Edward Snowden

Filmmaker Laura Poitras, whose documentary about fugitive intelligence leaker Edward Snowden won an Oscar, is seeking the release of six years of records that document how she was searched, questioned and sometimes held for hours at U.S. and foreign airports.

The leak was embarrassingly timed for French lawmakers, who were expected to approve sweeping new powers to spy on citizens later on Wednesday.

This week tech companies, democracy advocates, and open-Internet activists joined forces for a Reset the Net campaign that emphasizes both personal privacy and open access to information on the Web. As part of the initiative, companies including Google, Mozilla, Yahoo, Twitter and Reddit are fundraising, educating and launching new security features and services.

Luke Harding, the author of "The Snowden Files: The Inside Story Of The World's Most Wanted Man," said on Twitter that the U.S. filmmaker has bought the movie rights to the book.

Costa Rica remains a beacon of press freedom in a region where the average press freedom score fell to its lowest level in five years, according to the human rights organization Freedom House’s 2014 Freedom of the Press report.

The White House has proposed to halt the National Security Agency's controversial bulk telephone data collection of U.S. .citizens, a program which sparked a vast public outcry.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The United States National Security Agency has built a surveillance system capable of recording "100 percent" of a foreign country's telephone calls, enabling the agency to rewind and review conversations as long as a month after they take place, according to people with direct knowledge of the effort and documents supplied by former contractor Edward Snowden.

Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks who has disclosed scores of classified data about U.S. military and diplomatic efforts, said the group would be releasing a new batch of secret information. Assange spoke through a video feed Saturday to a crowd of more than 3,000 people at the South by Southwest Interactive conference in Austin, Texas.

The former NSA contractor has altered the U.S. relationship with its citizens and the world. Read the exclusive Washington Post interview here.

Intelligence leaker Edward Snowden said that until he obtains permanent asylum the U.S. government will continue to interfere with his ability to speak out.