living on corporate and government subsidy. Turn off the machine is the equivalent of pushing the red button**
By Edward Snowden
I would like to thank the European Parliament for the invitation to provide testimony for your inquiry into the Electronic Mass Surveillance of EU Citizens. The suspicionless surveillance programs of the NSA, GCHQ, and so many others that we learned about over the last year endanger a number of basic rights which, in aggregate, constitute the foundation of liberal societies.
