In a previous article written about Edward Snowden, I posed the question: who is he, this unusual person: human rights activist or defector who worked for foreign intelligence agencies. In the US, there is a special term "whistleblower" (whistleblower), which characterizes this kind of activity. The whistleblower reveals to the public violations of rights and laws committed in closed organizations. According to American lawyer David Colapinto of the US National Whistleblower Center, Snowden's statements, in particular that the National Security Agency systematically lied to the US Congress, are a "classic disclosure."
On October 1, Edward wrote a statement to the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee of the European Parliament. It said: “If we want to continue to have such discussions related to mass surveillance of citizens in the future, we must not rely on individual victims. It is necessary to create an opportunity for people of conscience to inform not only government agents, but also independent members of the public.”
On October 9, Edward met with former members of the American intelligence services, who presented him with the Sam Adams Society Award for Honesty and Integrity in Intelligence. During the meeting, Snowden said that in the last months of his work, he understood that he was doing something that violated the rights of many people, but it was completely pointless to report this and complain to higher authorities, because then all this information would have remained in the depths of the NSA and would not become famous.
In October, the Snowden case continued to develop and draw in new countries. The scandal with Brazil and NSA surveillance of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff was only the first sign in a series of scandals. It quickly became known that American intelligence services were monitoring and eavesdropping on 35 major political figures in different countries. During the last summit of the European Union, which ended on 25 October, the theme spy scandal associated with the revelations of Snowden, became central and prompted Europe to seriously engage in a program of unified information security. As the German magazine Der Spiegel notes, “The White House does not answer the questions of Europeans, but tries to evade them and hide the truth. Either Obama is lying and is actually interested in such surveillance, or he does not control his intelligence agencies and is trying to minimize the damage to his image by masking the problem.
In general, the main line of the presidential administration was to prove that wiretapping was and is being carried out solely for the purpose of combating terrorism. However, this was not convincingly done, especially after it became clear that during recent years(from October 2009 to July 2013) American intelligence agencies tapped the mobile phone of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Information about this came as a shock, both for the chancellor himself and for the general German public. Angela Merkel called Obama about this, but received no clear explanation. Snowden is now interested in the German federal prosecutor's office and the Bundestag, who would like to question him as a witness.
For connoisseurs of the practice of American intelligence services, information about wiretapping German Chancellor did not become a revelation. According to German expert Erich Schmidt-Enbom, European leaders “always knew that they were under the hood of the Americans, but before Snowden’s revelations, it was not customary to talk about it aloud ... Now they are being pressured public opinion, hush up the question will not work.
Indeed, Snowden's revelations affected, in addition to Germany, also France, Italy and Spain, and outside of Europe - Mexico. Scandals erupted one after another. The intelligence agencies of four countries - Great Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand - cooperated with the Americans in their secret programs, but even there the public learned with indignation about large-scale surveillance programs for citizens. Thus, the Foundation for the Protection of Journalistic Sources was formed by the British law firm Derek Rothera and Company, which created the Edward Snowden Support Site http://freesnowden.is/ defector and traitor: “I'm sure he initiated a useful discussion. I am sure that the government was abusing the police power it had and that Snowden is the real whistleblower." Thousands of demonstrations of protest against the policy of the authorities in support of
Snowden are also taking place in Washington itself.
Amid growing protests, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney was forced to say that by the end of the year, the administration intends to reconsider the amount of data collection by American intelligence agencies. However, he affirmed: "The President firmly believes that we should collect this information, not because we can, but because it is necessary."
Despite these assurances, the question of confidence in the American presidential administration on the part of the world community has arisen today with all its urgency, and it is obvious that so far we can only talk about the growth of problems, which, in my opinion, will inevitably lead to a decrease in the international authority of the United States in the foreseeable future. .
On October 31, Snowden met with German Bundestag member Hans-Christian Ströbele and spoke with him for three hours. Edward did not disclose to the deputy the details of all the information known to him, but expressed a desire to be a witness at the hearings in the Bundestag. The question is where Snowden's meeting with the German deputies could take place. Thomas Opperman, chairman of the Bundestag commission to oversee the activities of intelligence agencies, says that all members of the commission are ready to meet with Snowden on Russian territory if this does not create "legal difficulties" for the former National Security Agency employee.
Meanwhile, on November 1, Edward began working for a major Russian site, but which one is not reported for security reasons. This was told by his lawyer Anatoly Kucherena. If we are talking about the largest social network in Runet, VKontakte, as some suggest, there Snowden will most likely develop a secure messenger protocol, and not technical support. There is also an assumption that we are not talking about a website at all, but about a data center or hosting provider - then it could be Selectel, whose clients say "VKontakte".
In the summer of 2013, Edward Snowden, a former employee of the National Security Agency of America, announced that people in all corners of the world were being monitored by the United States. By such an act, he wanted to convey that control over any citizen is possible only when it is approved by the court. Eventually former employee The CIA asked Russia to grant him political asylum. Snowden is still in Russia.
How Edward Snowden became an employee of the National Security Agency
Edward Joseph Snowden is from North Carolina. He always dreamed of serving in the American Armed Forces. However, fate decreed otherwise. During military exercises, in 2004, Edward broke both legs, as a result of which further service was out of the question.Being a good programmer, Edward goes to work for the National Security Agency. In the US, this service is considered the most secret and dominant. The NSA has established electronic intelligence for countries around the world. The agents of the national security service are given extensive opportunities, they are able to arrange surveillance of any user of the Internet or mobile communications.
Edward Snowden spied on certain people who were “attached” to him, hiding behind the position technical worker. For politicians, big businessmen, public citizens, for all the "big shots" modern society there is a dossier. If the authorities need to put pressure on any influential person, all data is sent to the US Department of State.
Why did Edward Snowden spread information about the activities of the NSA
The question is brewing, what was the reason that Edward Snowden decided to disseminate information about the activities of the National Security Agency and began to live in Russia. After all, a successful secret service agent is a very exciting, highly paid and prestigious occupation.
To date, there are three versions. The first is Snowden's awakened conscience. He was unable to come to terms with the illegal collection of data on people.
The second version is a possible competition. The structure of American intelligence includes several dozen departments that compete with each other. It is possible that the “leakage” of information happened with the tacit consent of the Central intelligence agency where Snowden worked for some time.
AND latest version– Edward Snowden is a spy recruited by the services of the Russian Federation.
In any case, after the "drain" of classified information relating to the security of America, the agent causes anger and indignation from the US government. Russia, in turn, was a country that could contain the political onslaught of America.
Where is Edward Snowden now?
On the this moment Edward Snowden, who once exposed US intelligence, lives in Russia. This opportunity is provided to him until 2020.
Upon arrival in Russia, Edward got a job in a metropolitan company as a system administrator. In 2018, his main income is interviews and lectures on the Internet.
The ex-spy leads a secretive life. When the hype around his person subsided a little, Edward sometimes began to get out into the world, visiting restaurants, exhibitions, concerts. He is always on guard for personal safety.
Edward is satisfied with life in Russia, and not so long ago his beloved Lindsay Mills came to him. Despite this, the former agent tried to move to France and even Brazil. However, when he received a residence permit in the Russian Federation until 2020, Snowden no longer made such attempts.
Edward Snowden's life in Russia
In the summer of 2018, it will be five years since Snowden moved to live in Russia. Maria Zakharova, who is a representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, mentioned that an American refugee can receive Russian citizenship.Edward is studying the Russian language. He already has a good pronunciation and is quite rich lexicon. Snowden travels to different cities of the Russian Federation, in particular, he visited Nizhny Novgorod and St. Petersburg. The former NSA agent runs a business and recently released an android app.
Edward Snowden is not going to return to America. In which Russian city Snowden is today is not known for certain. This information is kept secret.
Edward Snowden
Edward Joseph Snowden. Born June 21, 1983 in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, USA. American technician and special agent, former employee of the CIA and the National Security Agency (NSA) of the United States. Revealed secret information of the NSA regarding the total surveillance of American intelligence agencies around the world.
Father - Lonnie Snowden, served in the US Coast Guard until 2009, lives in Pennsylvania.
Mother - Elizabeth Snowden, a lawyer, works in a federal court in Baltimore.
Parents are divorced. Father remarried to Karen Haberbosch.
Has an older sister, Jessica Snowden, who works at the Federal Judicial Center in Washington, DC.
He spent his childhood in Elizabeth City, lived in Maryland (near the NSA headquarters in Fort Meade).
In 1999, he moved with his family to Ellicot City, Maryland.
He studied computer science at Anne Arundel Community College in Maryland, but did not immediately get a diploma: he missed several months of study due to illness, but, as soon as he returned, he managed to pass the General Educational Development tests at a local community college.
From May 7 to September 28, 2004 he served in the US Armed Forces - he was a reservist in the Special Operations Forces. According to him, he joined the army, wanting to take part in the Iraq War because he "felt that, as a human being, he had an obligation to help people free themselves from oppression." He left the service after breaking both legs during the exercises, without completing the course of military training.
He then worked for the NSA, beginning his career guarding a secret facility at the University of Maryland (presumably CASL). He received a Top Secret / Sensitive Compartmented Information level clearance - according to experts, Snowden had access not only to top secret, but also to "Special Intelligence" information containing technical details of the intelligence operations of the United States and its allies.
While working as a system administrator at an NSA base in Hawaii, Snowden convinced 20 to 25 colleagues to give him their usernames and passwords, explaining that he needed it for his job.
After the NSA, he worked in the information security department of the CIA, in particular, from March 2007 to February 2009, he worked under the diplomatic cover of the US Permanent Mission to the UN (Geneva). His work was related to the security of computer networks.
In 2009, Edward quit his job and started working for consulting companies working with the NSA. First at Dell. And later - in the military contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, however, he did not work there for long - less than 3 months until June 2013.
In the process of working for the American intelligence services, Snowden became increasingly disillusioned with their activities. So, according to him, in 2007 he witnessed how the CIA recruited a Swiss bank employee. At first, they deliberately got him drunk and persuaded him to drive and drive home. When he was arrested for drunk driving, CIA agents offered to help him, which allowed him to be recruited to gain access to bank secrets.
“A lot of what I saw in Geneva really took away my illusions about how my government operates and what it brings to the world. I realized that I'm part of something that does a lot more harm than good.", Snowden said. According to him, then for the first time he thought about divulging official secrets, but did not do this for two reasons. Firstly, “Most CIA secrets are about people, not about machines and systems; and I wouldn't feel comfortable divulging something that could endanger someone.".
In one of his interviews, Snowden claimed that he did not vote for the 2008 presidential election, although he believed him campaign promises. During Ron Paul's 2012 presidential campaign, Snowden twice donated $250 to her.
According to him, he hoped for change after the election of Barack Obama. But he soon became convinced that with the advent of Obama, the situation only worsened.
Secret data of Edward Snowden
In January 2013, Snowden finally made the decision to act. He wrote an email to Laura Poitras, an American journalist, film director and film producer, and co-founder of the Freedom of the Press Foundation. At the same time, Snowden did not disclose his name, but said that he had important classified information.
Soon he contacted Glenn Greenwald, a journalist for the English newspaper The Guardian, and Barton Gellman, a publicist who wrote articles for the Washington Post.
Communication took place through encrypted e-mail messages. Snowden wrote that over time his identity would be revealed - by his own will or against it - but until then he asked not to make long quotes from his messages for fear of being identified through semantic analysis. As he suggested, the intelligence services "will almost certainly kill you if they think you are the key person through which to stop the disclosure of this information."
In the second half of May 2013, Snowden began passing key information about the PRISM program to Greenwald and Gellman, but asked not to disclose it immediately.
According to NSA chief Keith Alexander, Snowden handed over 200,000 secret documents to journalists. The status of the disclosed documents turned out to be significantly higher than that of the materials published earlier on WikiLeaks and related to the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Revealed the fact of comprehensive surveillance in 60 countries of more than a billion people by the governments of 35 countries.
Snowden disclosed information about the PRISM program, which includes mass surveillance of the negotiations of the Americans and foreign citizens via telephone and the Internet. According to him, PRISM allows the Agency to view e-mail, listen to voice and video chats, view photos, videos, track files being sent, learn other details from social networks. The PRISM program includes Microsoft (Hotmail), Google (Gmail), Yahoo!, Facebook, YouTube, Skype, AOL, Apple, and Paltalk.
Snowden made public secret FISC court ruling dated April 25, 2013. Under this regulation, Verizon, one of the largest US cellular operators, is required to transmit to the NSA "metadata" on a daily basis about all calls made within the United States, or between the United States and another country, including phone numbers calling and receiving subscribers, phone IMEI, call time and duration, call location. However, the audio recording of the conversation itself should not be transmitted.
The decree also prohibited all public and private officials involved in the collection of such information from disclosing the very existence of such a decree until 2038. In this regard, journalists subsequently suggested that similar resolutions could have been sent to others. mobile operators USA.
Snowden said that since 2009, US intelligence agencies have illegally penetrated the computer networks of the East Asian fiber-optic network Pacnet, as well as Chinese mobile operators, to gain access to millions of SMS. According to the Hong Kong newspaper Sunday Morning Post, he handed over documents confirming this to the editor.
Snowden divulged information about the British tracking program Tempora, and also said that he does not use the iPhone because of the integrated software that allows you to track the user. Instead of modern smartphones, Snowden prefers a regular mobile phone.
On June 17, The Guardian newspaper, citing Snowden's data, reported that British intelligence services monitored computers and intercepted phone calls foreign politicians and officials who participated in the G20 summit in London in 2009. The secret work was carried out by the UK Government Communications Center and the US National Security Agency. In addition, British intelligence agencies intercepted telephone conversations of the President of Russia during the summit.
Snowden emphasized that he did not disclose all the information known to him: “I carefully studied each document to make sure that its disclosure would serve the legitimate interests of the public ... There are many different documents, the disclosure of which would have great consequences, but I do not pass them on, because my goal is openness, not hurting people.”
This was later confirmed by the director of the NSA, General Keith Alexander, speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations in Baltimore. He stated that Snowden had given reporters between 50,000 and 200,000 secret documents that would continue to "come out." But, unlike Snowden, Keith believes that the leaks are deliberately organized in such a way as to cause maximum damage to the NSA and US national interests.
Snowden gained access to electronic intelligence data not only from the United States, but also from Great Britain, and up to 58,000 British secret documents may be at his disposal.
According to a classified Pentagon report, the contents of which became known in January 2014, Snowden stole 1.7 million secret files, most of the documents concern "the vital operations of the US Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force." A few days later, the heads of the intelligence committees of the US House of Representatives and the Senate of the US Congress, Michael Rogers and Dianne Feinstein, suggested that Snowden did not have the technical capabilities to open and steal hundreds of thousands of secret documents on his own and that such large-scale actions, as well as unhindered movement around the world after fleeing from the United States could be carried out with the help of Russian intelligence. The investigation carried out Federal Bureau US investigations found no evidence that Snowden was assisted by foreign intelligence agencies.
Snowden himself denied allegations that foreign countries were involved in the information leak organized by him.
Escape of Edward Snowden
On May 20, 2013, Snowden said goodbye to his girlfriend for a few weeks and took a leave of absence from the NSA under the pretense of treating his epilepsy. He flew to Hong Kong, where he took a hotel room and continued email correspondence with journalists. According to , WikiLeaks sent Sarah Harrison to Hong Kong and conducted a special operation to help Snowden get to Hong Kong in one piece.
On June 6, 2013, an alarmed Snowden told Gellman: "The police visited my home in Hawaii this morning." On the same day, with his permission, The Washington Post and The Guardian published exposés of the PRISM program.
On June 9, 2013, Snowden made the decision to reveal his identity. He invited journalists to Hong Kong for interviews, including Greenwald and Poitras. This video interview and his real name were released by The Guardian at his own request. At the same time, he stated: "I have no intention of hiding who I am, because I know that I did nothing wrong."
After revealing his identity, Snowden continued to send classified materials to journalists. Some former NSA and CIA officials have raised concerns that Snowden might be leaking classified information to China. Snowden dismissed these suggestions, saying that in that case he would have been in the palace in Beijing long ago.
On June 10, 2013, around noon, Snowden left The Mira Hotel in Hong Kong, where he was hiding from the US authorities. He planned to find political asylum in Iceland, or in another country that supports freedom of speech.
On June 11, 2013, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced Russia's readiness to consider Snowden's application for political asylum, if any. Later, this position of the Russian authorities was confirmed by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
On June 21, 2013, on the day of Edward's 30th birthday, he was charged in the United States with embezzlement of state property and disclosure of state secrets.
On June 22, 2013, it became known that the US State Department asked the Hong Kong authorities to detain Snowden and extradite him to the United States. The Hong Kong authorities refused to extradite Snowden, citing incorrect wording in the request. The White House spokesman noted that US authorities do not believe that the decision to allow Snowden to fly on instead of handing him over to them was made by Hong Kong leaders, not Beijing.
Snowden wanted to seek asylum in Hong Kong, which was supported by the local and Chinese public, but Snowden's Hong Kong lawyer said that the Chinese "intermediary" visited Snowden and let him know that he would not be welcome in China. At the same time, Chinese officials denied any involvement in the case.
As the President of the Russian Federation acknowledged on September 4, 2013, during his stay in Hong Kong, Snowden first met with Russian diplomatic representatives and probed the possibility of moving to Russia.
On July 1, 2013, at a press conference in Moscow, Vladimir Putin announced that Snowden would be able to stay in Russia, but “there is one condition: he must stop his work aimed at harming our American partners, no matter how strange it sounds from my mouth." The next morning, Dmitry Peskov said that the conditions put forward by Putin did not suit Snowden.
On July 2, 2013, the governments of France, Spain, Italy and Portugal, as well as a number of others European states banned the plane of Bolivian President Evo Morales from entering the airspace of their countries after taking off from Moscow, in connection with which the plane was forced to land in Vienna. The ban was due to fears that Snowden was on board the liner. During the inspection of the plane in Vienna by the Austrian security service, it turned out that Snowden was not there.
July 4, 2013 CEO TV channel RBC-TV A. Lyubimov invited Snowden to work as a TV presenter of the show “Snowden. Investigation Technologies” - this work can be performed remotely, including in the transit zone of the airport.
On July 7, 2013, it became known that, having sent out applications for political asylum to more than 20 states, Snowden received three positive responses - from Bolivia, Venezuela and Nicaragua.
Edward Snowden in Russia
On June 23, 2013, Snowden, accompanied by WikiLeaks spokeswoman Sarah Harrison, arrived at Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow. He did not have a Russian visa, and he could only legally be in the airport transit area - as expected, a few hours before the connecting flight.
According to the media, citing unnamed sources at Sheremetyevo and the passengers of the plane, after landing, the plane was driven to the far parking lot of the airport, Snowden and Harrison were taken out of the plane and put into a car with diplomatic plates that drove up close to the gangway, which then disappeared in an unknown direction, and none of the journalists saw Snowden until his July 12 meeting with human rights activists.
On July 12, 2013, Snowden held a meeting in the Sheremetyevo transit zone, where representatives of the international human rights organizations Amnesty International, Transparency International, Human Rights Watch, the Polish human rights organization Krido Legal, and the UN representative in Russia. In addition, State Duma deputy Vyacheslav Nikonov, a member of the Public Chamber Russian Federation Olga Kostina, Ombudsman Vladimir Lukin, as well as lawyers Anatoly Kucherena, Genrikh Padva and Henry Reznik.
At the meeting, Snowden read out a prepared statement. In particular, he announced his intention to apply for temporary asylum in Russia, since his safety can now only be ensured if he temporarily remains in Russia, although he plans to settle in Latin America in the future. Two years later, Julian Assange claimed that he had advised Snowden to seek asylum and stay in Russia. According to Assange, in Latin America, Snowden could have been kidnapped or even killed, and Russia is one of the few countries that are not under the influence of the CIA.
Human Rights Watch spokeswoman Tatyana Lokshina said at the meeting that on the way to the airport she received a call from the US Ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, who asked her to convey that the United States considers Snowden not a whistleblower, but someone who has broken the law.
In the evening, the situation was discussed by telephone between the presidents of Russia and the United States, Putin and Obama.
Three days later, V. Putin said that the Americans scared everyone and no one wants to take him, “this is such a gift for Christmas,” Putin also expressed the hope that as soon as Snowden has the opportunity to leave Russia, he will immediately use it.
On July 16, 2013, Snowden formally applied to the Federal Migration Service with a request for temporary asylum in Russia.
On July 17, 2013, US Senator Lindsey Graham called for a boycott of the Sochi Olympics in response to Russia granting asylum to Edward Snowden.
On July 24, 2013, it became known that Snowden wants to stay in Russia forever, find a job here and has already begun to learn Russian, as announced after another meeting in the Sheremetyevo transit zone by his lawyer Anatoly Kucherena.
On August 1, 2013, Snowden received a certificate of temporary asylum on the territory of the Russian Federation, issued on July 31, 2013 by the Office of the Federal Migration Service for the Moscow Region and valid until July 31, 2014 (with the possibility of extension). This document gives the right to freely move around the territory of Russia and find a job at any workplace(with the exception of the civil service) without obtaining a work permit. On the same day, Snowden crossed the Russian border, leaving the transit area of Terminal E of Sheremetyevo Airport and leaving, according to lawyer Anatoly Kucherena, in a taxi accompanied by Sarah Harrison to an unknown destination. Anatoly Kucherena, showing a copy of the asylum document, said that, for security reasons, the whereabouts of Snowden, one of the most wanted people in the world, would not be disclosed.
On August 7, due to the situation with Snowden, US President Obama canceled a meeting scheduled for September with Russian President Putin in Moscow, as well as bilateral talks in St. Petersburg.
On October 10, 2013, his father Lonnie Snowden flew to Russia to meet with Edward. The meeting between father and son was very emotional. On October 16, Snowden Sr. left for the United States.
On December 19, 2013, Putin, at a big press conference at the World Trade Center, said that in operational terms, the Russian special services do not work with Snowden, he himself did not meet with Snowden, he described him as an interesting person, thanks to which a lot turned in the minds of politicians.
While in Russia, Snowden spoke out against the Russian government's policy of restricting the internet and treating gays. “The drive that we are seeing in the Russian government is to control the internet more and more, to control more and more what people see, even part of their personal lives, to decide what is appropriate or inappropriate for how people express their love to each other. to a friend is fundamentally wrong,” said Edward Snowden.
In the spring of 2014, the Russian Association for Electronic Communications, the Notamedia company and the Ekho Moskvy radio station jointly established the first online media award: the Internet Media Awards (IMA). According to them, Snowden personally agreed to the assignment of a new award named after him.
On August 1, 2014, Snowden received a residence permit in Russia for a period of three years. He has a job and also receives help from private individuals; in five years will be able to apply for citizenship of the Russian Federation in the general manner.
In March 2015, he expressed a desire to leave Russia and move to Switzerland.
In March 2016, he announced that he would like to return to the United States.
Edward Snowden quotes:
"The war in Iraq, in which I was assigned to participate, was started because of false premises. The American people were misled. Whether this happened due to bad faith or an error in intelligence, I cannot now say for sure. But I can state that this exposes the problem of excessive trust in the intelligence services, without public discussion of their activities."
"We each have a sensor in our pocket that shows where we are, anytime, anywhere. Think about your privacy. Children born today may grow up and not even know what privacy is. They never will not understand what it means to have something that is not recorded or tracked."
"I was looking for leaders, but I realized that leadership is to act first."
“If you have voluntarily sacrificed yourself to be used as a negative example, if you are ready to voluntarily spend your whole life in prison, then how can you sit there for a while, so that later you can come out and speak up for yourself, become even stronger and inspire other people to oppose this policy - are you doing good or bad?"
"Even if you don't do anything wrong, you will be watched and recorded... It allows you to get to the point where you shouldn't do anything wrong, you just end up under suspicion from someone, even on a false accusation and then they can use this system to go back in time and scrutinize every decision you've ever made, every friend you've ever discussed something with, and blame you for it or just take it under suspicion of your innocent life."
"I'm not a spy - that's the real question."
"I am neither a traitor nor a hero. I am an American."
"Your rights matter because you never know when you'll need them."
"I don't want to live in a world where there is no right to privacy and therefore no room for intellectual exploration and creativity."
"A child born today will grow up with a complete lack of understanding of privacy. Children will never know what a moment of privacy means when you are not being recorded and your statements are not analyzed. And this is a problem, because privacy matters. Privacy is what allows us define who we are and who we want to become."
"I don't want to live in a world where everything I say, everything I do, everything I talk to, every expression of creativity, love or friendship is recorded."
"There are things more important than money. If only money motivated me, I would sell these documents to many countries and become very rich."
"A statement that you are indifferent to the right to immunity privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say."
"I didn't want to change society. I wanted to give society a chance to decide if it should change."
"Regardless of the outcome of Brexit, you can see how quickly half of any population can be persuaded to vote against themselves. Good lesson."
Edward Snowden. Interview
Edward Snowden Height: 180 centimeters.
Personal life of Edward Snowden:
Has been in a relationship with Lindsay Mills since 2008.
Lindsey Mills was born in 1985 in Maryland. Professionally engaged in choreography and ballet. She earned money by performing erotic dances. According to Western media, Mills was also a stripper in men's clubs, dancing at the pole. He maintains a blog where he posts his thoughts. Interested in photography.
When Edward Snowden fled the United States in 2013, there were rumors that he abandoned Lindsey - primarily because he did not inform her of his plans (obviously for reasons of secrecy and security).
In an interview with reporters in 2013, Lindsey's father, Jonathan Mills, said that Snowden literally abandoned his daughter to her fate, leaving her without a livelihood. He noted that "Lindsay still cannot get her life back on track and recover from the shock she experienced when her boyfriend told her that he was going on a business trip, and he left forever." The fact that Snowden fled the country and began to publish secret documents of the special services, his girlfriend found out only from news releases: she thought that he had gone on a business trip, Jonathan Mills testified.
However, when Edward settled in Russia, Lindsey Mills came to him in Moscow in July 2014, where she lives with him.
One of Snowden's main hobbies is Japanese and generally East Asian popular culture, including anime, video games and martial arts, which he became interested in while working at a US military base in Japan and learning Japanese. At one time he worked for an American anime company.
He also learned Mandarin Chinese and thought he could do good career in China or Hong Kong.
On his entry form for the US Armed Forces, he indicated "Buddhism" under "religion" because the answer "agnosticism" was "strangely absent" from that form.
According to Spiegel magazine, Snowden practices Buddhism, is a vegetarian, does not drink alcohol or drink coffee. He spends a lot of time at the computer and reading books on the history of Russia.
Edward Snowden in art and cinema:
In the 2014 film Where the Motherland Begins, directed by Rauf Kubaev, the first frames show an episode about a secret flight to Russia to avoid the arrest of ex-CIA officer James Snow, the prototype of which was Edward Snowden. The role of James Snow in the film was played by aspiring Lithuanian actor Arnas Fedaravičius.
In October 2014, a two-hour film premiered in New York. documentary film Citizenfour. The Truth of Snowden" by Laura Poitras, dedicated to Edward Snowden. The tape won several prestigious film awards, including BAFTA, Sputnik and Oscar. In Russia, in cinemas, the film became the highest grossing non-fiction film of 2015.
On October 5, 2015, Peter Taylor's film Edward Snowden: Spies and the Law premiered on BBC Panorama.
On September 15, 2016 in Russia and on September 16 in the USA, the film "Snowden" was released. The premiere of the film was postponed twice, filming took place in Munich in February-May 2015. To write the script, the American film director acquired the rights to screen the books by lawyer Anatoly Kucherena "Octopus Time" and the journalist of the Guardian newspaper Luke Harding "The Snowden File: The Story of the Most Wanted Man in the World." The role of ex-CIA officer Snowden in this film was played by American actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Edward Snowden took part in the filming of the film, he spent one day of shooting in Moscow.
Based on events from the life of Snowden, a number of games for mobile devices have been created.
In one of the episodes of the American animated series "South Park" - "Go, the government will look after you" - there is a hint of Edward Snowden when Cartman says that he has become an informer and he will have to hide in Russia.
On May 15, 2014, it became known that Sony Pictures Entertainment acquired the film rights to the British journalist Glenn Greenwald's book about Edward Snowden Nowhere to Hide, and intends to make a film about the ex-CIA officer. The film will be produced by Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, who previously worked on James Bond films.
Also in honor of Edward Snowden for his contribution to the protection of freedom of speech, the decapod crayfish Cherax snowden described by German zoologists in 2015 was named.
Why he changed his mind about the iPhone.
The name of this honest guy flashed in the press in June 2013. Exactly then former CIA officer told the whole truth about the dirty deeds of the US and British governments.
Since then, his life has been under close surveillance in the press. It's funny, considering the fact that this whole mess started with him fighting for non-intervention into private life.
That's why he's remembered at all
Edward Snowden was an employee of the American CIA and moved perfectly career ladder. Everything would be fine, but access to classified information, screaming about the violation of the rights of citizens, did not give him rest. And Edward couldn't keep it to himself.
In 2009, the young idealist leaves the CIA and becomes an employee of the National Security Agency. And in 2013, he began to closely communicate with publicists from leading publications, such as TheGuardian And Washington Post. In the summer of the same year, Edward arranges with their help a loud exposure of the spy system PRISM.
According to Snowden, with the help of it, the governments of the two countries resort to total control of citizens. In order not to be unfounded, the quick-witted guy grabbed a number of classified materials on the work of American intelligence services. And the very next day he was on the run.
Snowden hasn't finished college yet
As a student, Edward tried to score right amount points to get a certificate, but something went wrong. Therefore, he received higher education in absentia and only in 2011.
In 2003, the guy was taken to the army, but even there everything was not going smoothly. Even during the exercises, he manages to break both legs, after which he is commissioned as a civilian.
Despite the lack of experience and professional qualifications, he is hired by the National Security Agency. The guy is doing great and very soon gets a good position in the CIA. Where subsequently he is disappointed in the honesty of the special services.
Edward was reluctantly but sheltered in Russia
After a loud revelation, Snowden realized that he would not be forgiven for this so easily. Therefore, he quickly moved to the transit zone of Sheremetyevo Airport and began to look for political refuge.
There was nowhere else to run - his American passport had already been canceled, and in the States he was awaiting imprisonment for up to 30 years. From 27 countries only Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua responded to his request. Edward was slightly disappointed. But on July 1, the answer came from Putin.
A month later, Snowden was already registered with the Russian migration service. But with the condition that he will no longer harm his homeland. And in August 2014, the guy got three year residence permit which allows him to travel even outside the country.
The guy does not get tired of receiving titles and awards
During the year of living in Russia, Snowden not only found a job supporting a large website, but also became the “Person of the Year” several times. This is how the guy was dubbed by viewers of the Euronews TV channel and readers of the Guardian newspaper.
And on April 7, 2014, Snowden was awarded the "Ridenoir Prize" for his courage in the name of truth. And in September of the same year, the guy received "Alternative Nobel Prize» . They hand it over for especially revealing deeds, and apparently, Snowden conquered them with his determination.
But the American authorities are in no hurry to praise. For example, Hillary Clinton advises against returning a criminal and a kidnapper to the country valuable papers. And Senator Bernie Sanders even promises to imprison Snowden and shut down all the spyware he mentioned. Well, only when Bernie is elected president :)
One of the former CIA officers, Robert Baer, said that this was not the case in his time. And he blamed incompetent intelligence services for what happened. Some even considered Snowden to be a Russian intelligence agent, but Edward said that this was complete nonsense.
He handed over all the secret materials to journalists and arrived in Moscow with an absolutely clear conscience. But the Americans hardly believed him.
American authorities offered a deal on his passport
Lawyer to defend Snowden's rights Anatoly Kucherena. It was he who told reporters about the curious deal offered to him by American diplomats.
After Snowden fled to Moscow from Hong Kong, his US passport was revoked. That is why the Sheremetyevo transit zone became his temporary prison.
To transport Edward to Washington, American diplomats offered to open his passport, but only one way: Russia - America. To which Snowden's lawyer replied: "Either you open your passport without restrictions, or you don't open it at all."
What the world looks like according to Snowden
Of course, most of the information flows to the special services through mobile phones. All geographical movements, calls, mail, voice acting of what is happening with the owner of the gadget. Anything, up to the photo in online mode. In short, they invested heavily in the system.
In addition, every purchase, every trip abroad, every topic is tracked. email and each file personal computer. Snowden threatened to reveal the addresses of all state data interception points. And also to name the names of major American television companies that supply the special services with millions of recordings a day.
The British government commented simply: "Everything happens due to strict necessity and does not go beyond the law."
Edward is dissatisfied with the observance of human rights in Russia
Having settled in Russia, Snowden found out that he could not do without jambs anywhere. In particular, he was dissatisfied with human rights in the field Internet spheres.
The Kremlin replied that he has the right to such an opinion. But now Edward sees that the situation is improving, and the human rights movement is gaining momentum.
Even with limited contact with his homeland, Edward finds ways to lecture at Princeton University. And Scottish students from Glasgow even chose Snowden as their rector.
The guy was the hero of the book and films
Snowden's act inspired many idealists. Some, after close communication with him, even decided to release a book or make a film, as the journalist did Laura Poitras.
In the very first days of the rental, the picture “CITIZENFOUR. The Truth of Snowden attracted more than 10,000 viewers to the cinema. In addition, the film became the highest grossing non-fiction project of the year and was even nominated for an Oscar.
All the same Snowden became the prototype for the book of his lawyer Anatoly Kucherena. The first book of the trilogy was called "Octopus Time", and its film adaptation was entrusted to the famous director Oliver Stone. So Edward can no longer worry about his mark in history.
Snowden has a very strained relationship with the FBI
Surely, you already know with what demand the FBI came to Tim Cook. After the mess in San Bernardino, US authorities demanded that Apple hack into the terrorist's phone. To which Cook replied with a resounding "no."
This decision caused a strong resonance, but it can be understood. You definitely can’t do it all at once - gadgets will be hacked in all such stories, and then Apple will no longer be asked. But the protection of personal data is one of the pillars of the company. Apple took over responsibility for the preservation of the personal space of users and is going to defend it.
After this, Snowden changed his anger to mercy and decided to no longer blame the company for the insecurity of the iPhone. Before that, he trusted only a simple phone, fearing that some programs might be activated even without his knowledge.
In his microblog on Twitter, he wrote that citizens should not rely on a private company to protect their rights. But the FBI just leaves them no choice (No votes)
Edward Snowden arrives at the TED conference in Vancouver, 2014
"Edward Snowden was lying in the back seat of my Ford Escape, hidden from prying eyes and temporarily unconscious while I drove him to the Whitney Museum early in the morning to meet friends from the art world,” writes journalist Andrew Rice (Andrew Rice) from New York Magazine. He spent some time with Snowden, taking him to art shows, technology conferences and TV shows.
For one of the FBI's most wanted men, Snowden lives a remarkably free and fulfilling life, speaking to the public and doing interviews. A former special agent and hacker found a great life hack: he moves around the world in the body of a robot connected to the Internet.
Snowden is not bothered at all by the fact that his body is physically locked up somewhere in Russia. Safely hidden from American intelligence agencies. Consciousness temporarily "moved" into a mobile robot for teleconferencing model BeamPro, and the robot can not be arrested. More precisely, he can be arrested, but then Edward Snowden will “move” into another robot, continue to speak via direct video link and tweet. That is, it won't change anything. In the age of modern communications, it doesn't matter where your body is.
Snowboat with security experts at Princeton University. A photo: Courtesy of Surveillance Workshop
Lawyer Ben Wizner of the American Civil Liberties Union is constantly watching the actions of his ward. For example, in April 2016, he watched a public flogging that Edward Snowden gave in live CNN journalist Fareed Zakaria, who defended the desire of the US authorities to gain access to any encrypted digital information by court order.
After that, Snowden, in the body of a robot, showed up at the Disruptive Innovation Awards conference, where he was greeted with thunderous applause.
Edward rode up to the microphone with a grin and delivered a speech (with slight lags), then answered questions and carefully left the stage.
The BeamPro robot is a commercial model manufactured by Suitable Technologies. The so-called "smart presence system" (Smart Presence System), costing about $ 14,000, is designed to make teleconferencing more realistic, where one or more participants are physically absent from the room.
Snowden's avatar (informally called Snowbot) lives in the New York office of the American Civil Liberties Union, in his office he holds meetings and receives guests, and sometimes travels to conferences or important meetings.
Google co-founder Sergey Brin poses for a photo with Snowbot. A photo Story by: Chris Anderson
For Snowden, this technology has a specific practical meaning - it is much more convenient to ensure your “presence” on social events and communicate with interlocutors almost live. After a few minutes of talking, you already forget that there is a robot in front of you. "There's always some confusion at first when everyone is admiring and watching with curiosity," he says. But then this barrier disappears. People begin to communicate with Snowbot as with an ordinary person, as if Edward himself were really next to them.
Snowbot talks to tech entrepreneur Peter Diamandis at CES 2016 in Las Vegas. Photo: Done Clark for the Wall Street Journal
There is also a symbolic role here: this is a clear demonstration that no authorities and super-powerful special services are able to impose their will in the modern age of the Internet. It is impossible to "block" a person, it is impossible to isolate him from the outside world and prohibit communication. Not those times. Now the Internet is everywhere - and it gives people unlimited freedom.
(It should be noted that the Internet is not available in some places, and Snowbot's ability to move is also limited. Snowden himself jokes about this: he says that people have nothing to be afraid of robots, as long as we have stairs, and Wi-Fi is not accepted in elevators) .
Snowbot is greeted with applause at events. This is also a demonstration of what american people- at least the techno-elite - supports Edward and his act, even if the official authorities call it "treason".
At New York's Whitney Gallery, Snowden's avatar visited a multimedia exhibition by Laura Poitras, the documentary's director Citizenfour about Edward Snowden. For her work, Laura Poitras received a Pulitzer Prize and an Oscar - further proof of the importance of the mission that Snowden dared to take on.
The exhibition at the Whitney Gallery is called Astro Noise, after the name of an encrypted file of documents that Edward Snowden took out on a flash drive from a secret NSA computer center in Hawaii.
Snowboat at Astro Noise. Photo: Henrik Moltke
Sitting in my cramped Russian apartment, Edward Snowden can remotely control his New York City avatar via a computer. The robot moves and nimbly maneuvers, turns to face the person with whom it is talking.
Sometimes help is needed. At the exhibition Astro Noise Snowbot was given a personal tour. When he was shown parts of the gallery that were unusually located—for example, the night sky over Yemen where the CIA assassination drones were coming from, or the video footage of civilians being shot down by a drone on a screen—aides would turn or tilt Snowbot so he could get a closer look. Edward thanks for the help.
Surprisingly, now Edward Snowden is hiding in a secret hideout somewhere in Russia (most likely in Moscow). He cannot walk in the park on the street, but at the same time his avatar in New York is free to travel anywhere, infuriating former bosses from US intelligence. Though they no longer joke about putting Edward Snowden on the drone kill list, as former CIA director Michael Hayden joked in 2013. But they still unequivocally say that Edward did real harm to the United States of America when he gave out specific technical details of secret programs of mass surveillance of the population, spoke about secret diplomatic agreements and about specific objects of surveillance. foreign intelligence USA.
Edward Snowden and his robot have become real people's favorites in the United States. He is considered a hero. He exposes dangerous government mass surveillance programs that threaten people's civil rights and violate the Constitution. He is constantly invited to speak at various conferences and TV shows: last year he gave more than 50 speeches. Most of them are free, and for others, Edward can receive several thousand dollars - he has to look for a livelihood, because Edward's personal financial reserves ran out last year.
Edward Snowden is quite consistent in his position. He declared his refusal to cooperate with the FSB officers who wanted to get the secret information he had. He greeted friends of Russian officials with information about billions of dollars in secret offshores. After all, Snowden is critical of government surveillance of the internet and censorship in any country, not just the US. For example, he spoke very sharply about Irina Yarovaya’s package of “anti-terrorist” amendments to legislation on June 24, 2016. The amendments provide for total wiretapping of Internet traffic and telephone conversations of all Russians, recording and storage of traffic and conversations, as well as the obligation of providers to provide keys to decrypt encrypted traffic at the request of the authorities. They will come into force after the approval of the Council of Federations on June 29 (of which there is practically no doubt) and after signing by the President of the Russian Federation.
“Mass surveillance does not work. This law will take money and freedom from every Russian without any improvement in security. It doesn't have to be signed."
