Edward Snowden was one of the Central Intelligence Agency agent and National Security Agency contractor who leaked almost two thousand top secret documents to the renowned news agencies namely ‘The Washington Post’ and ‘The Guardian’. The documents were mainly about NSA mass surveillance programs like Tempora, PRISM and XKeyscore. Some call Snowden a hero while others call him traitor or whistleblower. However, Snowden states that he only aimed to let Americans know what fair and unfair practices were adopted by the government behind them.
During 2012, Edward Snowden was working for NSA as a system administrator/ infrastructural analyst, meaning that he had to break telephone and internet traffic around the globe. He was in touch with confidential data of the agency. Later in May 2013, Snowden went to Hong Kong, he had four different laptops along with him. From there he contacted journalists Glenn Greenwald, Ewen MacAskill and Laura Poitras from ‘The Guardian’ through emails which could not be encrypted easily and told them that he has some sensitive data that he would like to share. In June these journalists/documentary makers went from New York to Hong Kong and met Snowden in person. He disclosed his appearance and also shot a documentary. The same month, the NSA secrets got published in news papers like The Guardian and The Washington Post capturing everyone’s attention. Thousands of angry individuals and different governments raged against the American Congress. The information he leaked showed breach of rights of countries like Germany, Brazil, France, China, Spain, Mexico and UK.
Afterwards, Edward went to Moscow and when the US government asked Russia to send him back, it denied their request. Later on, Snowden applied for asylum in various countries and was given temporary asylum in Russia as his life was in danger. Although The Washington Post criticized Snowden’s acts after publishing the story but The Guardian did not do the same thing. It further disclosed the whistleblower’s documentary and important information for which they were given life threatening calls. Even their computer equipment was destroyed too. He was charged with theft of government assets, communicating secret information with the unauthorized personnel. These were the rules of Espionage Act 1917 which were violated. In this entire event, the former NSA agent’s family supported him on every step.
During August 2013, Germany awarded Edward Snowden with ‘Whistleblower Prize’ because he leaked information through which Germany got to know how American government was harming them. German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s personal phone was being tapped and nobody knew anything about it. This was a serious breach of trust. However, no serious action was taken by the German Government and it continues to maintain strong relations with the US government. Mainly because of the economical benefits both the countries acquire from each other. German opposition, public and some officials, on the other hand, greatly condemn this act and demand the government to give asylum to Edward. The German government has denied this request saying that he is not a ‘political refugee’ .
Works Cited
DW. 28 September 2013. News Article. 13 December 2013.
Gidda, Mirren. The Guardian. 26 July 2013. News Article. 13 December 2013.
Overdorf, Jason. Global Post. 5 Novermber 2013. News Article. 13 Dcember 2013.
