Article name: List of media reports of Snowden disclosures

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Sources for building this list

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Note regaring the dates

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The dates of the media reports vary, depending on where you look. Often the dates on the various timelines are different from the date displayed in the article at the media outlet web site. This may be due to the fact that the media outlet have changed something afterwards, and updated the date to reflect this. In this list we should strive to get the actual date from when the first edition of the story was published. (Good tools are Google Cache and Wayback Machine, as well as the editing history on relevant wikipedia articles, of course. Also looking at the URL of the article at the media outlet, example Boundless Informant at The Guardian website - june 11, or june 8?)

What should be included?

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The ambition with this list is to enable the reader to get a chronological overview of the leaks, to be able to discern quickly what facts where disclosed about the NSA/GCHQ etc. and their methods. Therefore, stories like Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind the NSA surveillance revelations, where Snowdens identity is revealed, are not included. Also omitted: [1]

What is highlighted in bold?

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To make it easier to skim down the list, I have chosen to highlight in bold the name of the acting part (US/NSA, UK/GCHQ or other) and names of countries if any.

The List

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Date Headline Summary Published by Leaked documents Wikipedia article(s)
June 5, 2013 NSA collecting phone records of millions of Verizon customers daily Top secret court order requiring Verizon to hand over all call data shows scale of domestic surveillance under Obama The Guardian Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court order MAINWAY
June 6, 2013 NSA Prism program taps in to user data of Apple, Google and others Top-secret Prism program claims direct access to servers of firms including Google, Apple and Facebook Companies deny any knowledge of program in operation since 2007 The Guardian PRISM (surveillance program)#The_Slides PRISM (surveillance program)
June 7, 2013 Obama orders US to draw up overseas target list for cyber-attacks Top-secret directive steps up offensive cyber capabilities to 'advance US objectives around the world' The Gaurdian Presidential Policy Directive 20 Presidential Policy Directive 20
June 8, 2013 Boundless Informant: the NSA's secret tool to track global surveillance data The NSA's powerful tool for cataloguing global surveillance data – including figures on US collection The Guardian Boundless Informant#Media related to Boundless Informant Boundless Informant
June 13, 2013 US government has been hacking Hong Kong and China for years The NSA has been hacking computers in Hong Kong and on the mainland (China) since 2009 South China Morning Post
June 16, 2013 GCHQ intercepted foreign politicians' communications at G20 summits Phones were monitored and fake internet cafes set up to gather information from allies in London in 2009 The Guardian GCHQ surveillance documents
June 16, 2013 How GCHQ stepped up spying on South African foreign ministry UK hoped to find out everything it could about negotiating position of Thabo Mbeki's government The Guardian
June 16, 2013 UK intelligence agencies planned to spy on Commonwealth summit delegates Top-secret document, prepared by GCHQ, contained proposals to target Commonwealth allies at heads of government summit The Guardian GCHQ surveillance documents
June 16, 2013 G20 summit: NSA targeted Russian president Medvedev in London Leaked documents reveal Russian president was spied on during visit, as questions are raised over use of US base in Britain The Guardian GCHQ surveillance documents
June 20, 2013 The top secret rules that allow NSA to use US data without a warrant Fisa court submissions show broad scope of procedures governing NSA's surveillance of Americans' communication The Guardian Procedures used by NSA to target non-US persons: Exhibit A – full document
Procedures used by NSA to minimize data collection from US persons: Exhibit B – full document
Fisa court warrant authorising NSA surveillance procedures – full document
FISA, FISA Court
June 20, 2013 Headline Summary Publishedby Leakeddocuments RelevantWikipediaarticles


June 27, 2013 How the NSA is still harvesting your online data Files show vast scale of current NSA metadata programs, with one stream alone celebrating 'one trillion records processed' The Guardian Justice Department and NSA memos proposing broader powers for NSA to collect data
NSA inspector general report on email and internet data collection under Stellar Wind – full document
Stellar Wind
June 27, 2013 NSA collected US email records in bulk for more than two years under Obama Secret program launched by Bush continued 'until 2011'. Fisa court renewed collection order every 90 days. Current NSA programs still mine US internet metadata The Guardian Justice Department and NSA memos proposing broader powers for NSA to collect data
NSA inspector general report on email and internet data collection under Stellar Wind – full document
FISA, FISA Court
October 20, 2013 Fresh Leak on US Spying: NSA Accessed Mexican President's Email The NSA has been systematically eavesdropping on the Mexican government for years. It hacked into the president's public email account and gained deep insight into policymaking and the political system Spiegel Online Excerpts from NSA report