2013: The year of surveillance

An advertisement thanking leaker Edward Snowden appears on the side of a Metrobus in downtown Washington, D.C.  (Jim Lo Scalzo / EPA)

Artists A.Signl, left, and B.Shanti of the artist group Captain Borderline paint a mural titled “Surveillance of the Fittest” in Cologne, Germany.  (Frank Augstein / Associated Press)

Activists dressed as “spies” demonstrate at the Office of the Trade Representative in Washington, D.C.  (Karen Bleier / AFP/Getty Images)

National Security Agency Director Gen. Keith Alexander testifies on Capitol Hill.  (Manuel Balce Ceneta / Associated Press)

Laura Murphy, director of the Washington Legislative Office of the American Civil Liberties Union, speaks during a rally outside of the U.S. Capitol.  (Jose Luis Magana / Associated Press)

Hundreds of demonstrators protest against the surveillance program by the NSA in Frankfurt, Germany.  (Roland Holschneider / EPA)

Demonstrators hold a banner during a protest against surveillance by the National Security Agency and the German intelligence agency (BND) during a rally in front of the site of the new BND headquarters in Berlin.  (Gero Breloer / Associated Press)

Picture released by Human Rights Watch shows fugitive leaker Edward Snowden during a meeting with rights activists Sarah Harrison of WikiLeaks, left, at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport.  (Tanya Lokshina / AFP/Getty Images, Human Rights Watch)

U.S. Army General Keith Alexander, director of the National Security Agency, testifies during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on “Continued Oversight of US Government Surveillance Authorities,” on Capitol Hill.  (Michael Reynolds / EPA)

The signature of Edward Snowden on a letter that he gave to German MP Hans-Christian Stroebele of the Greens to forward to the German government after a meeting between the two.  (Kay Nietfeld / EPA)

At a shopping mall in Hong Kong, a TV screen shows a news report of Edward Snowden.  (Vincent Yu / Associated Press)

Demonstrators march through Washington toward the Capitol to demand that Congress investigate the National Security Agency’s mass surveillance programs.  (Jose Luis Magana / Associated Press)

Edward Snowden, who worked as a contract employee at the National Security Agency, in Hong Kong.   (Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitra / Associated Press)

Glenn Greenwald, left, one of the reporters who broken the Edward Snowden leaks, walks out from his hotel room in Hong Kong.  (Vincent Yu / Associated Press)

A demonstrator protests against NSA surveillance in Hanover, Germany.  (Peter Steffen / Associated Press)

“NSA is watching you!” is seen on a house facade in Strassfurt, Germany.  (Jens Wolf / AFP/Getty Images)

German newspapers report on the NSA’s eavesdropping of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s phone.  (Sean Gallup / Getty Images)