John Oliver Talks “Dick Pics” And The Patriot Act With Edward Snowden

Via NBC News:

Snowden spoke to the “Last Week Tonight” host in Moscow, where he has been for more than a year since being charged with espionage after leaking classified information regarding the NSA’s extensive surveillance programs. Oliver asked Snowden to explain the implications of NSA surveillance on racy personal photos. “The good news is there’s no program named ‘the dick pic program’,” Snowden said. “The bad news is they’re still collecting everybody’s information — including your dick pics.” He added: “When you send your junk through Gmail, for example, that is stored on Google’s servers. Google moves that data from data center to data center invisibly to you. Without your knowledge, your data could be moved outside the borders of the United States temporarily. When your junk was passed by Gmail … the NSA caught a copy of that.” The North Carolina-born Snowden also explained his decision to reveal classified information, saying he wanted to make Americans aware that government agencies were snooping on U.S. citizens.

HBO has posted the full episode. The Patriot Act is due for renewal in a couple of months.