Edward Snowden

Edward Snowden’s biggest legacy may not come from changed laws or powers — it may just be the way that the debate over privacy has forced big companies like Apple and Google to safeguard its customers’ information in more ways.

When he joined President Obama’s cabinet, Attorney General Eric Holder was expected to oversee the shutdown of the US detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. That never happened, but Holder succeeded in shifting focus back to civilian courts — but also aggressively onto leakers.

Washington Post contributor Barton Gellman sat down with Edward Snowden in Moscow for a 14 hour interview, recently. It was the former NSA contractor’s first major interview since he was granted asylum in Russia. Gellman describes Snowden as something of a shut-in who doesn’t mind living alone in his Moscow residence, now that he’s sparked an international debate on surveillance.

Edward Snowden has offered to assist Brazil in its criminal investigation of US surveillance in the Latin American nation. And, by the way, he’s also looking for a country to grant him “permanent political asylum” — hint, hint.

A British parliamentary panel questioned Alan Rusbridger, the editor of the newspaper that first published many of the documents leaked by Edward Snowden. He was asked about his love of his country, and he defended his newspaper as acting to help the public understand what its government was doing.