The geopolitics of Edward Snowden’s whistle-blowing

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Edward Snowden speaking to European officials by videoconference link in June. Photo: AFP

Few contemporary figures can claim to have shifted the political agenda to the extent that National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden has.

Just this week, the governments of Australia and Indonesia forged a new agreement on spying designed to smooth over the diplomatic row triggered by the Snowden leaks. The recent uproar about a government plan to retain users' metadata and punish leakers is also a reflection of how the leaked classified documents from the NSA to the media last year changed the way we understand mass surveillance.

His actions continue to reverberate today, in a number of ways.

Anti-spying protesters gather outside the US Department of Justice in Washington, DC. Photo: Reuters

1) Snowden's revelations about the scope of NSA spying have kicked off a global debate on the privacy rights of citizens versus governments' rights to intelligence.

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After two decades of the internet as a fact of life, citizens are learning the high cost to their privacy of today's technology. "We owe a great deal to him for revealing this kind of information," UN human rights commissioner Navi Pillay said of Snowden, while calling on the US government to abandon efforts to prosecute him.

2) The revelations have sparked the biggest battle about the role of spying and democracy since the Watergate and Pentagon Papers controversies.

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The geopolitics of Edward Snowden's whistle-blowing