It was the day his life changed for ever. When Edward Snowden blew the whistle on mass surveillance by the US government, he traded a comfortable existence in Hawaii for indefinite exile.
Ten years after Snowden executed the biggest National Security Agency (NSA) leak in history, it is less clear whether America underwent a profound transformation in its attitude to safeguarding individual privacy. Was his act of self-sacrifice worth it? Did Snowden make a difference?
“I wish things had changed more than they have,” said Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University in New York.
“I would say that the Snowden disclosures made a huge difference to how informed public debate is about the government’s surveillance activities.”
Snowden grew up in North Carolina and suburban Washington, where he developed an early obsession with technology, which led him to a career as a
