The internet has give rise to celebrities whose fame and achievements may have otherwise gone unknown in a previous age. Here is a look at some of those who have been made famous with the help of the web.

ON Jul 20, in a basement of the London offices of Britain’s Guardian newspaper, a senior editor and an IT expert used angle grinders and sledgehammers to destroy computer hard drives containing copies of secret files leaked by Edward Snowden, the computer whiz who disclosed details of top-secret US and British government surveillance programmes to the press.