- Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who disclosed classified material has developed a new app
- The app called ‘Haven’ is to protect laptops from physical tampering
- However, the app has been met with mixed reviews, with some praising its security capabilities while others say they don’t trust a Snowden designed app
The former National Security Agency contractor who exposed U.S. government surveillance programs by disclosing classified material in 2013 has a new job: app developer.
Edward Snowden in a video message Friday unveiled a new phone app he helped create, called Haven, that aims to protect laptops from physical tampering.
Snowden says it’s an open-source tool designed for human rights activists and other people at risk and it uses an Android phone’s sensors to detect changes in a room.
Edward Snowden developed an app to spy on spies- but its met with skeptisim as people don’t trust the former NSA contractor turned fugitive
The software was developed with the Freedom of Press Foundation and the Guardian Project. It has been greeted with mixed social media reactions, with some people celebrating its security capabilities and others saying they don’t trust Snowden.
Snowden has lived in Russia since 2013, when the country gave him asylum, resisting U.S. pressure to extradite him.
In his attempts to escape ‘persecution’ by the US authorities, Snowden asked more than 20 countries for asylum but was unable to leave Russia after the US revoked his passport.
Since then he’s a lived a relatively quiet life aside from a few interviews with Western media and some video chat gigs on the speaking circuit.
The app is designed for Androids and is specifically geared at protecting laptops from being tampered with
But he has been careful not to give too much away about his personal life, and takes intense security measures amid fears that he could be kidnapped by US agents.
He has also tried to distance himself from his new home.
In November 2015, he told a crowd in Washington DC, via video chat: ‘People say I live in Russia, but that’s actually a little bit of a misunderstanding. I live on the internet. And that’s where I spend all of my time.’