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Ernest Kao

The search for NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden's whereabouts in Hong Kong ended up with a meeting at a Kowloon hotel on Monday morning with The Guardian reporter that interviewed him.
Reporters were able to surmise from the view and decoration of the room seen in the video released on The Guardian’s site that the original interview might have taken place at the W Hotel at Kowloon Station.
This has led some to speculate that Snowden, who according to The Guardian has been in Hong Kong since May 20th, may have been staying at the hotel since he began leaking details of the National Security Agency’s top-secret surveillance program.
According to the leaked materials, the Prism programme gathered vast amounts of metadata from major internet firms, such as Facebook, Google and Apple, for surveillance purposes.
In The Guardian video, Snowden praises Hong Kong for having a reputation for freedom and a tradition of free speech and asked Hong Kong authorities to let him stay.

Guardian reporter Glenn Greenwald was staying on the hotel’s 19th floor at the time, but it could not be confirmed exactly where the interview took place.
A spokeswoman from the W Hotel said they had no record of a guest by the name of Edward Snowden.
Reporters began gathering at the hotel at about 11.30am just before Greenwald checked out from the hotel at 12.45pm.
Speaking to reporters in the lobby of the hotel, Greenwald said Snowden contacted him a couple of months ago with the NSA story after reading some of his stories, and he said they didn't know each other before this.
Greenwald, who said he would be staying in Hong Kong for "a little while", said Snowden "feels content that the debate he wanted to trigger about this worldwide surveillance state that has been created [is out there, and] ... he feels that he has accomplished the mission that he set out to [perform].
Greenwald refused to comment on Snowden’s whereabouts or on whether he was seeking asylum as has been reported earlier.
When asked whether Snowden feared for his safety, Greenwald said “I’m sure on some level he’s anxious about what comes next, but this is the choice he’s made. He’s a human being. I’m sure he’s fearful, but he’s not petrified."
Neither US nor Hong Kong authorities had been in contact with Greenwald, he said.
As to Snowden's whereabouts in Hong Kong, Snowden had been staying at the Mira Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui. The hotel said that he checked out at around !2 noon on Monday and that he had been registered under his own name.  It refused to say how long he had stayed at the hotel.
"We thought he was just an ordinary guest," said Kevin Ko, duty manager at the Mira.

Video: The Post talks to Glenn Greenwald, the Guardian reporter who broke the NSA surveillance story.
Snowden, who has been working at the National Security Agency for the past four years, admitted his role in a video interview posted on the website of The Guardian, the first newspaper to publish the leaked information.
“My sole motive is to inform the public as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them,” Snowden said, speaking in the Hong Kong video interview.
He said he had gone public because he could not “allow the US government to destroy privacy, internet freedom and basic liberties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine they’re secretly building”.
A former technical assistant for the CIA, Snowden worked for the NSA as an employee of various outside contractors, including Dell and Booz Allen Hamilton.
In a statement, Booz Allen Hamilton confirmed Snowden had been an employee for “less than three months” and promised to help US authorities investigate the “shocking” claim that he had leaked classified information.
Snowden flew to Hong Kong on May 20 after copying the last set of documents he intended to disclose at the NSA’s office in Hawaii, The Guardian said, adding he has remained there ever since, holed up in a hotel room.


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Edward Snowden

NSA whistleblower content to have sparked surveillance debate, says reporter

Guardian reporter Glenn Greenwald who interviewed NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden talks to reporters at the W Hotel in Kowloon on Monday. Photo: Felix Wong

Edward Snowden. Photo: AP

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Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


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