FINANCIAL TIMES: The Obama administration came under mounting bipartisan pressure on Sunday to scale back electronic surveillance following revelations last week that have raised new questions about government intrusion into citizens’ privacy.
The calls came as the UK’s Guardian newspaper revealed that the whistleblower who leaked information about US surveillance activities was Edward Snowden, a 29-year-old former CIA employee who has taken refuge in Hong Kong, setting up a potentially delicate political issue with the Chinese authorities about his fate.
Speaking from his hotel room on Sunday, Mr Snowden said he revealed the documents because the programmes were an abuse of power. “[The National Security Agency is] intent on making every conversation and every form of behaviour in the world known to them,” he said… (more)
