The former intelligence contractor, who copied and leaked classified NSA documents in 2013, makes his acting debut in the film that dramatizes his life, appearing in the final scene.
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The announcement was made during a conference at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Lab. Snowden, who has been living in Russian Federation since he fled the United States in the summer of 2013 before releasing a huge cache of top secret documents he stole while working as a contractor for the National Security Agency, joined in through a video connection.
Edward Snowden has designed an iPhone case that can detect data snooping.
In this manner, the device can provide users constant check-ins on whether their smartphone’s radio is transmitting information.
In the paper Huang and Snowden point out that while most devices can be put on airplane mode and have controls to switch off wi-fi and bluetooth these are just “soft switches” that have no essential correlation with the hardware state. It will keep a constant check on the handset’s internal antennas to detect incoming and outgoing signals from the cellular, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or Global Positioning System chips.
If in case the device detects any radio information being transmitted it will warn the user with an audible alarm.
The 33-year-old computer expert, who gained notoriety when he leaked classified documents detailing the US government’s domestic surveillance programs, called in via Google Hangouts to answer questions about the Oliver Stone-directed film, Snowden.
“It isn’t even as simple as a two-hour film”, he said. The case could even be set to shut off an iPhone automatically if it detects unwanted transmissions.
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“We’re promised privacy in the Constitution, and if the government was going to change those rules, they have to be open about it”, Gordon-Levitt said. However, there is a clear chance of this becoming an actual device one day when compared to other concepts.
