On Friday, 30 August 2013, the German Section of the International Association Of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms, Vereinigung Deutscher Wissenschaftle, and Transparency International (Germany) awarded NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden the biannual Whistleblower Award.

Glenn Greenwald delivered a video address to those attending the ceremony. Snowden "really does embody whistleblowing in its purest form," Greenwald said, because he disclosed wrongdoing, and disclosed it at risk to his person.

He informed the world that there is a massive, ubiquitous spying system being constructed by the United States and its closest allies — aimed not at The Terrorists, or at criminals, or people for whom there is evidence to suspect wrongdoing, but at all of us, people all around the world. And I think the most significant revelation…that he disclosed is that literally, the objective of the United States and its closest allies in the UK, Canada, New Zealand and Australia is the elimination of privacy, globally — meaning the idea that there will be no ability on the part of any human beings to communicate with one another electronically without it being monitored, collected, analyzed and stored by the United States government. […]

He also revealed enormous amounts of deceit on the part of the most senior national security officials, including deceit that is almost certainly criminal.

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Internet freedom activist and computer expert Jacob Appelbaum spoke in person at the ceremony, to receive the award for Snowden in his absence. Appelbaum relayed a message from Snowden himself. Filmmaker and journalist Laura Poitras was in attendance.

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