"By his own terms, Snowden succeeded beyond plausible ambition. Accustomed to watching without being watched, the NSA faces scrutiny it has not endured since the 1970s, or perhaps ever.
"The cascading effects have made themselves felt in Congress, the courts, popular culture, Silicon Valley and world capitals.
"The basic structure of the Internet itself is now in question, as Brazil and members of the European Union consider measures to keep their data away from U.S. territory and U.S. technology giants including Google, Microsoft and Yahoo take extraordinary step to block the collection of data by their government..."
"On Dec. 16, in a lawsuit that could not have gone forward without the disclosures made possible by Snowden, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon described the NSAÂ’s capabilities as 'almost Orwellian' and said its bulk collection of U.S. domestic telephone records was probably unconstitutional.
"The next day, in the Roosevelt Room, an unusual delegation of executives from old telephone companies and young Internet firms told President Barack Obama that the NSAÂ’s intrusion into their networks was a threat to the U.S. information economy.
"The following day, an advisory panel appointed by Obama recommended substantial new restrictions on the NSA, including an end to the domestic call-records program.
“'This week is a turning point,' said Jesselyn Radack of the Government Accountability Project, who is one of Snowden’s legal advisers. 'It has been just a cascade.'”
Happy New Year!
‘Mission’s already accomplished,’ says Snowden