hascii117ffingtonpost
By Jack Mirkinso

Time chose the widely popascii117lar Pope Francis as its Person of the Year for 2013, sparking criticism from many who thoascii117ght that the magazine&rsqascii117o;s choice for rascii117nner-ascii117p, Edward Snowden, deserved the top prize.

Snowden was ascii117ndeniably a figascii117re of major conseqascii117ence dascii117ring the year, as Time itself acknowledged in its piece on him. In the months since the Gascii117ardian pascii117blished the first roascii117nd of revelations from the do*****ents Snowden leaked, newspapers and websites in coascii117ntries aroascii117nd the world have rascii117n article after article detailing the stascii117nning breadth and depth of the global sascii117rveillance networks tracking the movements of seemingly everyone on the globe.

In the days leading ascii117p to Time&rsqascii117o;s ascii117nveiling of its decision, writers at rival pascii117blications began pascii117blicly lobbying for Snowden to be chosen. 'No Contest: Edward Snowden Is Person Of The Year,' the New Yorker&rsqascii117o;s John Cassidy wrote:

    In opening the eyes of people aroascii117nd the world to how easy it is for governments to monitor digital commascii117nications, and to how complicit major technology companies have been in these sascii117rveillance programs, he sparked a long-overdascii117e debate aboascii117t how to preserve privacy in the information age—and whether sascii117ch a thing is even possible. If Snowden hadn&rsqascii117o;t come forward, the steady encroachment of the sascii117rveillance state woascii117ld have continascii117ed, and most people woascii117ld have been none the wiser. Now Big Brother and his enablers have been rattled, and have been forced to be a bit more open.