( CNN ) -- Edward Snowden will join the ranks of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , Ali G and Marge Simpson when he delivers an `` alternative '' Christmas greeting to British television viewers Wednesday . The National Security Agency leaker will urge listeners to rally against mass government surveillance when he gives Channel 4 's annual Alternative Christmas Message , which follows Queen Elizabeth II 's traditional Christmas broadcast . `` Together we can find a better balance , end mass surveillance and remind the government that if it really wants to know how we feel , asking is always cheaper than spying , '' Snowden will say in the Wednesday address , according to a transcript that Channel 4 released a day in advance . Channel 4 's alternative address tradition , begun in 1993 , has included addresses from Ahmadinejad , then the Iranian president ; Ali G , a character played by comedian Sacha Baron Cohen ; an injured Afghan war veteran ; and a survivor of the September 11 , 2001 , terrorist attacks . In 2004 , the cartoon character Marge from `` The Simpsons '' gave the greeting . Snowden , a former NSA contractor , is living in asylum in Russia after leaking U.S. surveillance secrets to the news media earlier this year . He is wanted in the United States on espionage charges . In his address , Snowden will assert that the types of surveillance imagined in George Orwell 's `` 1984 '' are `` nothing compared to what we have available today . '' `` We have sensors in our pockets that track us everywhere we go . Think about what this means for the privacy of the average person , '' the transcript reads . `` A child born today will grow up with no conception of privacy at all . '' `` The conversation occurring today will determine the amount of trust we can place both in the technology that surrounds us and the government that regulates it , '' the transcript reads .
NSA selected Edward Snowden to deliver Christmas message on British TV . Channel 4 has broadcast alternative to queen 's traditional message since 1993 . Snowden : ` ` A child born today will grow up with no conception of privacy at all . ''