Edward Snowden's Lawyer Wonders Whether Mass Surveillance Could Harm Democracy

If you know you’re being watched, you behave differently, right? You’re more performative or cautious, perhaps. What does that do, then, to the future of democracy if we know that mass surveillance is inevitable?

Edward Snowden’s lawyer, Ben Wizner, is wondering the same thing. Wizner, who works for the ACLU, is the primary player in “A Very Different World,” the fourth installment in Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s five-part documentary series that explores whether today’s technology helps or hurts democracy. The Huffington Post has been premiering the series all week, including a short film about social media’s impact on election rigging in Pakistan and an in-depth look at surveillance’s (in)ability to prevent terrorism.

Inspired by his title role in the new movie “Snowden,” Gordon-Levitt made the series with the ACLU. Watch the latest short above, and check out our Facebook Live interview with Gordon-Levitt below. We’ll premiere the final chapter on Friday at 12 p.m. ET.