Edward Snowden (born June 21, 1983 in Elizabeth, North Carolina) is a former CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) technical analyst who later worked for defense project contractor Booz Allen & Company.
In June 2013, Snowden disclosed secret NSA documents on the PRISM surveillance program to The Guardian and the Washington Post, and was immediately wanted by the U.S. government in Hong Kong and subsequently flown to Russia.
On June 21, 2013, Snowden, through the Guardian, once again exposed the secret intelligence surveillance project of the British "Temporal Temporals".
At 7:30 a.m. on August 1, 2013, Snowden left Russia's Sheremetyevo Airport for Moscow and was granted a one-year application for temporary asylum in Russia.
In August 2014, Russian lawyers said Edward Snowden was again granted a residence permit in Russia for a period of three years.
On September 6, 2015, Snowden won norway's "Bionson Free Speech Award" and received the award on his behalf with an empty chair.
In April 2016, Snowden released a single in Russia and chatted with American girls on Twitter.
< h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > Edward Snowden</h1>
Edward Snowden joined the U.S. Army in 2004. He wanted to go to war in Iraq because he felt it was his duty to liberate the oppressed. However, Snowden broke his legs during a training session and was forced to retire. He then got his first job at the National Security Agency as a security guard at a secret facility at the University of Maryland before moving to the CIA as an information technology security guard, where he was quickly promoted through the ranks with his superior network knowledge and computer skills.
In 2007, the CIA assigned it to Geneva, Switzerland, to maintain computer cybersecurity and gave it diplomatic cover.
In 2009, Snowden left the CIA to work for Dell Computer and then spent four years at the NSA as a Booz Allen Hamilton employee. After preparing to disclose confidentiality, he took a leave of absence from the company and left Hawaii for Hong Kong on May 20, 2013, hiding in a hotel.
When he left the U.S. in May 2013, he had been with defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton for less than three months as a systems administrator at an NSA facility in Hawaii. He earns about $200,000 a year and lives comfortably with his girlfriend. But he was willing to sacrifice all of this because he was uneasy about the U.S. government's secret surveillance program. The Guardian described Snowden as having a strong passion for the value of privacy, with his laptops tagged with pro-Internet freedom groups, including the Electronic Outpost Foundation (EFF) and Tor. Although he said he had "believed Obama's assurances," he voted for a "third party" in the 2008 election. Political contribution records show that he made donations for Paul Ron's primary.
On June 23, 2013, the Hong Kong SAR government issued a statement on the Snowden incident, confirming that Snowden had left Hong Kong. In a video interviewed by The Guardian, Snowden pointed out that he hid in Hong Kong because of Hong Kong's commitment to protect free speech and political dissidents. He pointed out that Chinese mainland does restrict free speech and block the Internet, Hong Kong people have always had a tradition of marching on the streets and expressing their views, and the Internet in Hong Kong is very free. Snowden also noted that the Hong Kong government is effectively independent in its relations with many other major Western governments.
On July 2, 2013, according to the Russian "Vesti" TV station, Kim Shevchenko, the consular representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, revealed that Snowden had submitted an application for political asylum to Russia.
On August 1, 2013, AFP reported that the lawyer of Edward Snowden, the leaker of the US "Prism Gate" project, said on Thursday (1st) that Snowden had left the Moscow airport after he had just obtained temporary refugee status in Russia for a limited period of one year.
On December 11, 2013, Foreign Policy magazine named Edward Snowden, a former employee of a NSA contractor, the top 100 Global Thinkers of the 2013 list.
On January 2, 2014, The New York Times published an editorial arguing that Edward Snowden was acting as a whistleblower and that the information he disclosed was of great value, calling for him to be pardoned or lenient.
On January 22, 2014, Edward Snowden was interviewed by the American magazine New Yorker in Moscow, and firmly denied that he was a Russian spy, calling the speculation absurd and ridiculous.
On January 24, 2014, Edward Snowden held a live online Q&A meeting and answered questions about surveillance-related issues that netizens are concerned about. In his Q&A, he stressed that he had "not stolen any passwords."
On 29 January 2014, former Norwegian Minister Sokhter recommended Snowden as a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize.
On 18 February 2014, Snowden was elected President of The University of Glasgow for a three-year term. The Student Chancellor is a unique position at the University of Glasgow, elected by student vote, and Snowden's predecessor was Charles Kennedy, the former leader of the British Liberal Democratic Party.
After beginning his asylum in Russia on July 31, 2014, Snowden rarely made public appearances. From 2013 to 2014, he gave occasional media interviews and appeared on video links at major events around the world.
At the end of July 2014, Snowden's asylum permit in Russia obtained in 2013 had officially expired, and both the Russian authorities and Snowden had previously said that Snowden had submitted an application for extended asylum, and in August 2014, the Russian Immigration Department said that Snowden's extension application was accepted and he was again granted a residence permit in Russia for a period of 3 years.
In an interview with the BBC in early October 2015, Edward Snowden, who was in exile in Russia, noted that the British government's communications headquarters (GCHQ) could take photos and eavesdrop on the cell phones of the prisoners by sending a passwordd text message to the cell phone of the prisoner.
On April 16, 2020, Snowden submitted a document to extend his stay in Russia for 3 years, and Snowden's residence permit in Russia expired in April 2020.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > family life</h1>
Edward Snowden's father, a Pennsylvania resident, was a U.S. Coast Guard officer. His mother, a resident of Baltimore, Maryland, was a clerk for the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. He has an older sister who works as a lawyer and lives in Valparaiso, Indiana.
In 1999, Snowden moved his family to Elicott, Maryland, where he studied computing at Anne Arundel Community College to earn the necessary credits for a high Chinese, but he did not complete the course and subsequently earned a certificate in general educational development. Before leaving for Hong Kong, Snowden lived with his girlfriend in Hawaii, Waiho Island, and Vipa.
According to british media reports on June 10, 2013, Edward Snowden, a leaker of several secret intelligence surveillance projects of the US government, had a stable girlfriend before the leak, and the two originally planned to get married, but the sudden leak made their marriage almost hopeless. In the face of change, his girlfriend Lindsay Mills was very distressed, and on the 10th, with the help of a blog, she disclosed her current heartbroken state of mind, "My world suddenly opened and closed suddenly. I felt like I was lost at sea, with no compass around me. With tears in my eyes, as I typed, I thought back to the people who had accompanied me along the way, the people who had laughed with me and held hands with me, the people I loved the most, and the people I had no time to say goodbye. Judging by Mills's blog, the two men loved each other deeply, and Mills used the term "enigmatic man" in his blog to describe Snowden.
Lindsay Mills, 28, was previously a pole dancer. "Snowden has a girlfriend in Russia!" On October 10, 2013, the U.S. media quoted Snowden's lawyer, Kucheleena, as saying. The lawyer did not reveal the identity of Snowden's girlfriend, after a Russian beauty spy had taken the initiative to show love to Snowden. Kuchelena told the media that Snowden had been living in a low profile since receiving temporary asylum in Russia in August.
On October 7, 2013, a Russian news website published a photograph of a suspected Snow shopping on the street.
Photographs show a goat-bearded, Snowden-looking man wearing sunglasses, a long-sleeved casual shirt and jeans, pushing a supermarket trolley with large bags across the road. License plates on nearby parked cars and traffic signs not far away indicate that the photo was taken in Russia.
According to Russian media reports, Snowden's father, Lonnie Snowden, will arrive in Russia to visit his son in the near future. Kuchelena revealed: "The visa issue has been resolved, and we expect That Snowden's father will soon come to Moscow, as will other relatives."
In October 2013, Snowden lawyer Kuzilina noted that Snowden had found a job in Russia and that "from November Snowden will start working, and he will be working on a large Russian website." For security reasons, Kuzilina did not disclose Snowden's specific work site. However, VK, Russia's largest social network, had invited Snowden to work.
In April 2016, Snowden released a single in Russia, and he had a group chat with american girls on Twitter.
Not only did he team up with the famous French electronic music producer Jean-Michel Jarre to create a song called "Exit," but he also joined a group chat with teenage girls in the United States on Twitter.
Regarding the single, Snowden said in the video published by The Guardian that he has always admired electronic music, and the most interesting melody in his impression comes from video games. Music has the function of connecting different moments of life. He laughed happily when he humbly said, "As a not-so-cool engineer, I was surprised to be able to work on cultural projects."
In the group chat, the adolescent girls in the United States did not know who Snowden was who joined the group chat at first. Snowden, on the other hand, asked everyone to call him Ed (the abbreviation of Edward in his name), and he said that he did not like to be called too formally, and did not like to be called "Mr. Snowden".
Snowden first asked where everyone was watching the news, and then warned the girls that chatting with him online was not a small risk, because it would be monitored, and if you wanted to stay free, it was better not to chat with yourself.
On June 28, 2013, Lonnie Snowden, the father of Edward Snowden, the protagonist of the "Prism Gate" incident, has written to US Attorney General Holder, proposing three conditions, including no arrest before the trial, and is willing to persuade his son to return to China and surrender himself on this basis. He stressed that Snowden was not guilty of treason, and that even if he disclosed information about federal surveillance programs, it would only be "a betrayal of an employed government, but I don't think he betrayed the American people." Snowden's father had the confidence to persuade his son to return home and turn himself in, but only if he guaranteed that Snowden would not be arrested or imprisoned before the trial, that no gag orders would be issued, and that Snowden would have the right to choose the venue of the trial.
On July 2, 2013, the father of Prism leaker Snowden wrote an open letter praising Snowden for "bringing the American people together against the growing crisis of tyranny and dictatorship." The move was allegedly intended to keep the public interested in the significance of Snowden's leaks, rather than the question of his whereabouts.
On October 10, 2013, Snowden's father, Ron Snowden, arrived in Moscow on the same day and will meet with Snowden. Snowden's Russian lawyer, Kucheliana, said that for security reasons, the time and place where snowden father and son met will be kept secret.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > prism plan</h1>
In 2013, Snowden's provision of classified documents to the media led to the "exposure" of several secret U.S. government intelligence surveillance programs, including the Prism project.
Documents exposed by Snowden show that the surveillance project, code-named PRISM, has not been disclosed to the public so far. Through the program, the U.S. government collects information directly from the servers of nine companies, including Microsoft, Apple, Google, Yahoo, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube, and nine other companies.
Edward Snowden hid in a hotel in Hong Kong after releasing the materials. Fearing snooping, he plugged the door slit of his hotel room with his pillow to prevent eavesdropping. He also put a big red hood over his head and laptop before entering his own passwords to prevent any hidden cameras from detecting them. He expressed some anxiety.
On June 10, 2013, news from the hotel said that Snowden Had checked out at noon and was missing.
On June 10, 2013, the British newspaper The Guardian reported that after several days of interviews, the newspaper disclosed his identity at Snowden's request. After that, Snowden exposed the US National Security Agency's intrusion into China's communications industry.
In response to the act of making these classified documents public, Snowden said: "I know that my actions will cause me disaster, but I will be very satisfied if the secret decrees of the federal government, unequal pardons, and irresistible enforcement forces dominate the world I love, and these are immediately exposed."
The WikiLeaks website revealed that Edward Snowden, the leaker of the "Prism Gate" incident in the United States, sought asylum from 19 countries after applying for asylum in Ecuador and Iceland.
According to a list published on the wikiLeaks website on the evening of July 1, 2013, the 19 countries include Austria, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Cuba, Finland, France, Germany, India, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, Norway, Poland, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, and Venezuela. Mr. Snowden had previously obtained an Ecuadorian security pass with the help of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, but was subsequently revoked by Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa.
On July 1, 2013, Snowden, the whistleblower of the US "surveillance gate" incident, issued a new statement on the 1st, attacking US President Barack Obama and the US government, and threatening to disclose more secrets to the outside world.
On July 16, 2013, Anatoly Kuzilina, a former lawyer at Russia's Kremlin, said he had applied for temporary asylum against Snowden, a leaker from the U.S. intelligence agency.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > the Xkeyscore program</h1>
Snowden, a former CIA employee, disclosed to the Hong Kong English newspaper that the National Security Agency (NSA) has been hacking computers in Hong Kong and Chinese mainland since 2009, targeting computers Chinese universities, public officials, businesses and students.
Since 2009, the United States has conducted 61,000 infiltration operations around the world, targeting hundreds of individuals and institutions in mainland China and Hong Kong, Snowden said. Subsequently, according to the analysis, Snowden should refer to the Hong Kong Internet Exchange (HKIX), which is located in the Central University of Hong Kong and serves the local network data exchange in Hong Kong, and the satellite remote sensing ground receiving station, a key satellite remote sensing research facility in South China.
On July 31, 2013, Snowden again revealed the details of the U.S. larger surveillance program, Xkeyscore. The surveillance program, called Xkeyscore, "covers almost all online information" and can "collect the widest range of Internet data," including emails, website information, searches and chat history, and more. The "Xkeyscore" program has helped U.S. intelligence agencies capture hundreds of terrorist suspects, but there are still great concerns about such a large-scale surveillance program.
Snowden said he had the opportunity to use the "Xkeyscore" program when he was employed by the National Security Agency (NSA). He has described that with the appropriate email address, he can monitor anyone, down to ordinary people to judges and presidents.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > secondary exposure</h1>
Exposing "Core Secrets"
On October 10, 2014, Edward Snowden again broke the news, revealing the highest level of "core secret" operations of the US National Security Agency (NSA), saying that the N.S.A. had stationed spies in China, Germany, South Korea and other countries, and destroyed and invaded network equipment through "physical sabotage".
The N.S.A.'s surveillance programs against China also have the support of the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation ,F.B.I., and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), largely thanks to cross-intelligence system cooperation brought about by the Osprey Sentinel program. To ask what an "Osprey Whistle" is, you have to mention "Eagle Sentinel."
From the classified documents exposed by Snowden, it can be seen that the US National Security Agency not only remotely monitors through the network, but also mines the secrets of other countries through the "human intelligence" project in the form of "targeted attacks". Snowden's latest revelations reaffirm that the United States is the world's number one cyber eavesdropper and attacker. Over the years, relying on its core technology and global Internet infrastructure, the United States has continuously carried out large-scale, organized and premeditated cyber eavesdropping and surveillance activities against foreign governments, enterprises and individuals.
On February 19, 2015, the British newspaper The Guardian reported that Edward Snowden, a former employee of the US Central Intelligence Agency, disclosed information showing that the intelligence agencies of the United States and britain had hacked into Gemalto, the world's largest mobile phone SIM card manufacturer, giving them unrestricted access to billions of mobile phones around the world.
On May 24, 2015, Snowden broke the news that the website "Interception" and Canadian Radio and Television News jointly disclosed that documents provided by Snowden, the discloser of the US "Prism" program, showed that the intelligence services of the United States and its allies planned to intercept the data connection between smartphones and the Google App Store in order to infect mobile phones with malware and obtain mobile phone user information.
Exposure monitor gate
On March 5, 2015, the New Zealand mainstream media "New Zealand Herald" published documents believed to be provided by Edward Snowden, the whistleblower of the US "Prism Gate", showing that the New Zealand intelligence agency, the Government Communications Security Agency, was responsible for collecting intelligence from countries in the South Pacific region, including Solomon Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Tonga, Vanuatu, Nauru and Samoa, in the "Five Eyes" intelligence surveillance alliance, and sharing relevant information with the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia.
Exposure of British and American intelligence units
Snowden, a former employee of the US National Security Agency contractor, pointed out in an interview with the media a few days ago that the new technology invested heavily by the British intelligence agency government communications headquarters can invade the people's mobile phones to steal personal data information, and the parties are completely unaware.
Edward Snowden, who is now in exile in Russia, pointed out in an interview with the BBC that the government communications headquarters (GCHQ) can send a passwordd text message to the cell phone of the prisoner, and then use it to take photos and eavesdrop.
Snowden said that both the UK government communications headquarters and the US National Security Agency have invested heavily in technology that can "hack" smartphones, "they want to control your phones."
He said that through these new technologies, British and American intelligence agencies can turn on or off mobile phones and intercept information at the same time, and the owner of the mobile phone is unaware that if the mobile phone is placed in the pocket of the person's clothes, the intelligence unit can turn on the microphone, eavesdrop on all nearby conversations, and even if the mobile phone is turned off, it can be turned on from a distance. Not only that, but the intelligence unit can also find the location of the holder through the smartphone, and it is quite accurate.
In the interview, Snowden did not accuse the British government communications headquarters or the US National Security Agency of using this new technology to collect a large amount of private communication data from the public, but reminded the public of attention. The government's communications headquarters would not comment on Snowden's revelations.
< h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > character evaluation</h1>
"Snowden did heroic feats at the expense of the NSA's Prism Program when exposing the NSA's 'Prism Project', and his personal actions made the world a better and safer place" (Professor of Sociology at Yomel University in Sweden recommended Snowden as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize).
"He is not a hero", "he is actually a pompous narcissist who should be imprisoned." As far as Verizon's surveillance records of communications (disclosed eavesdropping projects) are concerned, these are legitimate and authoritative government projects, and Snowden himself should know their legality; Because in the documents he leaked, there were decrees showing its legitimacy. What he exposes is not something illegal, but only something that violates his personal moral standards. The question is, if government employees (and contractors) wantonly sabotage government projects based on their personal likes and dislikes, will the country still function properly?" (The New Yorker)
He claimed to be willing to return to china and go to prison. In an interview with a BBC program, Snowden admitted that he was willing to make a deal with Washington to allow him to return to the United States, including imprisonment, but the other party has not responded.
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