• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
TechCybersecurity

Edward Snowden Is Not Down With WikiLeaks’ Methods

By
David Meyer
David Meyer
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
David Meyer
David Meyer
Down Arrow Button Icon
July 29, 2016, 7:44 AM ET
The New Yorker Festival 2014 - Edward Snowden Interviewed by Jane Mayer
NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 11: General view of atmosphere at the Edward Snowden Interviewed by Jane Mayer at the MasterCard stage at SVA Theatre during The New Yorker Festival 2014 on October 11, 2014 in New York City. (Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for The New Yorker)Photograph by Bryan Bedder — Getty Images for The New Yorker

WikiLeaks is on a bit of a roll at the moment, most notoriously with its release of thousands of emails and even voicemail recordings from the U.S. Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the Democratic party’s donors.

It has also recently released emails from Turkey’s ruling party, prompting WikiLeaks’ blockage in that country, and tweeted out a link to an unredacted database of most female Turkish voters.

And Edward Snowden, the famous National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower, thinks Julian Assange’s whistleblowing pipeline is taking things too far.

Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s technology newsletter.

“Democratizing information has never been more vital, and WikiLeaks has helped,” he tweeted. “But their hostility to even modest curation is a mistake.”

Democratizing information has never been more vital, and @Wikileaks has helped. But their hostility to even modest curation is a mistake.

— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) July 28, 2016

WikiLeaks lashed back, accusing Snowden of opportunism in the hope of winning a pardon from Hillary Clinton, the Democratic candidate. It also said that curation should not include “censorship of ruling party cash flows.”

Opportunism won't earn you a pardon from Clinton & curation is not censorship of ruling party cash flows https://t.co/4FeygfPynk

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) July 28, 2016

Assange’s operation has not only released the DNC emails and voicemails; it has also published a searchable database of Clinton’s emails from back when she was secretary of state.

Both Snowden and Assange are currently trying to avoid being sent to the U.S. to face trial over data leaks.

Assange has been holed up in Ecuador’s London embassy for over three years, to avoid being extradited to Sweden for questioning over sex crime allegations—he is adamant that Sweden would then give him to the Americans.

Snowden is in Russia, where WikiLeaks editor Sarah Harrison helped him get asylum after the U.S. canceled his passport (he was trying to get from Hong Kong to South America after revealing himself as the NSA leaker).

For more on Edward Snowden, watch our video:

While WikiLeaks often does not redact personal information from the data it publishes, Snowden has been relatively assiduous about working with journalists to publish only carefully chosen snippets of the NSA leaks, often with sections blacked out.

As things stand, many security experts think Russian hackers gained access to the DNC’s computer systems, apparently for a whole year, though not all agree that this means the Russian state was behind the hacks.

It is certainly the case that Russian President Vladimir Putin is not Clinton’s biggest fan, but the smoking gun in this particular episode has not quite materialized yet.

About the Author
By David Meyer
LinkedIn icon
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Success
  • Tech
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Environment
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Health
  • Retail
  • Lifestyle
  • Politics
  • Newsletters
  • Magazine
  • Features
  • Commentary
  • Mpw
  • CEO Initiative
  • Conferences
  • Personal Finance
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.


Most Popular

placeholder alt text
Economy
Elon Musk warns the U.S. is '1,000% going to go bankrupt' unless AI and robotics save the economy from crushing debt
By Jason MaFebruary 7, 2026
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Economy
Russian officials are warning Putin that a financial crisis could arrive this summer, report says, while his war on Ukraine becomes too big to fail
By Jason MaFebruary 8, 2026
16 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Commentary
America marks its 250th birthday with a fading dream—the first time that younger generations will make less than their parents
By Mark Robert Rank and The ConversationFebruary 8, 2026
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Success
Gen Z Patriots quarterback Drake Maye still drives a 2015 pickup truck even after it broke down on the highway—despite his $37 million contract
By Sasha RogelbergFebruary 7, 2026
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Commentary
We studied 70 countries' economic data for the last 60 years and something big about market crashes changed 25 years ago
By Josh Ederington, Jenny Minier and The ConversationFebruary 8, 2026
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Success
NBA star Metta World Peace says Kobe Bryant taught him that no matter how hard you work, someone else is working harder
By Orianna Rosa RoyleFebruary 8, 2026
1 day ago

Latest in Tech

ceo
CommentaryLeadership
The next 18 months of the agentic era will feel like a slow-motion stress test for CEOs. Most will make the same critical mistake
By Amy Eliza WongFebruary 9, 2026
1 hour ago
Side-by-side photos of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei
AIOpenAI
OpenAI vs. Anthropic Super Bowl ad clash signals we’ve entered AI’s trash talk era—and the race to own AI agents is only getting hotter
By Sharon GoldmanFebruary 9, 2026
2 hours ago
A girl carrying a bag of tennis balls and a tennis racket gets into the backseat of a car.
North AmericaLyft
Lyft introduces feature to help get teenagers out of the house: ‘The problems of 2026 are social isolation and too much screen time’
By Sasha RogelbergFebruary 9, 2026
3 hours ago
NewslettersTerm Sheet
Meta expands its already massive Louisiana data center project
By Allie GarfinkleFebruary 9, 2026
3 hours ago
NewslettersFortune Tech
Anthropic isn’t done spooking SaaS investors
By Alexei OreskovicFebruary 9, 2026
4 hours ago
InvestingVenture Capital
NFL legend Joe Montana lived around top VC execs as a 49er, then leveraged those ties to launch his second career as an investor
By Jason MaFebruary 8, 2026
19 hours ago