»NSA Contractor Outs Himself as Source of Surveillance Documents
Edward Snowden, a former technical employee for the CIA and current contractor for the NSA, has outed himself as the source of a string of explosive documents describing NSA surveillance activities against U.S. citizens and foreign targets.
The 29-year-old, who now works for the defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton on projects for the NSA, revealed himself as the source of documents about the NSA’s collection of phone records belonging to millions of Americans as well as a surveillance program called PRISM that targets the internet communications and activities of foreign targets.[…]“I have no intention of hiding who I am because I know I have done nothing wrong,” Snowden said in the interview, conducted last Thursday. He added, “I am not afraid, because this is the choice I’ve made.”[…]Snowden said he was willing to sacrifice his career and the stable life he has with a girlfriend in Hawaii “because I can’t in good conscience allow the US government to destroy privacy, internet freedom and basic liberties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine they’re secretly building.”[…]«
Nachtrag: Heise hat es jetzt auch.
»[…]Snowden beschrieb im Guardian dagegen sogar noch eine größere Dimension der Datensammlung als die von ihm enthüllten Dokumente andeuten: »Die NSA hat eine Infrastruktur aufgebaut, die ihr erlaubt, fast alles abzufangen.« Damit werde der Großteil der menschlichen Kommunikation automatisch aufgesaugt. »Wenn ich in ihre E-Mails oder in das Telefon ihrer Frau hineinsehen wollte, müsste ich nur die abgefangenen Daten aufrufen. Ich kann ihre E-Mails, Passwörter, Gesprächsdaten, Kreditkarteninformationen bekommen.«[…]«