A new documentary has captured Edward Snowden’s leak of National Security Agency documents as it unfolded in a Hong Kong hotel room.

Former National Security Agency (NSA) systems analyst-turned-whistleblower Edward Snowden has said the US agency is collecting mass surveillance data on New Zealanders through its XKeyscore system.

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.

Fugitive WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said his living situation is a bit like prison — with a more lenient visitor policy.

Fugitive WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has said living at the Ecuadorean embassy in London is a bit like prison – with a more lenient visitor policy.

US National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden has said he would be willing to help Brazil’s government investigate American spying on its soil – but only if he is granted political asylum.

A Spanish newspaper published a document that it said shows the National Security Agency in the US spied on more than 60m phone calls in Spain in one month alone — the latest revelation about alleged massive US spying on allies.

France has summoned the US ambassador to explain why American spies secretly checked millions of French phone records.

An agreement has been reached over the terms of a temporary order relating to the extent of the use of material seized from a Guardian journalist’s partner held at Heathrow under UK anti-terror laws, High Court judges heard.

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.

Data seized from a UK investigative journalist’s partner who was detained for nine hours under anti-terror laws has led the police to launch a criminal investigation, the High Court in London has been told.

Lawyers acting for the journalist’s partner held for nine hours under anti-terror laws have won an order to stop the Government and police “inspecting, copying or sharing” data seized from him – except “for the purpose of protecting national security”.

Scotland Yard has said that the detention of the partner of a Guardian journalist at the centre of revelations about US and British security services was "legally and procedurally sound".

The US government is considering whether to charge Edward Snowden with leaking classified surveillance secrets, while it defends the spy programme it says keeps America safe from terrorists.

The American defence contractor who says he leaked information on classified US surveillance programmes could benefit from a quirk in Hong Kong law that would ensure a lengthy battle to deport him.

Edward Snowden used the code name “Verax,” truth-teller in Latin, as he made his cautious approach to Washington Post reporter Barton Gellman about disclosing some dramatic state secrets on top-secret intelligence gathering and surveillance.

From Sinead O’Connor’s controversial tweets to faked book reviews, has the gloss finally fallen off the internet, asks Jason Walsh