Edward Snowden is a former NSA contractor who leaked highly classified information from the agency in 2013. His leak revealed numerous global surveillance programs run by the United States and the United Kingdom. Snowden initially reported the alleged ethical violations of surveillance internally, but no one seemed interested in addressing the issues raised.
In May 2013, Snowden flew to Hong Kong, where he handed out disks containing thousands of NSA documents to reporters. He drew international attention after leaks appeared on Washington Post, The Guardianand other publications. Initially, people saw Snowden’s views as a betrayal, but recent polls show that many have come to appreciate the leak because of the legal reforms it inspired.
Edward obtained permanent residence in Russia at the end of 2020, where he lives with his wife and son.
In October 2020, Reuters confirmed that Russia had granted Edward permanent residency. “His (Russian) residence permit was about to expire and we asked him to extend it,” said Anatoly Kucherena, his Russian lawyer. Reuters.
“We filed the papers in April and got permanent residency rights,” he added. A possible return to the United States seemed possible since, in August 2020, President Trump flirted with the idea of pardoning Snowden. Then-Attorney General Bill Barr was “vehemently opposed” to a possible pardon.
“He was a traitor, and the information he provided to our adversaries greatly undermined the security of the American people,” Bill said. “He was selling it as a commercial trader. We can’t tolerate that.”
At the end of December 2020, Snowden announced the birth of his first child, who will have Russian citizenship. “The greatest gift is the love we share”, Edward wrote on Twitter along with a photo of himself., his wife and their newborn son. The couple hid the baby’s face with a blushing emoji.
Snowden’s wife, Lindsay Mills, joined Snowden in Moscow in 2014. Edward told her The Guardian that Mills was angry when he left his home in Hawaii in a hurry. Snowden did not tell her about her plans to denounce her, since he would have made her an accomplice to her. Mills suspected that Edward was having an affair.
Excerpts from Lindsay’s diary were published in Snowden’s memoir, Permanent Record. Mills wrote that the FBI suspected that she had killed Snowden. “She was looking at me like she killed Ed,” Lindsay described to an officer. “She was looking for his body around the house.”
Edward expected Mills to be mad at him, but she said she loved him and supported his decision to expose the NSA. Snowden and Mills were married in 2017 in a Russian court.
Snowden had planned to request asylum in Ecuador, but was detained in Moscow
After leaving Hong Kong, Snowden planned to travel to Ecuador, where he would seek asylum. He, however, had to go through Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport. At the airport he found out that the United States government had canceled his passport. Russian intelligence offered to help Snowden in exchange for the secrets he kept.
“I did not go corporate with Russian intelligence services, I did not and I will not,” Snowden said. npr. “I destroyed my access to the file. I had no material with me before I left Hong Kong, because I knew I would have to go through this complex multi-jurisdictional route.”
Twenty-seven nations denied Snowden asylum before he settled in Russia. Paranoia ruled his first years in Russia, as he feared that American agents would target him for retaliation. “I was very much a person that the most powerful government in the world wanted gone,” Edward said. The Guardian.
“They didn’t care if I went to prison. They didn’t care if I went to earth. They just wanted me to leave.” However, as time passed, she abandoned her disguises and began to move freely around the city.
Snowden wins by speaking to civil rights activists, students, both locally and abroad via video links. Edward loves to travel and although he is restricted to the borders of Russia, he has a lot to do with the vast nation. snowden said The Guardian that his perception of Russia has changed in the years that he has lived there. He said:
“One of the things that is lost in all the problematic policies of the Russian government is the fact that this is one of the most beautiful countries in the world. The people are friendly. The people are warm. And when I came here I didn’t understand any of this. He was terrified of this place because of course they were the great stronghold of the enemy, which is the way a CIA agent looks at Russia.”
Edward serves as president of the Freedom of the Press Foundation.
Edward Snowden’s Twitter page says who used to work for the government but is now a public servant.
Snowden joined the board of the Freedom of the Press Foundation in 2014 and became its president in 2016. The Foundation aims to “protect, defend and empower” public interest journalism in the 21st century.
Edward has criticized attempts by governments to violate people’s privacy. Social media companies continue to face pressure to give authorities special access to encrypted messages.
During the first ‘Global Encryption Day’, Snowden described giving the government such access as a ‘colossal mistake’. Tech companies argue that encrypting messages is crucial to maintaining privacy between people.
On the contrary, governments fear that encryption could hinder investigations of crimes such as terrorism. By CNBCSnowden opined that authorities should not have access to people’s information:
“It was meant to protect us, to protect us from the institutional giants that marched on the cities of our day, whether in modern times or in the old days. It was an insulating layer that allowed those of us who wield very little power in society, because we are individuals, to think, act and associate freely.”
Snowden remains in exile in Russia, but governments around the world continue to feel his impact. He seems to value his role as a public defender.
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn