Whistleblower Edward Snowden to hold charity NFT auction
Freedom of the Press Foundation
April 15, 2021
NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden will auction a work of original art as an NFT on Thursday on foundation.app, with 100% of the proceeds of the sale benefitting Freedom of the Press Foundation, the non-profit organization where he has served as president of the board of directors since 2016.
The artwork incorporates a portrait of Snowden by the famed photographer Platon and a mosaic of pages from the landmark 2015 Second Circuit Court of Appeals decision in ACLU v. Clapper, which ruled illegal the NSA mass surveillance Snowden first exposed. (Platon's image of Snowden is included with the explicit permission of the photographer.)
Since those historic disclosures in 2013, Snowden has been a vocal advocate for pioneering uses of technology to empower and secure journalists, readers, and members of the general public. "Emerging applications of cryptography can play an important role in supporting our rights. This auction will drive the development of valuable and privacy-protecting uses of encryption, to safeguard press freedom and serve the public," said Snowden.
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“We are grateful for the continuing impact of Snowden’s whistleblowing, and there’s perhaps no better reminder of that impact than the first ruling on the programs he exposed,” said Freedom of the Press Foundation executive director Trevor Timm. “We’re very excited to use the proceeds of this auction to help further our work developing and improving technology that can protect journalists and their sources, like SecureDrop, our open-source whistleblower submission system.”
Founded in 2012, Freedom of the Press Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that protects and defends public interest journalism in the 21st century. We believe that a thriving free press—one that can change the course of history—depends not only on strong advocacy, but also on actively empowering journalists and whistleblowers to do their job in the face of adversity.
We build secure communications tools used at many of the world’s top news organizations. We teach journalists and documentary filmmakers how to keep themselves and their sources safe in the digital age. We document and report on virtually every press freedom violation in the United States. And we engage in public and legal advocacy on critical issues affecting journalists’ rights in the U.S. and around the world.