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Wikipedia founder: 'Mass surveillance' incredibly dangerous

Jimmy Wales founder of Wikipedia and Nigel Inkster, former M16 assistant chief, debate communication surveillance.

The parliamentary security and intelligence committee gives its verdict on 12 March, on the fall-out from the revelations of the American whistleblower Edward Snowden.

He leaked details of the extent of surveillance by American intelligence agencies and their partners around the world, including GCHQ in the UK.

Nigel Inkster from the International Institute for Strategic Studies, is a former assistant chief, and director of operations for the Secret Intelligence Service, MI6.

"Do we want to live in a world where no conmmuncations can be controlled?" said Mr Inkster.

Jimmy Wales founder of Wikipedia, and board member of the Wikimedia Foundation, has launched legal action against the National Security Agency in the US for the way it monitors on-line activity in the United States.

β€œThis kind of bulk collection in a few years’ time is going to be absolutely completely useless,” said Mr Wales.

"We're moving to an era when all communications are end-to-end encrypted," he added.

Snowden has become hero and villain, celebrated by some for revealing the scope of the agencies' activity and many of their techniques, accused by others of compromising necessary security in a dangerous world, and helping terrorists and others to escape detection.

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