<span style="color: #222222;">In the United States, a judge has ruled that former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden violated secrecy agreements with the government that allow it to claim proceeds from a memoir he published earlier this year.<br />'' <br />'' Snowden was charged under the US Espionage Act. He now lives in Russia in order to avoid arrest.<br />'' <br />'' US District Judge Liam O'Grady in Alexandria, Virginia, ruled that Snowden is liable for breach of contract with the government because he published the book "Permanent Record", without submitting it for a pre-publication review. This is in violation of agreements he signed with both the NSA and the Central Intelligence Agency.<br />'' <br />''<br />''In the book, Snowden explains how he viewed himself as a whistleblower by revealing details about the government's mass collection of emails, phone calls and internet activity in the name of national security.</span><br />