Edward Snowden: The NSA Whistleblower Who Exposed Global Surveillance

In June 2013, Edward Snowden leaked thousands of classified documents exposing the largest surveillance apparatus in history.

WHAT HE EXPOSED:

• PRISM Program: NSA collected data from tech giants (Google, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft)
• Phone Metadata Collection: Records of billions of domestic phone calls
• Global Surveillance: Spying on allied world leaders

THE LEAK: Snowden contacted journalists Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras in Hong Kong, providing thousands of classified documents. The first story was published June 5, 2013.

THE ESCAPE: After revealing his identity, Snowden's passport was revoked mid-flight and he became stranded in Moscow, where Russia granted him temporary asylum.

THE IMPACT:

• USA Freedom Act limited bulk phone data collection
• Courts declared some NSA programs illegal
• Tech companies increased encryption worldwide

Snowden remains in Russia, where he received citizenship in 2022.

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