Edward Joseph Snowden is an American computer professional, former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) employee, and former contractor for the United States government who copied and leaked classified information from the National Security Agency (NSA) in 2013 without authorization. His disclosures revealed numerous global surveillance programs, many run by the NSA and the Five Eyes Intelligence Alliance with the cooperation of telecommunication companies and European governments.

Snowden has said that in the 2008 presidential election, he voted for a third-party candidate. He has stated that he had been planning to comment on NSA surveillance programs at the time, but he decided to wait because he "believed in Obama's promises." He was later disappointed with President Barack Obama, saying that his policies were a continuation of those espoused by George W. Bush.

Blowing the Whistle

During his years of IT work, Snowden had noticed the far reach of the NSA's everyday surveillance. While working for Booz Allen, Snowden began copying top-secret NSA documents, building a dossier on practices that he found invasive and disturbing. The documents contained vast information on the NSA's domestic surveillance practices.
After he had compiled a large store of documents, Snowden told his NSA supervisor that he needed a leave of absence for medical reasons, stating he had been diagnosed with epilepsy. On May 20, 2013, Snowden took a flight to Hong Kong, China, where he remained as he orchestrated a clandestine meeting with journalists from the U.K. publication The Guardian as well as filmmaker Laura Poitras. On June 5, The Guardian released secret documents obtained from Snowden. In these documents, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court implemented an order that required Verizon to release information to the NSA on an "ongoing, daily basis" culled from its American customers' phone activities.


Snowden approached Greenwald after the Post declined to guarantee publication within 72 hours of all 41 PowerPoint slides that Snowden had leaked exposing the PRISM electronic data mining program, and to publish online an encrypted code allowing Snowden to later prove that he was the source.

Snowden communicated using encrypted email, and going by the codename "Verax". He asked not to be quoted at length for fear of identification by stylometry.
According to Gellman, prior to their first meeting in person, Snowden wrote,
"I understand that I will be made to suffer for my actions, and that the return of this information to the public marks my end."
Snowden also told Gellman that until the articles were published, the journalists working with him would also be at mortal risk from the United States Intelligence Community "if they think you are the single point of failure that could stop this disclosure and make them the sole owner of this information."
In May 2013, Snowden was permitted temporary leave from his position at the NSA in Hawaii, on the pretext of receiving treatment for his epilepsy. In mid-May, Snowden gave an electronic interview to Poitras and Jacob Appelbaum which was published weeks later by Der Spiegel.
After disclosing the copied documents, Snowden promised that nothing would stop subsequent disclosures. In June 2013, he said, "All I can say right now is the US government is not going to be able to cover this up by jailing or murdering me. Truth is coming, and it cannot be stopped."

Motivations

Snowden's identity was made public by The Guardian at his request on June 9, 2013. He explained: "I have no intention of hiding who I am because I know I have done nothing wrong." He added that by revealing his identity he hoped to protect his colleagues from being subjected to a hunt to determine who had been responsible for the leaks. According to Poitras, who filmed the interview with Snowden in Hong Kong, he had initially not wanted to be seen on camera, because "he didn't want the story to be about him." Poitras says she convinced him it was necessary to have him give an account of the leaked documents' significance on film: "Not just because I knew that the mainstream media interpretation would be predictable and narrow, but because to have somebody who understands how this technology works, who is willing to risk their life to expose it to the public, and that we could hear that articulated, would reach people in ways that the documents themselves wouldn't." Snowden explained his actions saying:

"I don't want to live in a society that does these sort of things [surveillance on its citizens] ... I do not want to live in a world where everything I do and say is recorded ... My sole motive is to inform the public as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them."
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Source: http://leumasgist..com.ng/2017/04/edward-joseph-snowden-only-guy-that.html

cc: Lalasticlala, Mynd44

interesting

old news. There's a movie on it though. Correction: He didnt "hack" into it, he was an NSA employee. He had access to the data he published. "Hack into" indeed.

I hold Edward J. Snowden in high esteem everyday, unlike Donald J. Trump and friends.
Edward Joseph Snowden, Julian Assange, ... They're true heroes.

asalimpo:
old news. There's a movie on it though. Correction: He didnt "hack" into it, he was an NSA employee. He had access to the data he published. "Hack into" indeed.

Citizen Four

asalimpo:
old news. There's a movie on it though. Correction: He didnt "hack" into it, he was an NSA employee. He had access to the data he published. "Hack into" indeed.

yeah old news bt his record stil new

asalimpo:
old news. There's a movie on it though. Correction: He didnt "hack" into it, he was an NSA employee. He had access to the data he published. "Hack into" indeed.

This was my knowledge on the matter, this was why I did not talk earlier - waiting for someone else to confirm my inner thoughts.

Craigston:
I hold Edward J. Snowden in high esteem everyday, unlike Donald J. Trump and friends.
Edward Joseph Snowden, Julian Assange, ... They're true heroes.

assange was in support of trump last election.

zzzzy:
assange was in support of trump last election.

Yea, he's very eccentric. He supports Putin too. But his service against corruption is huge, more than the few corrupt people he supports.

Craigston:

Yea, he's very eccentric. He supports Putin too. But his service against corruption is huge, more than the few corrupt people he supports.

i tink say na black alone being get corruption

talk2hb1:

Citizen Four

and snowden (2016).