This is some information on Edward Snowden, this code was written for testing purposes and the content was copy/pasted from
Wikipedia,
the original link and information can be found in it's entirety here.
This page is an experiement so I realize the formatting is poor, thank you.
(born June 21, 1983) is an American and naturalized Russian former computer intelligence consultant who leaked highly classified information from the National Security Agency (NSA) in 2013, when he was an employee and subcontractor. His disclosures revealed numerous global surveillance programs, many run by the NSA and the Five Eyes Intelligence Alliance with the cooperation of telecommunication companies and European governments and prompted a cultural discussion about national security and individual privacy.
In 2013, Snowden was hired by an NSA contractor, Booz Allen Hamilton, after previous employment with Dell and the CIA.[4] Snowden says he gradually became disillusioned with the programs with which he was involved, and that he tried to raise his ethical concerns through internal channels but was ignored. On May 20, 2013, Snowden flew to Hong Kong after leaving his job at an NSA facility in Hawaii, and in early June he revealed thousands of classified NSA documents to journalists Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras, Barton Gellman, and Ewen MacAskill. Snowden came to international attention after stories based on the material appeared in The Guardian, The Washington Post, and other publications. Snowden also made extensive allegations against the GCSB, blowing the whistle of their domestic surveillance of New Zealanders and acts of espionage under John Key's government.[5][6]
On June 21, 2013, the United States Department of Justice unsealed charges against Snowden of two counts of violating the Espionage Act of 1917 and theft of government property,[7] following which the Department of State revoked his passport.[8] Two days later, he flew into Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport, where Russian authorities observed the canceled passport, and he was restricted to the airport terminal for over one month. Russia later granted Snowden the right of asylum with an initial visa for residence for one year, which was subsequently repeatedly extended. In October 2020, he was granted permanent residency in Russia.[9] In September 2022, Snowden was granted Russian citizenship by President Vladimir Putin,[10] and on 2 December 2022 he swore the oath of allegiance.[11]
A subject of controversy, Snowden has been variously called a traitor,[12] a hero,[13] a whistleblower,[14] a dissident,[15] a coward,[16] and a patriot.[17] U.S. officials condemned his actions as having done "grave damage" to the U.S. intelligence capabilities.[18] Snowden has defended his leaks as an effort "to inform the public as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them."[19] His disclosures have fueled debates over mass surveillance, government secrecy, and the balance between national security and information privacy, something that he has said he intended to do in retrospective interviews.[20]
In early 2016, Snowden became the president of the Freedom of the Press Foundation, a San Francisco–based nonprofit organization that aims to protect journalists from hacking and government surveillance.[21] He also has a job at an unnamed Russian IT company.[22] In 2017, he married Lindsay Mills. "I have to lay my head down in Moscow on a pillow at night," he told an Israeli audience in November 2018, "but I live on the internet and every other city in the world."[23] On September 17, 2019, his memoir Permanent Record was published.[24] On September 2, 2020, a U.S. federal court ruled in United States v. Moalin that the U.S. intelligence's mass surveillance program exposed by Snowden was illegal and possibly unconstitutional.[25]
Release of NSA documents
Snowden's decision to leak NSA documents developed gradually following his March 2007 posting as a technician to the Geneva CIA station.[118] Snowden later made contact with Glenn Greenwald, a journalist working at The Guardian.[119] He contacted Greenwald anonymously as "Cincinnatus"[120][121] and said he had sensitive documents that he would like to share.[122] Greenwald found the measures that the source asked him to take to secure their communications, such as encrypting email, too annoying to employ. Snowden then contacted documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras in January 2013.[123] According to Poitras, Snowden chose to contact her after seeing her New York Times article about NSA whistleblower William Binney.[124] What originally attracted Snowden to Greenwald and Poitras was a Salon article written by Greenwald detailing how Poitras's controversial films had made her a target of the government.[122]
Greenwald began working with Snowden in either February[125] or April 2013, after Poitras asked Greenwald to meet her in New York City, at which point Snowden began providing documents to them.[119] Barton Gellman, writing for The Washington Post, says his first direct contact was on May 16, 2013.[126] According to Gellman, Snowden approached Greenwald after the Post declined to guarantee publication within 72 hours of all 41 PowerPoint slides that Snowden had leaked exposing the PRISM electronic data mining program, and to publish online an encrypted code allowing Snowden to later prove that he was the source.[126]
Snowden communicated using encrypted email,[123] and going by the codename "Verax". He asked not to be quoted at length for fear of identification by stylometry.[126]
According to Gellman, before their first meeting in person, Snowden wrote, "I understand that I will be made to suffer for my actions and that the return of this information to the public marks my end."[126] Snowden also told Gellman that until the articles were published, the journalists working with him would also be at mortal risk from the United States Intelligence Community "if they think you are the single point of failure that could stop this disclosure and make them the sole owner of this information."[126]
In May 2013, Snowden was permitted temporary leave from his position at the NSA in Hawaii, on the pretext of receiving treatment for his epilepsy.[19] In mid-May, Snowden gave an electronic interview to Poitras and Jacob Appelbaum which was published weeks later by Der Spiegel.[127]
After disclosing the copied documents, Snowden promised that nothing would stop subsequent disclosures. In June 2013, he said, "All I can say right now is the US government is not going to be able to cover this up by jailing or murdering me. Truth is coming, and it cannot be stopped."[128]
Publication
On May 20, 2013, Snowden flew to Hong Kong,[129] where he was staying when the initial articles based on the leaked documents were published,[130] beginning with The Guardian on June 5.[131] Greenwald later said Snowden disclosed 9,000 to 10,000 documents.[132]
Within months, documents had been obtained and published by media outlets worldwide, most notably The Guardian (Britain), Der Spiegel (Germany), The Washington Post and The New York Times (U.S.), O Globo (Brazil), Le Monde (France), and similar outlets in Sweden, Canada, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, and Australia.[133] In 2014, NBC broke its first story based on the leaked documents.[134] In February 2014, for reporting based on Snowden's leaks, journalists Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras, Barton Gellman and The Guardian′s Ewen MacAskill were honored as co-recipients of the 2013 George Polk Award, which they dedicated to Snowden.[135] The NSA reporting by these journalists also earned The Guardian and The Washington Post the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service[136] for exposing the "widespread surveillance" and for helping to spark a "huge public debate about the extent of the government's spying". The Guardian's chief editor, Alan Rusbridger, credited Snowden for having performed a public service.[137]
Flight from the United States
Hong Kong
In May 2013, Snowden quit his job, telling his supervisors he required epilepsy treatment, but instead fled the United States for Hong Kong on May 10. He chose Hong Kong because at the time “they have a spirited commitment to free speech and the right of political dissent”.[19][195] Snowden had been in his room at the Mira Hotel since his arrival in the city, rarely going out.[196]
Hong Kong rally to support Snowden, June 15, 2013
Snowden vowed to challenge any extradition attempt by the U.S. government, and engaged a Hong Kong-based Canadian human rights lawyer Robert Tibbo as a legal adviser.[4][197][198] Snowden told the South China Morning Post that he planned to remain in Hong Kong for as long as its government would permit.[199][200] Snowden also told the Post that "the United States government has committed a tremendous number of crimes against Hong Kong [and] the PRC as well,"[201] going on to identify Chinese Internet Protocol addresses that the NSA monitored and stating that the NSA collected text-message data for Hong Kong residents. Glenn Greenwald said Snowden was motivated by a need to "ingratiate himself to the people of Hong Kong and China."[202]
After leaving the Mira Hotel, Snowden was housed for two weeks in several apartments by other refugees seeking asylum in Hong Kong, an arrangement set up by Tibbo to hide from the US authorities.[203][204]
The Russian newspaper Kommersant nevertheless reported that Snowden was living at the Russian consulate shortly before his departure from Hong Kong to Moscow.[205] Ben Wizner, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and legal adviser to Snowden, said in January 2014, "Every news organization in the world has been trying to confirm that story. They haven't been able to, because it's false."[206] Likewise rejecting the Kommersant story was Anatoly Kucherena, who became Snowden's lawyer in July 2013 when Snowden asked him for help in seeking temporary asylum in Russia.[207] Kucherena said Snowden did not communicate with Russian diplomats while he was in Hong Kong.[208][209] In early September 2013, however, Russian president Vladimir Putin said that, a few days before boarding a plane to Moscow, Snowden met in Hong Kong with Russian diplomatic representatives.[210][211]
On June 22, 18 days after the publication of Snowden's NSA documents began, officials revoked his U.S. passport.[212] On June 23, Snowden boarded a commercial Aeroflot flight, SU213, to Moscow, accompanied by Sarah Harrison of WikiLeaks, with an intended final destination of Ecuador due to an Ecuadorian emergency travel document that Snowden had acquired. However Snowden became initially stranded in Russia upon his landing in Moscow when his U.S. passport was revoked.[213][214][215] Hong Kong authorities said that Snowden had not been detained for the U.S. because the request had not fully complied with Hong Kong law,[216][217] and there was no legal basis to prevent Snowden from leaving.[218][219][Notes 1] On June 24, a U.S. State Department spokesman rejected the explanation of technical noncompliance, accusing the Hong Kong government of deliberately releasing a fugitive despite a valid arrest warrant and after having sufficient time to prohibit his travel.[222] That same day, Julian Assange said that WikiLeaks had paid for Snowden's lodging in Hong Kong and his flight out.[223] Assange also asked Fidel Narváez, consul at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, to sign an emergency travel document for Snowden. Snowden said that having the document gave him "the confidence, the courage to get on that plane to begin the journey".[215]
In October 2013, Snowden said that before flying to Moscow, he gave all the classified documents he had obtained to journalists he met in Hong Kong and kept no copies for himself.[118] In January 2014, he told a German TV interviewer that he gave all of his information to American journalists reporting on American issues.[65] During his first American TV interview, in May 2014, Snowden said he had protected himself from Russian leverage by destroying the material he had been holding before landing in Moscow.[30]
In January 2019, Vanessa Rodel, one of the refugees who had housed Snowden in Hong Kong, and her 7-year-old daughter were granted asylum by Canada.[224] In 2021, Supun Thilina Kellapatha, Nadeeka Dilrukshi Nonis and their children found refuge in Canada, leaving only one of Snowden's Hong Kong helpers waiting for asylum.[225]
Russia
Ecuador embassy car at Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow on June 23, 2013
On June 23, 2013, Snowden landed at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport.[226] WikiLeaks said he was on a circuitous but safe route to asylum in Ecuador.[227] Snowden had a seat reserved to continue to Cuba[228] but did not board that onward flight, saying in a January 2014 interview that he intended to transit through Russia but was stopped en route. He said "a planeload of reporters documented the seat I was supposed to be in" when he was ticketed for Havana, but the U.S. canceled his passport.[206] He said the U.S. wanted him to stay in Moscow so "they could say, 'He's a Russian spy.'"[79] Greenwald's account differed on the point of Snowden being already ticketed. According to Greenwald, Snowden's passport was valid when he departed Hong Kong but was revoked during the hours he was in transit to Moscow, preventing him from obtaining a ticket to leave Russia. Greenwald said Snowden was thus forced to stay in Moscow and seek asylum.[229]
According to one Russian report, Snowden planned to fly from Moscow through Havana to Latin America; however, Cuba told Moscow it would not allow the Aeroflot plane carrying Snowden to land.[208] The Russian newspaper Kommersant reported that Cuba had a change of heart after receiving pressure from U.S. officials,[230] leaving him stuck in the transit zone because at the last minute Havana told officials in Moscow not to allow him on the flight.[231] The Washington Post contrasted this version with what it called "widespread speculation" that Russia never intended to let Snowden proceed.[232] Fidel Castro called claims that Cuba would have blocked Snowden's entry a "lie" and a "libel."[228] Describing Snowden's arrival in Moscow as a surprise and likening it to "an unwanted Christmas gift,"[233] Russian president Putin said that Snowden remained in the transit area of Sheremetyevo Airport, had committed no crime in Russia, was free to leave and should do so.[234][233]
Following Snowden's arrival in Moscow, the White House expressed disappointment in Hong Kong's decision to allow him to leave.[235][236][222] An anonymous U.S. official not authorized to discuss the matter told the Associated Press Snowden's passport had been revoked before he left Hong Kong, but that a senior official in a country or airline could order subordinates to overlook the withdrawn passport.[237] U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said that Snowden's passport was canceled "within two hours" of the charges against Snowden being made public[8] which was Friday, June 21.[7] In a July 1 statement, Snowden said, "Although I am convicted of nothing, [the U.S. government] has unilaterally revoked my passport, leaving me a stateless person. Without any judicial order, the administration now seeks to stop me exercising a basic right. A right that belongs to everybody. The right to seek asylum."[238]
Four countries offered Snowden permanent asylum: Ecuador, Nicaragua, Bolivia, and Venezuela.[239] No direct flights between Moscow and Venezuela, Bolivia, or Nicaragua existed, however, and the U.S. pressured countries along his route to hand him over. Snowden said in July 2013 that he decided to bid for asylum in Russia because he felt there was no safe way to reach Latin America.[240] Snowden said he remained in Russia because "when we were talking about possibilities for asylum in Latin America, the United States forced down the Bolivian president's plane", citing the Morales plane incident. According to Snowden, "the CIA has a very powerful presence [in Latin America] and the governments and the security services there are relatively much less capable than, say, Russia.... they could have basically snatched me...."[241] On the issue, he said "some governments in Western European and North American states have demonstrated a willingness to act outside the law, and this behavior persists today. This unlawful threat makes it impossible for me to travel to Latin America and enjoy the asylum granted there in accordance with our shared rights."[242] Snowden said that he would travel from Russia if there was no interference from the U.S. government.[206]
Four months after Snowden received asylum in Russia, Julian Assange commented: "While Venezuela and Ecuador could protect him in the short term, over the long term there could be a change in government. In Russia, he's safe, he's well-regarded, and that is not likely to change. That was my advice to Snowden, that he would be physically safest in Russia."[243]
In an October 2014 interview with The Nation magazine, Snowden reiterated that he had originally intended to travel to Latin America: "A lot of people are still unaware that I never intended to end up in Russia." According to Snowden, the U.S. government "waited until I departed Hong Kong to cancel my passport in order to trap me in Russia." Snowden added, "If they really wanted to capture me, they would've allowed me to travel to Latin America because the CIA can operate with impunity down there. They did not want that; they chose to keep me in Russia."[244]
On June 14, 2013, United States federal prosecutors filed a criminal complaint[286] against Snowden, charging him with three felonies: theft of government property and two counts of violating the Espionage Act of 1917 (18 U. S. C. Sect. 792 et. seq.; Publ. L. 65-24) through unauthorized communication of national defense information and willful communication of classified communications intelligence information to an unauthorized person.[7][283]
Specifically, the charges filed in the Criminal Complaint were:
18 U.S.C. 641 Theft of Government Property
18 U.S.C. 793(d) Unauthorized Communication of National Defense Information
18 U.S.C. 798(a)(3) Willful Communication of Classified Intelligence Information to an Unauthorized Person
Each of the three charges carries a maximum possible prison term of ten years. The criminal complaint was initially secret but was unsealed a week later.
Main article: Edward Snowden asylum in Russia
On June 23, 2013, Snowden landed at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport aboard a commercial Aeroflot flight from Hong Kong.[293][213][294] After 39 days in the transit section, he left the airport on August 1 and was granted temporary asylum in Russia for one year by the Federal Migration Service.[295]
Snowden had the choice to apply for renewal of his temporary refugee status for 12 months or requesting a permit for temporary stay for three years.[296] A year later, his temporary refugee status having expired, Snowden received a three-year temporary residency permit allowing him to travel freely within Russia and to go abroad for up to three months. He was not granted permanent political asylum.[297] In 2017, his temporary residency permit was extended for another three years.[9][298]
In December 2013, Snowden told journalist Barton Gellman that supporters in Silicon Valley had donated enough bitcoins for him to live on.[299] (A single bitcoin was then worth about $1,000.[22]) In 2017, Snowden secretly married Lindsay Mills.[300] By 2019, he no longer felt the need to be disguised in public and lived what was described by The Guardian as a "more or less normal life." He was able to travel around Russia and make a living from speaking arrangements, locally and over the internet.[300]
Snowden's memoir Permanent Record was released internationally on September 17, 2019, and while U.S. royalties were expected to be seized, he was able to receive an advance[300] of $4.2 million.[22] The memoir reached the top position on Amazon's bestseller list that day.[301] Snowden said his work for the NSA and CIA showed him that the United States Intelligence Community (IC) had "hacked the Constitution", and that he had concluded there was no option for him but to expose his revelations via the press. In the memoir he wrote, "I realized that I was crazy to have imagined that the Supreme Court, or Congress, or President Obama, seeking to distance his administration from President George W. Bush's, would ever hold the IC legally responsible – for anything".[302] Of Russia he said, "One of the things that is lost in all the problematic politics of the Russian government is the fact this is one of the most beautiful countries in the world" with "friendly" and "warm" people.[300]
Snowden has also used the pseudonym John Dobbertin (after cryptographer Hans Dobbertin). In 2016, from Russia, Snowden participated in the creation ceremony of the zcash cryptocurrency as John Dobbertin, by briefly holding a part of the private cryptographic key for the zcash genesis block, before destroying it.[303]
On November 1, 2019, new amendments took effect introducing a permanent residence permit for the first time and removing the requirement to renew the pre-2019 so-called "permanent" residence permit every five years.[304][305] The new permanent residence permit must be replaced three times in a lifetime like an ordinary internal passport for Russian citizens.[306] In accordance with that law, Snowden was in October 2020 granted permanent residence in Russia instead of another extension.[9][307]
In April 2020, an amendment to Russian nationality law allowing foreigners to obtain Russian citizenship without renouncing a foreign citizenship came into force.[308] In November 2020, Snowden announced that he and his wife, Lindsay, who was expecting their son in late December, were applying for dual U.S.-Russian citizenship in order not to be separated from him "in this era of pandemics and closed borders."[309] On September 26, 2022, President Vladimir Putin granted Snowden Russian citizenship.[1][2] The couple by then had two young sons born in Russia.[1]
