The Google employee who helped Edward Snowden in Hong Kong

Posted on June 18, 2023 by Admin

Ten years on, William Fitzgerald, then a 27-year-old policy worker, tells of his part in the story and explores how tech has changed since

Early on the morning of 10 June 2013, Hong Kong time, the journalist Glenn Greenwald and film-maker Laura Poitras published on the Guardian site a video revealing the identity of the NSA whistleblower behind one of the most damning leaks in modern history. It began: “My name is Ed Snowden.”

William Fitzgerald, then a 27-year-old policy employee at Google, knew he wanted to help. But he didn’t yet know how.

Threatened Saudi dissident told to live like Edward Snowden by Met police

Posted on June 8, 2023 by Admin

Col Rabih Alenezi received advice after reporting death threats, of which he says he receives 50 a week

A Saudi Arabian dissident living in London was told to “emulate” the life of the US whistleblower Edward Snowden by a Metropolitan police officer, amid death threats he received after fleeing his country.

Col Rabih Alenezi, 44, had been a senior official in Saudi Arabia’s security service for two decades, but sought asylum in the UK after he claimed to have been ordered to carry out human rights violations. His life was threatened for criticising the regime of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Putin grants Russian citizenship to US whistleblower Edward Snowden

Posted on September 26, 2022 by Admin

Former NSA intelligence contractor was given asylum in Russia after leaking secret files in 2013

President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Monday granting Russian citizenship to the former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.

Snowden, 39, fled the United States and was given asylum in Russia after leaking secret files in 2013 that revealed vast domestic and international surveillance operations carried out by the US National Security Agency, where he was a contractor.

Canada grants asylum to four people who hid Edward Snowden in Hong Kong

Posted on September 28, 2021 by Admin

Charity helping the refugees says they are happy with the result but urges Ottawa to expedite asylum of remaining ‘Guardian Angel’

Canada granted asylum to four people who hid former NSA contractor Edward Snowden in their tiny Hong Kong apartments when he was on the run after stealing a trove of classified documents.

The four – Supun Thilina Kellapatha, Nadeeka Dilrukshi Nonis and their children Sethumdi and Dinath – landed in Toronto on Tuesday and were due to go on to Montreal to “start their new lives”, non-profit For the Refugees said in a statement.

Edward Snowden granted permanent residency in Russia

Posted on October 23, 2020 by Admin

Former national security contractor fled US in 2013 after leaking documents on American government surveillance operations

The former US security contractor Edward Snowden has been granted permanent residency in Russia, his lawyer said on Thursday.

Snowden, a former contractor with the National Security Agency, has been living in Russia since 2013 to escape prosecution in the US after leaking classified documents detailing government surveillance programs.

Edward Snowden has taken $1.2m in speaking fees in exile, US filing says

Posted on August 17, 2020 by Admin

US trying to strip whistleblower of profits earned since leaks
Government says speaking fees cover 67 engagements

Whistleblower Edward Snowden has earned more than $1.2m in speaking fees since he leaked confidential US material to outlets including the Guardian and went into exile in Moscow, according to a filing by the US justice department in court in Massachusetts.

Speculation grows over pardon for Edward Snowden after Trump remarks

Posted on August 14, 2020 by Admin

Trump: ‘A lot of people think he is not being treated fairly’
Congressman calls for Trump to pardon NSA whistleblower

Speculation is growing over whether Donald Trump might pardon Edward Snowden after the US president told an interviewer that the exiled former intelligence operative was “not being treated fairly”.

Edward Snowden’s profits from memoir must go to US government, judge rules

Posted on December 20, 2019 by Admin

Court says state is entitled to any profits from Permanent Record because its publication breached non-disclosure agreements

Edward Snowden is not entitled to the profits from his memoir Permanent Record, and any money made must go to the US government, a judge has ruled.

Permanent Record, in which Snowden recounts how he came to the decision to leak the top secret documents revealing government plans for mass surveillance, was published in September. Shortly afterwards, the US government filed a civil lawsuit contending that publication was “in violation of the non-disclosure agreements he signed with both the CIA and the National Security Agency (NSA)”, and that the release of the book without pre-publication review by the agencies was “in violation of his express obligations”. Snowden’s lawyers had argued that if the author had believed that the government would review his book in good faith, he would have submitted it for review.

US government files civil lawsuit against Snowden over publication of memoir

Posted on September 17, 2019 by Admin

Suit contends whistleblower published Permanent Record ‘in violation of non-disclosure agreements’ with both CIA and NSA

The US government on Tuesday filed a civil lawsuit against Edward Snowden, a former CIA employee and National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower, over the publication this week of his memoir.

Snowden, the suit contends, “published a book entitled Permanent Record in violation of the non-disclosure agreements he signed with both CIA and NSA”.

Edward Snowden on 9/11 and why he joined the army: ‘Now, finally, there was a fight’

Posted on September 15, 2019 by Admin

In an extract from his memoir, the US whistleblower shares his experiences on the day the twin towers fell – and the aftermath that led him to join up

Whenever I try to understand how the past two decades happened, I return to that September – to that ground-zero day and its immediate aftermath. To return means coming up against a truth darker than the lies that tied the Taliban to al-Qaeda and conjured up Saddam Hussein’s illusory stockpile of WMDs. It means, ultimately, confronting the fact that the carnage and abuses that marked my young adulthood were born not only in the executive branch and the intelligence agencies, but also in the hearts and minds of all Americans, myself included.

I started working as a web designer for a woman I met in community college class. She, or I guess her business, hired me under the table at the then lavish rate of $30 an hour in cash. The trick was how many hours I would actually get paid for.

Edward Snowden in exile: ‘you have to be ready to stand for something’ – video

Posted on September 13, 2019 by Admin

Edward Snowden has spent the last six years living in exile in Russia and has now decided to publish his memoirs, Permanent Record. In the book he reflects on his life leading up to the biggest leak of top secret documents in history, and the impact this had on his relationship with his partner, Lindsay Mills. The Guardian's Ewen MacAskill, who helped break Snowden's story in 2013, has been given exclusive access to meet him