Exile Edward Snowden was awarded a Norwegian free speech prize worth $12,000 for his release of telephone and Internet data of extensive spying by the U.S. National Security Agency. The award cited Snowden’s contribution in showing “how the electronic integrated information world can be a threat to personal integrity, and also might pose a threat against freedom of expression.” (The Nation, September 6, 2015, by the Deutsche Presse-Agentur)
In accepting the prize, Snowden criticized the Russian government the only country to take him in for its crackdown on Internet freedom and freedom of speech. (Australian Broadcasting Agency News, September 5, 2015)