Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey joins push to #PardonSnowden
Dorsey joins a growing list of public figures calling for a presidential pardon for NSA leaker Edward Snowden.
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Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey on Friday joined a growing list of celebrities, industry leaders and other public figures campaigning for a presidential pardon for Edward Snowden.
The Pardon Snowden campaign, launched Wednesday by three major human rights groups, is urging President Barack Obama to pardon Snowden and allow him to return the US. Snowden, a former NSA contractor who revealed widespread government surveillance programs, currently lives in self-imposed exile to avoid charges in the US for violating the Espionage Act and other laws.
"While I am grateful for the support given to my case, this really isn't about me," Snowden said during the launch of the campaign via teleconference from Russia. "It's about us. It's about our right to dissent."
Dorsey is allying with other cultural heavyweights supporting the campaign such as Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, author Joyce Carol Oates and actor Danny Glover.
Twitter declined to comment.
Dorsey's support comes the same day as the release of a Hollywood film directed by Oliver Stone based on Snowden's life and his disclosure in 2013 of a top secret surveillance program to journalists at the Guardian and The Washington Post. On Tuesday, Snowden made his case to the Guardian about why he should be pardoned on moral grounds, saying he'd revealed the US government's abuse of power and no one got hurt.
Update, 4:21 p.m. PT: Adds Twitter declining to comment.
