While working for American intelligence agencies, Edward Snowden was active on internet forums where he anonymously advocated against citizen surveillance and corporate greed.
During the eight years he worked for the CIA and then for the National Security Agency (NSA), he posted hundreds of messages on an internet forum under a pseudonym.
-I cannot expect to change the way things are done through complaints, writing letters, or blowing things up- wrote Snowden in 2003 in response to a discussion about corporate greed on the online forum Ars Technica.
-That is not how a good man acts. However, I will do what I can with the resources available to me- he wrote.
Snowden (29) revealed to the media classified information about American surveillance of phone and internet communications to alert the public regarding what is being done in its name.
Last week, Snowden disclosed that American agencies collect millions of data from phone communications and the internet worldwide. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it has launched an investigation into the leak of information and that Snowden is subject to prosecution.
An online petition for Snowden’s pardon from prosecution has been signed by 30 thousand people in America. At the same time, in a Washington Post poll, the majority of Americans responded that they support communication surveillance if its goal is to combat terrorism.
Snowden, who arrived in Hong Kong on May 20, checked out of his hotel in Hong Kong on Monday and has since disappeared. However, it is assumed that he is still in the Hong Kong area.
Hong Kong has an extradition treaty with the United States, but the process of potential extradition could take months and be blocked from Beijing.
