The Swedish internet service provider that once hosted the machines behind Wikileaks is nominating NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Bahnhof, a builder of futuristic-looking data centers based in Stockholm, will make the purely symbolic nomination in its latest quarterly financial report, set to be released when European financial markets open on Tuesday.

The U.S. has charged Snowden with theft and espionage for leaking secret documents that outline the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance programs. But to many, he's a heroic whistleblower who has shone a light on a shadowy and excessive government effort to track our personal behavior online.

That's how Bahnhof CEO Jon Karlung sees it. To those who know him, that's not a surprise. Three years ago, he was both a hosting provider and vocal supporter of Wikileaks, helping to house the operation in a Cold War-era nuclear bunker. His company hasn't recommended people for Nobel Prizes before, but he says he decided to name Snowden because the former NSA contractor's leaks have been so important.

They show how widespread and uncontrolled the NSA's surveillance has really been, and that's a big deal for people who care about the public's trust of internet services, Karlung says. "This NSA scandal has put light on this insecurity of putting stuff in the clouds, which you have no control over."

Court documents declassified last week showed that the NSA was recording up to 56,000 U.S.-only communications each year, starting in 2008 and continuing until the court ordered this practice stopped in 2011. Because of the extreme secrecy surrounding the NSA's data collection, internet companies are prohibited from revealing many details about these programs. But since Snowden's disclosures, they've been pressing to be able to say more.

The Nobel Peace Prize Committee is slated to announce the 2013 recipient on October 11. But Karlung says that a Snowden nomination is a long shot. "To be honest, I don’t have high hopes," he says. "But at least it’s possible to suggest."