Government Surveillance
From the NSA to Five Eyes — how governments monitor their citizens and the debate over security versus liberty.
The Snowden Revelations
In June 2013, former NSA contractor Edward Snowden leaked thousands of classified documents revealing the scale of government surveillance. The programs he exposed — PRISM, XKeyscore, Tempora — showed that intelligence agencies were collecting bulk metadata on phone calls, tapping internet backbone cables, and compelling tech companies to hand over user data.
The revelations shocked the public. PRISM allowed the NSA to access data from Google, Facebook, Apple, and other tech giants. XKeyscore could search nearly everything a user did on the internet. The UK's GCHQ, through its Tempora program, was tapping undersea fiber optic cables to intercept communications in bulk.
Snowden fled to Russia, where he remains. He is simultaneously celebrated as a whistleblower who exposed unconstitutional surveillance and condemned as a traitor who endangered national security. His case raises fundamental questions about the balance between transparency and secrecy in a democracy.