Joseph Gordon-Levitt has a dilemma. His career as an actor and founder of the online community HitRecord requires him to garner loads of attention, something he hates.

"I'm pretty allergic to the way that actors' personal lives are often turned into fodder for entertainment," he told Business Insider. "I don't like people focusing on my personal life, my family, et cetera. That just makes me uncomfortable."

One of the worst offenders of his privacy, he said, is social media. On Thursday, Gordon-Levitt shared his distaste for Instagram and Twitter at the TED conference in Vancouver, Canada. Later, he told his fear of these platforms began a few years back, when he was studying up on the National Security Agency.

Read more: Gordon-Levitt explains that odd Edward Snowden voice he does in his new biopic

In 2016, Gordon-Levitt starred in a biographical thriller about Edward Snowden, the American whistleblower who leaked classified information showing that the NSA had been spying on everyday citizens.

To prepare for the role, Gordon-Levitt said he had to learn "quite a bit" about the US government's policy of mass surveillance, which some have seen as violating the Constitution.

"The more I looked into it, I was like, 'Oh man, what Google and Facebook are doing makes what the NSA is doing look like nothing,'" he told us. "That was actually a lot of what what started me down this line of thinking [about social media]."

In his TED talk, the actor described being "addicted" to Instagram, so much so that he began to compare his following to that of other actors. "I see that their number [of followers] is higher than mine and I feel terrible about myself," he said in his talk.

It's a problem he's continuing to sort through and he believes most of us, including Snowden, face the same conundrum.

After the NSA's mass-surveillance program was revealed in 2013, people criticized Snowden's actions as self-serving. In a piece entitled "Edward Snowden Is No Hero," the writer Jeffrey Toobin said the leaking of classified information "speaks more to his ego than his conscience."

Gordon-Levitt described Snowden as a human being who's "not immune" to the basic desire for attention.

"I've spent some time with Ed and I really believe that he was acting in what he sincerely thought was the best interest of the country," the actor told us. "Now, does every soldier have some part of them that's seeking glory? Sure."

The actor is less willing to extend the same grace to tech companies, which have profited from collecting users' personal data.

"It's not the technology; it's the business model," he told Business Insider. "You don't have to monetize a worldwide social-media platform by spying on everybody, manipulating their perspective by only showing them one particular view of the world."

In fact, while Gordon-Levitt acknowledged in his TED talk that he's "a complete hypocrite" for getting hooked on social media, he also said that Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are designed to prey on his insecurity.

"I've thought my whole life about why I am getting so much attention, and do I deserve that?" he said. "It seems that a lot of today's big social-media platforms have sort of taken advantage of this dynamic and used it to make a lot of money."

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Joseph Gordon-Levitt says that playing Edward Snowden ...

In the summer of 2013, a 29-year-old NSA analyst leaked thousands of documents to journalists at The Guardian and The Washington Post, launching a series of investigative articles that would change the way the world sees American spies forever.

Six years later, the leaker, Edward Snowden, is living under the protection of Vladimir Putins government in Russia. That, Snowden said as he sat down with Motherboard for our latest episode of the CYBER podcast, was a bit unexpected.

Growing up in the intelligence community, Russia is just this terrifying placeits Mordor, Snowden said, explaining that while he wasnt surprised to end up overseas, he did not expect to end up where he is.

I expected life was going to be a lot harder, Snowden said, laughing a bit nervously. I expected to end up in Guantanamo.

And in some ways, he added, life has actually become quite normal.

Snowden said that hes frustrated that people talk about him as if hes in hiding, but hes just sitting in his apartment in Moscow. The former NSA analyst reflected that his original plan was to flee to Ecuador and seek asylum there. And if John Kerry, the then Secretary of State, had not cancelled his passport when he got to Russia, I would be in Guantanamo right now or dead, given that Ecuador gave Assange up.

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The leaker also reflected on his current role as a media figure, admitting that, at this point, what he does and says is not that relevant anymore.

I dont matter, Snowden said, arguing that at this point he has no control over what he leaked, and no real impact on what happens to those documents. What happens to me doesnt really matter.

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When Edward Snowden was stranded in a Russian airport, before the government of Vladimir Putin granted him asylum, he turned to WikiLeaks and their lawyers for help. Since then, Snowden has inevitably been linked to WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange.

Naturally, when Snowden sat down with CYBER host Ben Makuch, we asked him what he thought about Assanges case. For Snowden, the story about Assanges arrest should focus more on Ecuadors motivations, and the fact that Assange is being held to a different standard than president Donald Trump. The former NSA analyst mentioned the fact that Ecuador got $4.2 billion in funds from the International Monetary Fund in early March as a sign the country was getting closer to the West, and in turn more inclined to give up Assange.

Journalists who have been covering the story havent really been looking at that, because Julian as an individual is such a tragically flawed figure, Snowden said.

Snowden also criticized people who changed their minds about Assange after the 2016 election.

A lot of Americans now hate Julian, he said. Even though the sort of people who are on the center to the left part of the spectrum had been singing his praises during the Bush administration, now theyre on the other side because of his unfortunate political choices in the 2016 elections.

Yet, Snowden defended Assanges journalism work in the lead up to the 2016 elections, arguing the leaked emails, which major media companies covered, showed that the Democratic Party tried to favor Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders. That, Snowden said, had profound public interest.

As Motherboard reported last week, the Department of Justice says that it isnt positive that Assange helped whistleblower Chelsea Manning crack a password hash in order to obtain cables related to the Iraq War, but that hes being charged with that crime anyway. Snowden juxtaposed his treatment with that of Trumps treatment in Robert Muellers report.

Mueller says it didnt actually result in obstruction because the people that Trump ordered to do this simply ignored him, Snowden said. The DOJs defense of not charging Trump is look he tried to commit a crime but he failed to actually do this. And at the same time theyre charging Julian Assange under precisely the opposite theory. Where they say Look, Julian may not have actually cracked a passwordwe dont have any evidence that he did, were not even going to try to prove that he did, were going to say that the agreement to try is enough.

Got a tip? You can contact this reporter securely on Signal at +1 917 257 1382, OTR chat at lorenzofb@jabber.ccc.de, or email lorenzofb@motherboard.tv

So this is a real question of a two-tiered system of justice. Where if youre the president and you try to commit a crime, you can skate, he added. Why is it that journalists are being held to a higher standard of behavior than the president of the United States?

Finally, Snowden attacked the Department of Justice for charging Assange with conspiracy to crack a password, a pretty low level infraction relative to the things Assange has been accused of in his life.

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Edward Snowden, the worlds most wanted geek, has helped develop plans for a smartphone case that could stop people becoming victims of digital surveillance.

In an online paper called Against The Law: Countering Lawful Abuses of Digital Surveillance, Snowden and Andrew Bunnie Huang outline plans to create a smartphone case that is able to display a notification and spark an alarm when the phones cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or other radio connections are sending and receiving data. It will also feature a kill switch that can forcibly disconnectpower to the phone if a signal is seen to be transmitting information without the users permission or knowledge. The case also obscures the rear camera lens to prevent the recording of videos.

The design is said to be able to work for any type of smartphone, although their paper was based around an iPhone 6. They have also made the plans for the device an open source so anyone can create it.

Snowden and Bunnie concluded the paper by saying if their prototypes are a success they will look to the Freedom of the Press Foundation to potentially fund production of them.

The inside of the modified iPhone that Edward Snowden and Andrew Huang toyed around. Image credit:Edward Snowden and Andrew Huang

It is primarily intended toprotect journalists, particularly those reporting from war zones or corresponding under regimes with strict censorship.For the many people working and living in these high-risk situations, this could be life-saving.In 2012, Sunday Times war correspondent Marie Colvin and French photojournalist Remi Ochli were killed after Syrian government forces were allegedly able to trace their position from their phones.

Speaking to WIRED, Snowden said that he has not carried a smartphone for three years, saying "wireless devices are kind of like kryptonite to me. In 2013, he exposed the extent of the NSAs global surveillance programs. The former-NSA employee is still in temporary asylum in Moscow following the United States filing a criminal complaint against him under the Espionage Act. Although still under threat from the US government, Snowden now leads the Freedom of the Press Foundation, a non-profit organization that hopes to raise public awareness about surveillance operations of governments and corporations, as well as offering support for journalists exposing governments.

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HONG KONG When the 42-year-old Filipino woman opened the door of her tiny Hong Kong apartment three years ago, two lawyers stood outside with a man she had never seen before. They explained that he needed a place to hide, and they introduced him as Edward Snowden.

The first time I see him, I dont know who he is, the woman, Vanessa Mae Bondalian Rodel, recalled in an interview. I dont have any idea.

Ms. Rodel is one of at least four residents of Hong Kong who took in Mr. Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor, when he fled the United States in June 2013. Only now have they decided to speak about the experience, revealing a new chapter in the odyssey that riveted the world after Mr. Snowden disclosed that the N.S.A. had been monitoring the calls, emails and web activity of millions of Americans and others.

At the time, governments and news outlets were scrambling to find the source of the leaks, which were published in The Guardian and The Washington Post. In an interview recorded in a hotel room, Mr. Snowden identified himself and revealed that he was in Hong Kong. Then he went into hiding. About two weeks later he turned up in Moscow.

It was never clear where Mr. Snowden was holed up during those critical days after leaving his room at the five-star Mira Hotel, when the United States was demanding his return. As it turns out, he was staying with Ms. Rodel and others like her men and women seeking political asylum in Hong Kong who live in cramped, substandard apartment blocks in some of the citys poorest districts.

They were all clients of one of Mr. Snowdens Hong Kong lawyers, Robert Tibbo, who arranged for him to stay with them.

Ms. Rodel said Mr. Snowden slept in her bedroom while she and her 1-year-old daughter moved into their apartments only other room. Not knowing what he would eat, she bought him an Egg McMuffin and an iced tea from McDonalds.

My first impression of his face was that he was scared, very worried, she recalled.

Ms. Rodel said her unexpected guest was using his computer all day, all night. She said that she did not have internet service but that Mr. Tibbo provided him with mobile access.

On Mr. Snowdens second day there, he asked Ms. Rodel whether she could buy him a copy of The South China Morning Post, the citys main English-language newspaper, she said. When she picked up the paper, she saw his picture on the front page.

Oh my God, unbelievable, she recalled saying to herself. The most wanted man in the world is in my house.

Jonathan Man, another of Mr. Snowdens lawyers in Hong Kong, said that he had initially considered hiding him in a warehouse but that he and Mr. Tibbo quickly dismissed the idea. Instead, after taking him to the United Nations office that handles refugee claims in Hong Kong and filing an application, they brought him to the apartment of a client seeking asylum.

It was clear that if Mr. Snowden was placed with a refugee family, this was the last place the government and the majority of Hong Kong society would expect him to be, Mr. Tibbo said. Nobody would look for him there. Even if they caught a glimpse of him, it was highly unlikely that they would recognize him.

There are about 11,000 registered asylum seekers living in Hong Kong, mostly from South and Southeast Asia. They generally cannot work legally and receive monthly stipends that rarely cover living costs.

Mr. Tibbo said he turned to these clients for help in part because he expected them to understand Mr. Snowdens plight. These were people who went through the same process when they were fleeing other countries, he said. They had to rely on other people for refuge, safety, comfort and support.

He noted that Mr. Snowden was not wanted by the Hong Kong police at the time and that he had advised his clients to cooperate with the police if they showed up. He said his clients had decided to come forward in the hope that the publicity would put pressure on the Hong Kong authorities to expedite their applications for refugee status and resettlement.

Ms. Rodel, who declined to say why she could not return to the Philippines, has been waiting nearly six years for a final decision on her application.

After a few days with Ms. Rodel and her daughter, Mr. Snowden spent a night with Ajith Pushpakumara, 44, who said he fled to Hong Kong after being chained to a wall and tortured for deserting the army in his native Sri Lanka.

Mr. Pushpakumara said he had listened to online radio broadcasts about Mr. Snowden and was surprised to suddenly find him in the dingy apartment that he shared with several men. He realized Mr. Snowden was in the same situation he was, hiding in a small room. I was worried about him, he said.

Supun Thilina Kellapatha, his wife and their toddler also sheltered Mr. Snowden, putting him up for about three days in their 250-square-foot apartment.

Mr. Kellapatha, 32, who said he sought protection in Hong Kong after being tortured in Sri Lanka, described their guest as a tired man who was unfailingly polite.

He said, You are a good man, when he arrived at the apartment, Mr. Kellapatha recalled. But I feel he is better than me, because he respected me.

Mr. Kellapatha and his wife, Nadeeka Dilrukshi Nonis, said they were not worried about hosting Mr. Snowden. I dont think I take the risk, he said. He is the one who take the big risk.

When Mr. Snowden left, he left the couple $200 under a pillow, which they said they used to buy necessities for their daughter. Sometimes I tell Supun, maybe he forgot us, Ms. Nonis said. I want to tell him: Edward, how are you? We will never forget you.

After fleeing Hong Kong, Mr. Snowden was granted asylum in Russia. He has been unable to leave that country because he is wanted on espionage charges in the United States, but he routinely speaks to the press and at international conferences on government surveillance and civil liberties via video conference. A feature film about his life is set to open later this month.

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After Edward Snowden Fled U.S., Asylum Seekers in Hong Kong ...

20 May Edward Snowden, an employee of defence contractor Booz Allen Hamilton at the National Security Agency, arrives in Hong Kong from Hawaii. He carries four laptop computers that enable him to gain access to some of the US government's most highly-classified secrets.

1 June Guardian journalists Glenn Greenwald and Ewen MacAskill and documentary maker Laura Poitras fly from New York to Hong Kong. They meet Snowden in a Kowloon hotel after he identifies himself with a Rubik's cube and begin a week of interviews with their source.

5 June The Guardian publishes its first exclusive based on Snowden's leak, revealing a secret court order showing that the US government had forced the telecoms giant Verizon to hand over the phone records of millions of Americans.

6 June A second story reveals the existence of the previously undisclosed programme Prism, which internal NSA documents claim gives the agency "direct access" to data held by Google, Facebook, Apple and other US internet giants. The tech companies deny that they have set up "back door access" to their systems for the US government.

7 June Barack Obama defends the two programmes, saying they are overseen by the courts and Congress. Insisting that "the right balance" had been struck between security and privacy, he says: "You can't have 100% security, and also then have 100% privacy and zero inconvenience."

The Guardian reports that GCHQ has been able to see user communications data from the American internet companies, because it had access to Prism.

8 June Another of Snowden's leaks reveals the existence of an internal NSA tool Boundless Informant that allows it to record and analyse where its data comes from, and raises questions about its repeated assurances to Congress that it cannot keep track of all the surveillance it performs on American communications.

9 June Snowden decides to go public. In a video interview he says: "I have no intention of hiding who I am because I know I have done nothing wrong."

10 June Snowden checks out of his Hong Kong hotel.

12 June Hong Kong's South China Morning Post publishes the first interview with Snowden since he revealed his identity. He says he intends to stay in the city until asked to leave and discloses that the NSA has been hacking into Hong Kong and Chinese computers since 2009.

14 June The Home Office instructs airlines not to allow Snowden to board any flights to the UK.

16 June The Guardian reports that GCHQ intercepted foreign politicians' communications at the 2009 G20 summit.

20 June Top secret documents published by the Guardian show how US judges have signed off on broad orders allowing the NSA to make use of information "inadvertently" collected from domestic US communications without a warrant.

21 June A Guardian exclusive reveals that GCHQ has gained access to the network of cables which carry the world's phone calls and internet traffic and is processing vast streams of sensitive personal information it shares with the NSA. The US files espionage charges against Snowden and requests that Hong Kong detain him for extradition.

23 June Snowden leaves Hong Kong on a flight to Moscow. In a statement, the Hong Kong government says documents submitted by the US did not "fully comply with the legal requirements under Hong Kong law" and it had no legal basis to prevent him leaving. Snowden arrives in Moscow. In a statement, WikiLeaks said it was assisting him, in part by providing adviser Sarah Harrison as an escort, and said he was heading to a democratic country, believed to be Ecuador, "via a safe route".

24 June Journalists board a flight from Moscow to Havana amid reports Snowden is about to board but he doesn't.

25 June Barack Obama vows to extradite Snowden while John Kerry, US Secretary of State, urges Russia to hand him over.

25 June Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov claims Snowden never crossed the border into Russia. But Putin later says Snowden is at Sheremetyevo airport and is free to leave Russia.

26 June Putin says Snowden will not be extradited to America. He denies that his security services had contacted Snowden.

26 June Ecuador warns that it may take months to decide whether to offer Snowden asylum, pointing out that it took two months to decide whether to do so in the case of Julian Assange.

26 June Hong Kong claims, amid growing Sino-American tensions, that the US got Snowden's middle name wrong in documents submitted for his arrest.

27 June Obama declares he will not spend much geopolitical capital on apprehending Snowden. He also claims that he hasn't spoken to Russia nor China about extradition.

27 June Ecuador maintains its defiant stance, renouncing the Andean Trade Preference Act it has with America. The country also offered the US $23m (15m) for human rights training.

28 June President Rafael Correa of Ecuador revokes Snowden's safe conduct pass amid irritation that Assange was taking over the role of the Ecuadorean government.

29 June Correa reveals that US vice-president Joe Biden asked him to turn down Snowden's asylum request.

1 July A consular official in Russia reveals that Snowden has applied for asylum there. WikiLeaks later reveal that he has applied for asylum in a further 20 countries, amongst them France, Germany, Ireland, China and Cuba.

1 July Snowden releases a statement through the WikiLeaks website in which he claims that he left Hong Kong because "my freedom and safety were under threat". He says it is hypocritical of Obama to promise no "wheeling and dealing" but then instruct Biden to encourage other nations to deny him asylum.

2 July Snowden retracts his request for Russian asylum after Putin says he must stop "bringing harm" to US interests. Meanwhile Brazil, India, Norway and Poland refuse Snowden asylum, while Ecuador, Austria, Finland, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain and Switzerland say he has to apply from their countries.

2 July Lon Snowden, Edward Snowden's father, and his father's attorney, Bruce Fein, pen an open letter to Edward Snowden praising him, comparing him to Paul Revere and noting the US supreme court decision that "statelessness is not to be imposed as a punishment for crime".

2 July Bolivia throws its hat into the ring with president Evo Morales declaring on Russian television that he would "shield the denounced".

3 July Morales's plane, en route from Moscow to Bolivia, is forced to land in Vienna after other European countries refused it airspace, suspecting that Snowden was on board. Bolivian vice-president Alvaro Garcia says Morales was "kidnapped by imperialism".

3 July Venezuela, Argentina, Ecuador, Uruguay and Bolivia denounce the treatment of Morales, who was held in Vienna airport for 12 hours while his plane was searched for Snowden. Bolivia files a complaint at the UN.

3 July UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon says that Snowden misused his rights to digital access and created problems greater than the public benefit of disclosure.

4 July Morales calls the rerouting of his flight an "open provocation" of "north American imperialism" and urges some European countries to "free themselves" from America.

4 July Ecuador distances itself from Snowden saying that he is under Russia's authority and would have to reach Ecuador before being granted asylum. Correa said the Ecuadorean consul acted without authority when it issued Snowden a temporary travel pass.

5 July The Washington Post, despite having published stories based on Snowden's leaks, now writes that he should be prevented "from leaking information that harms efforts to fight terrorism and conduct legitimate intelligence operations".

6 July Nicols Maduro, the president of Venezuela, says he has decided "to offer humanitarian asylum" to Snowden. Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega says he could accept Snowden's asylum request "if circumstances permit".

7 July Alexei Pushkov, chair of the Duma's foreign affairs committee, tweets that Venezuela's asylum offer may be Snowden's "last chance" to avoid extradition to the US.

8 July The Guardian releases the second part of its original video interview with Snowden. In this extract Snowden says he believes the US government "are going to say I have committed grave crimes, I have violated the Espionage Act. They are going to say I have aided our enemies".

10 July Glenn Greenwald, the Guardian columnist who has written many of the stories based on Snowden's information, says that Snowden maintains he didn't give classified information to China or Russia, following erroneous claims from the New York Times on 24 June that China had been "draining the contents of his laptop".

July 20 Destruction of Guardian computer equipment after threat of legal action by the UK government.

12 July Snowden sends a letter to human rights groups asking them to meet him at Sheremetyevo airport and claiming there is "an unlawful campaign by officials in the US government to deny my right to seek and enjoy... asylum". At the meeting he says he will be applying for temporary asylum in Russia while he applies for permanent asylum in a Latin American country.

24 July Anatoly Kucherena, a lawyer advising Snowden, states that the NSA leaker's asylum status has not been resolved and he will stay at Moscow airport for now. Kucherena claims that Snowden "intends to stay in Russia, study Russian culture", implying perhaps that Snowden may live in Russia for good.

August 1 Guardian publishes the story of secret American funding of GCHQ.

August 18 David Miranda, the partner of Guardian reporter Glenn Greenwald, held at Heathrow airport.

August 21 Guardian reveals how and why its computer equipment was destroyed.

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Transcript for Snowden Predicts US Reaction to Leaks

We're going to get the latest on edward snowden, under pressure from the u.S. He may finally be ready to move out of the no-man's land in the moscow airport. But it's not stopped him from speaking out. A new interview with "the guardian" has been released. Brian ross is tracking his every move. Reporter: This could be the week that 30-year-old snowden makes his move out of the moscow airport. Diplomats in venezuela and russia, saying they've received his request for asylum. And it's up to him to choose a flight plan. This morning, snowden remains holed up somewhere near or in Out of sight. But a high-profile problem for the u.S. Now, "the guardian" newspaper has made public, another part of the interview with the one-time nsa employee, who accurately predicted how the revelations of the surveillance programs would be received by the united states. They're going to say i committed grave crimes. Violated the espionage act. They're going to say I've aided our enemies in making them aware of these systems. Reporter: And that is exactly the case the u.S. Has been making, with the latest salvo coming from the white house monday. Again warning other countries there will be serious repercussions for any nation that helps snowden. He's been charged with a felony or felonies. As such, he should not be allowed to proceed in any further international travel, other than travel that would result in him returning to the united states. Reporter: The u.S. Says snowden has seriously hurt efforts to fight terrorism, by revealing the methods used to listen in on and track terrorists. Snowden says he did not start out opposing the programs when he went to work in the u.S. Intelligence community. I don't want to live in a world where everything this i say, everything I do, everyone i talk to, every expression of love or friendship is recorded. Reporter: Snowden most likely passed out of russia to venezuela, via the five-time-a-week flight to cuba. That flight left about an hour ago. And he was not on it, according to the personnel staking him out. Even if he gets on one, it will go over u.S. Air space. It does. And president obama says he will not scramble jets to go after the hacker. But there are things the u.S. Could do. Thanks verymuch. To amy robach in for josh, with the rest of the morning's top stories. Good morning, everyone.

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

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