It started with a Rubik’s cube.
Well, not the cube itself, but what was supposedly hidden inside it. In June 2013, a scrawny 29-year-old contractor named Edward Snowden walked into a Hong Kong hotel room to meet three journalists. He had a stash of digital documents so sensitive they would eventually force every major tech company on earth to change how they handle your data.
People always ask: what did Edward Snowden leak? They usually expect a simple answer about "spying." But the reality is a messy, sprawling web of code names like PRISM, UPSTREAM, and TEMPORA. It wasn't just that the government was "watching." It was how they were doing it—by tapping directly into the literal backbone of the internet.
The "Big Three" Revelations
Most of the leaks boil down to three terrifying ways the NSA (and their British pals at GCHQ) were hoovering up data. Honestly, it’s kind of wild how much we just accepted as "normal" before this.
1. The Verizon Phone Logs
The first bombshell was a top-secret court order. It showed the NSA was collecting the "metadata" of millions of Verizon customers. We're talking who you called, when you called them, and how long you talked. The government argued this wasn't "spying" because they weren't listening to the words. But as security experts pointed out, if you know someone called a suicide hotline at 3:00 AM, you don't really need to hear the audio to know what's going on.
2. PRISM: The Social Media Backdoor
This is the one that sent Silicon Valley into a tailspin. Snowden leaked slides showing that the NSA had "direct access" to the servers of tech giants like Google, Facebook, Apple, and Yahoo. Basically, if the government wanted your emails, photos, or chat logs, they had a streamlined way to get them. The companies denied it was a "backdoor," but the documents told a different story. It was a massive hit to the reputation of American tech abroad.
3. Tapping the Fiber Optic Cables
While PRISM was about getting data from companies, a program called upstream was about grabbing it while it was moving. The NSA was literally tapping the physical underwater cables that carry the world’s internet traffic. Imagine someone sticking a straw into a firehose. They were sucking up everything—emails, browsing history, the works—as it traveled across the Atlantic.
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It Wasn't Just About "Terrorists"
One of the biggest misconceptions is that this was all about finding "bad guys." Snowden’s leaks showed the surveillance went way beyond that.
- Economic Spying: They were monitoring the Brazilian oil giant Petrobras and international credit card transactions.
- Targeting Allies: The NSA bugged the offices of the European Union and even tracked the personal cell phone of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
- Webcam Images: A program called "Optic Nerve" (run by the UK's GCHQ) intercepted millions of Yahoo webcam chats. Shockingly, about 10% of these images contained "undesirable" nudity, which ended up in government databases despite the users being under no suspicion of a crime.
Why This Still Matters in 2026
You might think, "That was over a decade ago, who cares?" But look at your phone.
Ever notice how almost every app now brags about "End-to-End Encryption"? That didn't happen by accident. Before Snowden, encryption was for nerds and spies. After the leaks, companies like Apple and WhatsApp realized that if they didn't encrypt everything, their customers wouldn't trust them anymore.
The what did Edward Snowden leak question isn't just a history lesson. It’s the reason why the FBI now complains about "going dark"—meaning they can’t break into phones as easily as they used to. It also paved the way for the GDPR in Europe, which is why you have to click "Accept Cookies" on every website you visit.
What You Should Actually Do About It
If you’re worried about privacy, the landscape has changed. You can't stop a state-level actor from targeting you specifically, but you can stop the "bulk collection" of your life.
- Audit your "Big Tech" footprint: Use tools like the EFF’s Surveillance Self-Defense guide to see where your data is leaking.
- Switch to Encrypted Messaging: Signal is still the gold standard because they don't store your metadata—the very thing the NSA was obsessed with in 2013.
- Use a Privacy-First Browser: Move away from browsers that treat your history as a product.
Snowden is still in Russia, and the U.S. still wants him in a courtroom. Whether you think he’s a hero or a traitor, the documents he took changed the fundamental architecture of the digital world we live in today.
To stay truly informed, you should regularly check the transparency reports of the tech companies you use. Most major platforms now publish these annually, showing exactly how many "government requests" for data they receive and how often they actually comply. Monitoring these numbers is the best way to see if the lessons of 2013 are still being followed or if the "backdoors" are quietly being rebuilt.