Prism spying scandal

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin confirms that US whistleblower Edward Snowden is in transit in Russia, but is free to leave and will not be extradited to the US.

Julian Assange says Edward Snowden is “healthy and safe” hours after the surveillance whistleblower did not turn up for a flight he was expected to catch to Cuba.

Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino says that former US National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden has asked Ecuador for asylum.

The United States files espionage charges against Edward Snowden, the former US National Security Agency contractor who admitted revealing secret surveillance programs to media outlets.

Cyberhacking was a source of tension between Washington and Beijing even before Edward Snowden made his revelations of serial snooping by US security services. Now he details Chinese targets.

The US government does not have a “back door” into Google, the company’s chief legal officer told Channel 4 News. That would mean that some early reports of the spying are wrong. What do we know?

You would expect the Prism spying software scanning the world’s email for terrorism to be cutting-edge, but experts say it is not much smarter than a search engine. But how does it work?

After reports that the US government is able to mine the servers of the country’s seven biggest technology companies, including Google and Facebook, Channel 4 News looks at what it means for UK users.

Barack Obama defends secret surveillance reports, assuring citizens phone calls are private. But the Information Commissioner’s Office says there are “real issues” about US agencies accessing UK data.

Internet and phone firms are preparing to install “black boxes” to monitor UK internet and phone traffic, and decode encrypted messages – including Facebook and GMail messages.