Video: Glenn Greenwald on Silicon Valley's Growing Conscience

Glenn Greenwald, the U.S. journalist who wrote the first stories about the NSA's global spy program.

Glenn Greenwald, the U.S. journalist who wrote the first stories about the NSA's global spy program. Matthias Schrader/AP

The people pushed for privacy.

In June 2013, the Guardian published a report by journalist Glenn Greenwald featuring classified documents, leaked by government contractor Edward Snowden, which revealed the extent of the National Security Agency's global surveillance program.

Three years later, Snowden has been exiled to Russia, and NSA has faced continual criticism about its data collection program.

But what else has changed?

Greenwald has stated there hasn't been a lot of change as far as U.S. domestic policy. Rather, individuals have placed an increased importance on privacy, and pressured industry to do the same.

"I mean, these companies for years were more than willing to just run roughshod over the privacy rights of their users," he said. "They didn't care in the slightest about any of that. The change was the market incentive -- the fact that consumers are now demanding that privacy be safeguarded and refusing to use companies that won't do that."

To learn more, check out the video below from CNET