An attendee at the event tells the Loop the room was packed to see Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor and everyone’s favorite whistleblower, accept the Ridenhour Prize for Truth-Telling from an undisclosed location in Russia. His remarks, the source says, were “poignant and moving.”

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But during a question and answer session, Danielle Brian, the executive director of the Project on Government Oversight and emcee of the event, took the microphone and told the crowd, “I‘m sorry to interrupt just for a second but I want to make it clear that no one can be recording. There had been an understanding with the media but others in the room have iPhones…”

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Mother Jones, known for releasing secret audio (47 percent, anyone?) did not heed this warning, and posted audio of Snowden’s remarks on its Web site. The reporter notes at the end of his story, “At one point during Snowden’s appearance, an organizer of the event asked the audience not to record him—but this was near the end of his remarks, and numerous people in the audience were holding up smart phones and recording devices.”

After this post published, Joe Newman, spokesman at POGO, reached out to clarify that the no recording rule came from Snowden’s legal team. “Danielle, as emcee, simply passed the message along,” he said. The award organizers, The Nation Institute and The Fertel Foundation, made the arrangements.

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To layer on the irony, the freedom-loving Russian government did not seem to have any problem with Snowden being recorded when he asked Russian President Vladimir Putin a question on Russian TV.

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UPDATE: After we reported on this most odd situation, Taya Kitman, executive director and CEO of The Nation Institute, said they got permission to make public Snowden’s recorded remarks.