Former CIA contractor Edward Snowden has carried out one of the biggest leaks in US history, exposing a top-secret NSA surveillance program to the media. Leading tech companies were revealed to be involved in intelligence gathering through PRISM spy tool.
16:29 GMT: Despite the rainy weather, around 20 people
have gathered at New York’s Union Square in a rally to support of
Edward Snowden.
16:29 GMT: Despite the rainy weather, around 20 people
have gathered at New York’s Union Square in a rally to support of
Edward Snowden.
16:01 GMT: A petition on the White House’s We The People
website titled “Pardon Edward Snowden” has collected more
than 15,100 digital signatures, calling on the US government to
grant the whistleblower “full, free, and absolute pardon for
any crimes he has committed or may have committed related to
blowing the whistle on secret NSA surveillance programs.”
Another petition on Change.org, which urged Iceland
to grant Snowden a political asylum, has so far collected 50
digital signatures.
15:56 GMT: British Foreign Secretary William Hague denied
claims that the country’s security agencies had circumvented UK
law by using information gathered on British citizens through the
secret US spy program PRISM.
“This accusation is baseless,” Hague told parliament.
“Any data obtained by us from the United States involving UK
nationals is subject to proper UK statutory controls and
safeguards.”
“Our agencies practice and uphold UK law at all times, even when
dealing with information from outside the United Kingdom,” he
added.
15:26 GMT: A receptionist at the Honk Kong’s Mira Hotel told
the Washington Post newspaper that a guest named, Edward Snowden,
has been staying there, but checked out on Monday.
14:31 GMT: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has
cancelled a planned photo op with Hong Kong chief executive Leung
Chun-ying.
“It would have been a circus, so we decided to catch up with
him another time,” a mayoral spokesperson told the Guardian,
as Hong Kong is where whistleblower Edward Snowden fled.
On Sunday, the Guardian newspaper revealed the source behind its
series of publications on the US National Security Agency, which
became on the biggest leaks in US political history.
Former CIA contractor, Edward Snowden, said that making the truth
public was “a matter of principle” and he had no intention
to hide his identity. The 29-year-old then left America for Honk
Kong fearing prosecution by US authorities.
The top-secret documents, Snowden leaked to the journalists,
proved the existence of an extensive US National Security
Agency’s spying program called PRISM, which was designed to
collect information about digital communications, allowing
real-time online surveillance of US citizens. The intelligence
was also revealed to be collected by and shared with other
governments.
This article originally appeared on: RT