'Citizenfour' discloses big brothers everywhere

Edward Snowden is a familiar name to us all. He is the poster boy for anyone paranoid of privacy breaches and data collecting in the age of social media and technology, having shown that their paranoia is more than justified. He is the hero for all intimidated from the increasing power of the states that are at once abusive and hostile towards their people. He is also a disgraced U.S. citizen, a traitor and a dangerous blow against the fight against terrorism.

Edward Snowden, the former U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) intelligence analyst, made headlines in the summer of 2013 when he leaked top-secret, classified information on the agency?s surveillance programs to documentary maker Laura Poitras and then Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald, with Greenwald turning the leaked information into a series of news stories that sent shock waves across the world.

Like his name, his face is all too familiar from a plethora of news photos, masks on the faces of hundreds of activists across the world and stylized posters deeming him a hero of the millennium. Not long before Edward Snowden became a globally-recognized name, he initiated his plan to disclose information on the illegal wiretapping practices of the NSA through contacting filmmaker Poitras.

Through encrypted email and as an anonymous source, Snowden told Poitras that he wanted to meet journalist Greenwald and disclose some top-secret information that the filmmaker and the journalist could disseminate in whatever way they chose. In June 2013, Poitras, along with Greenwald and the Guardian?s intelligence officer, Ewen MacAskill, went to Hong Kong to meet with this anonymous source who had previously identified himself as ?Citizen four.?

From ?Citizen four? to ?Citizenfour?
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