Post-Snowden Era - Surveillance Revelations

June 2013

Edward Snowden, an NSA contractor, leaked thousands of classified documents revealing the scope of global surveillance programs. The revelations fundamentally changed public understanding of government surveillance capabilities.

Key Revelations

PRISM

Direct access to tech company data

NSA

XKEYSCORE

Search nearly everything online

NSA

Tempora

Undersea cable tapping

GCHQ

Bulk Metadata

All phone records collected

NSA

Impact

Encryption AdoptionHTTPS, E2E encryption became mainstream

Tech ResponseApple, Google enabled default encryption

Legal ChangesUSA FREEDOM Act, limited reforms

Public AwarenessMass surveillance no longer "conspiracy theory"

Privacy ToolsSignal, Tor usage increased dramatically

Before vs After

Aspect	Pre-Snowden	Post-Snowden
HTTPS Adoption	~30% of sites	~95% of sites
E2E Messaging	Niche (PGP)	Mainstream (Signal)
Public Perception	"Conspiracy theory"	Documented fact
Default Encryption	Rare	Standard practice

Ongoing Challenges

!

Surveillance Continues: Despite reforms, mass surveillance programs persist. New threats include client-side scanning proposals, expansion of police surveillance tech, and growing corporate data collection. The fight for privacy is far from over.

Snowden's Message

On Privacy

"Arguing that you don't care about privacy
because you have nothing to hide is no different
than saying you don't care about free speech
because you have nothing to say."

— Edward Snowden

The Post-Snowden Era