TORONTO, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- Fugitive Edward Snowden, speaking via the Internet to a high school conference in Canada, urged caution over proposed anti-terrorism laws.
"We saw on Friday the prime minister of Canada proposed a new law," Snowden, speaking from Russia, told the audience of about 1,000 high school students gathered at Upper Canada College, a private K-12 school in Toronto. He urged them to "be very careful" when governments attempt to set up new powers.
"Once we let these powers get rolling, it's very difficult to stop that pull through," Snowden said. The new legislation would give the Canadian Security Intelligence Service power to disrupt suspected terrorists' bank accounts and travel plans to prevent a terrorist attack.
He was joined by journalist Glenn Greenwald in a 90-minute address, which included responses to questions from the Toronto audience.
"The chances you will die in a terrorist attack is infinitesimal," Greenwald said, adding the Canadian government was engaged in fear-mongering, calling the practice "a very dangerous yet very effective form of getting people to submit to things that they wouldn't submit to."
Snowden, 31, remains a polarizing figure after releasing thousands of classified U.S. National Security Agency documents in 2013, then obtaining a visa to reside in Russia.
