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Special Video Interview: National Lawyer’s Guild’s Heidi Boghosian on Her New Book, “Spying on Democracy”

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Heidi Boghosian is Executive Director of the National Lawyer’s Guild, and joins us to talk about her new book:  Spying on Democracy: Government Surveillance, Corporate Power, and Public Resistance.Click here for GoDaddy deal that benefits the PBC Podcast!

Boghosian’s book is a detailed review of many of the recent and current surveillance programs targeting Americans. This video interview was produced by the Marin Community Media Center in cooperation with City Lights Books, and you can watch it here.

We open with a reference to Mark Klein, the former A T & T technician who first revealed the dragnet interception of phone and email traffic at A T & T’s Folsom Street switch in San Francisco, then shift the Ed Snowden, who enabled major leaks of NSA programs this summer.

Boghosian says Snowden’s release of documents gives plaintiffs legal standing to sue over unconstitutional surveillance.  We hear a clip from NSA whistleblower Russell Tice, and Boghosian says she is not surprised to learn that elected leaders are being wiretapped, and makes the point that widespread government spying has a chilling effect on citizens and leaders alike.

We talk about corporate collection of our personal data by Google, Facebook and others, and how Disney theme parks collect information on our children.  We also discuss “thought crime” risks, including so-called eco-terror offenders who are subject to greater penalties than otherwise similar offenders.  We take questions from members of the studio audience, along with emails and tweets.