Edward Snowden, born on this day in 1983, is an American whistleblower who leaked highly classified information from the NSA in 2013 when he was working as a CIA employee, exposing multiple governments' widespread surveillance programs.

Snowden's disclosures revealed numerous global surveillance programs, many run by the NSA and the Five Eyes Intelligence Alliance with the cooperation of telecommunication companies and European governments, prompting a cultural discussion about national security and individual privacy.

In 2013, the United States Department of Justice unsealed charges against Snowden of two counts of violating the Espionage Act of 1917 and theft of government property, revoking his passport. Two days later, he flew into a Moscow Airport, where Russian authorities noted that his U.S. passport had been canceled, and he could not leave the airport terminal for over one month.

Russia later granted Snowden the right of asylum with an initial visa for residence for one year, and he continues to reside there on extension today.

"Being called a traitor by Dick Cheney is the highest honor you can give to an American."

  • Edward Snowden

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  • BadPoetryWriter [comrade/them]
    ·
    1 year ago

    gay poem I wrote

    Were I there to wake with you, you

    would be my sunrise

    Resplendent, every morning new, when

    your light meets my eyes

    Graceful fingers tracing lines through

    pools of silken hair,

    sighing, basking in your glow,

    wondrous and fair

    and though the Sun must rise and set,

    ever on its way

    Your love shines for all to see, always,

    night and day

      • BadPoetryWriter [comrade/them]
        ·
        1 year ago

        Far apart, yet always near

        held in your heart,

        forever dear

        Though yearning is painful,

        have no fear-

        for wistful longing

        keeps your love here

        idk i'm not good at poetry, I hope you see them sooner than you think you will