Surveillance whistleblower Edward Snowden hiding in Hong Kong
The 29-year-old employee of defence contractor Booz Allen Hamilton has revealed his identity and location in a series of interviews published today. "I have no intention of hiding who I am because I know I have done nothing wrong," he told The Guardian.
One of America's most consequential whistleblowers, Edward Snowden, came out of hiding in Hong Kong on Monday.
"I have no intention of hiding who I am because I know I have done nothing wrong," he told the British daily after he exposed secret surveillance programs run by the National Security Agency. He showed documents to The Guardian which included details of:
- how the NSA collects and stores the phone records of hundreds of millions of Americans
- exploits data from the world's largest Internet companies with their apparent co-operation
Snowden is said to have arrived in Hong Kong on May 20 from his home in Hawaii. He has been staying at an unnamed "plush hotel" ever since, running up high bills and leaving the room "maybe a total of three times".
He chose the city, he said, because Hong Kong had "a spirit commitment to free speech and the right of political dissent."
"I think it is really tragic that an American has to move to a place that has a reputation for less freedom," he said. "Still, Hong Kong has a reputation for freedom in spite of the People's Republic of China."
Hong Kong could refuse to extradite Snowden if Beijng wanted to keep him, according to a treaty signed between the United States and Hong Kong almost two decades ago.