NSA whistleblower who leaked major US electronic spying operations within and outside the country has further exposed US the spy agency\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s involvement in massive hacking against China and Hong Kong.\n<\/p>\n
Pointing to the \u00cb\u0153extensive hacking operations\u00e2\u201e\u00a2 by the US in a Thursday interview with the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post<\/i> newspaper, Edward Snowden reportedly told the daily he wanted to show \u00c5\u201cthe hypocrisy of the US government when it claims that it does not target civilian infrastructure, unlike its adversaries.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Snowden\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s new assertions about American cyber attack operations against China seriously undermines Obama administration\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s recent publicity campaign on what it alleges to be massive hacking operations by the Chinese military to \u00c5\u201csteal\u201d American corporate and government secrets.\n<\/p>\n
Snowden, 29, a former contract employee for the National Security Agency (NSA), told the Hong Kong daily that the agency ran 61,000 hacking operations, with \u00c5\u201chundreds of targets\u201d in China and Hong Kong, according to a Los Angeles Times<\/i> report on Thursday.\n<\/p>\n
The hacking operations, Snowden added, had been in place since 2009 \u00c5\u201cand targeted the Chinese University of Hong Kong, public officials, businesses and students.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
He further emphasized, \u00c5\u201cWe hack network backbones — like huge Internet routers, basically — that give us access to the communications of hundreds of thousands of computers without having to hack every single one.\u201d <\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The interview was reportedly the first public comments made by Snowden since Monday, when he checked out of the Hong Kong hotel where he had been staying.<\/p>\n
Snowden admitted on Sunday that he was the primary source of unauthorized disclosures of highly classified US telephone and Internet surveillance systems, describing the US spying capabilities “horrifying.”\n<\/p>\n
Snowden also told the Hong Kong daily that he intended to fight extradition and remain there as long as possible.\n<\/p>\n
“I have had many opportunities to flee Hong Kong, but I would rather stay and fight the United States government in the courts, because I have faith in Hong Kong\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s rule of law,” he said. “My intention is to ask the courts and people of Hong Kong to decide my fate. I have been given no reason to doubt your system.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Snowden has also been offered possible political asylum in Russia and Iceland, according to recent press reports.<\/p>\n
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