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The world-famous whistleblower became a person of the year by the Guardian for exposing the scale of internet surveillance. It’s the second consecutive year a whistleblower receives such a title. Last year Chelsea Manning became a person of the year, the Voice of Russia reported.

As the Guardian reports, Edward Snowden leaked an estimated 200,000 files that exposed the extensive and intrusive nature of telephone and internet surveillance and intelligence gathering by the US and its western allies.

He was the overwhelming choice of more than 3,500 people who cast a vote receiving more than 40% of the total votes. Meanwhile, Pope Francis gained 153 votes, narrowly ahead of blogger and anti-poverty campaigner Jack Monroe, who received 144.

"He gave his future for the sake of democratic values, transparency, and freedom," said Miriam Bergholz.

Colin Walker wrote: "We need people like him to have the courage to forget about their own life in the cause of other people's freedom. Let's face it, his life is over as even if he goes back to the US he will face decades in prison and the personal sacrifice he has made is immense."

A commenter identifying themselves as "irememberamerica" said he voted for Snowden "for his extraordinary and exemplary courage, and the historic value of his daring act. At every step, he has displayed an astonishing integrity and presence of mind. He is a great American and international patriot."

Edward Snowden shared the information about the NSA’s surveillance activities in May with the Guardian’s journalists.

As the news outlet reports, some of the agency’s techniques were truly stranger than fiction: a dragnet program to scoop up digital activities direct from the servers of the biggest US tech companies; a tap on fibreoptic cables to gather huge amounts of data flowing in and out of the UK; a program to hoover up phone records of millions of Americans; a code breaking effort to crack the encryption system that underpins the safety and security of the internet.