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➡️ Read more: Snowden surveillance revelations take on added urgency 12 years later
By @laurenleharper.bsky.social
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12. Brought a level of attention to the importance of whistleblowing not seen since the Pentagon Papers days.
Pentagon Papers whistleblower, the late Daniel Ellsberg, was both an admirer of Snowden and a fellow FPF board member.
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11. Drove attention to the long-standing pattern of the government claiming leaks to the press will damage national security, when their real concern is that they’ll expose their wrongdoing and lies.
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10. Spurred stronger encryption technologies and provided more insight into technology companies’ role in the government’s surveillance efforts.
This has been accompanied by increased media coverage of government surveillance.
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9. Made Europe more cautious about data transfers between Europe and the U.S. and led to the U.K. mass surveillance program being declared unlawful by the European Court of Human Rights.
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8. Prompted President Barack Obama to tweak the way the government collects data of non-Americans.
This didn’t end surveillance of foreigners, but did add new protections for those non-U.S. citizens or residents living outside the U.S.
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7. Led to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence publishing an annual transparency report, including statistics around Section 702 queries, use of pen registers and trap and trace devices.
www.dni.gov/index.php/ne...
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6. Demonstrated the importance of an independent board to examine implications of surveillance.
Unfortunately, PCLOB’s work was brought to standstill by President Donald Trump’s firing of the Democratic members of the board.
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5. Prompted two of the most important reports issued by the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB): A report on the NSA’s warrantless surveillance program and a report on the collection of electronic communications under Section 702 of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
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4. Led to the appointment of “amici” (public advocates) to the FISC to help advocate for civil liberties in novel cases.
Their presence helps ensure that the FISC does not hear exclusively from the government.
fisc.uscourts.gov/amici-curiae
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3. Forced the public disclosure of some Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) opinions, providing greater transparency into the legal interpretation of surveillance activities.
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2. Revealed how government officials lied to Congress about surveillance, and how Congress misrepresented government surveillance to the public.
Congress has since taken steps to rein in surveillance authorities, including passing the USA Freedom Act.
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1. Killed the NSA’s program of mass surveillance of Americans’ phone records.
Snowden’s revelations were an integral catalyst for the legal challenges to the program, which was ultimately ruled unlawful.