NSA leaker Edward Snowden: Hero or Traitor?

[StPaulHusker]

He could have chosen to remain anonymous but didn't.

 

Please tell me you're joking.

Not anonymous in the sense that no one would ever know who he is but he doesn't have to give interviews and get in front of cameras either. This is the problem I have with him. Wants credit for his actions but not willing to face the consequences.

[StPaulHusker]

Also-I will accept full responsibility for derailing the thread and poll from Hero vs Traitor to Coward or not. Should have been a different topic altogether.

[knapplc]

Also-I will accept full responsibility for derailing the thread and poll from Hero vs Traitor to Coward or not. Should have been a different topic altogether.

 

Meh. It's a worthy facet of the discussion. It's not like we would need multiple "Edward Snowden" threads - one on his hero status, one on his bravery status, etc.

 

 

The really egregious derailment was the Snow reference. That's just a terrible memory to bring up.

[StPaulHusker]

Also-I will accept full responsibility for derailing the thread and poll from Hero vs Traitor to Coward or not. Should have been a different topic altogether.

 

Meh. It's a worthy facet of the discussion. It's not like we would need multiple "Edward Snowden" threads - one on his hero status, one on his bravery status, etc.

 

 

The really egregious derailment was the Snow reference. That's just a terrible memory to bring up.

Also ironic that his most famous song was "Informer"

 

[NUance]

While working for spies, Snowden was secretly prolific online

By John Shiffman, Mark Hosenball and Kristina Cooke, WASHINGTON | Thu Jun 13, 2013 10:02pm EDT

 

(Reuters) - While working for U.S. intelligence agencies, Edward Snowden had another secret identity: an online commentator who anonymously railed against citizen surveillance and corporate greed.

 

Throughout the eight years that Snowden worked for the Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency contractors, he posted hundreds of messages on a public Internet forum under a pseudonym.

 

"I can't hope to change the way things are going by overtly complaining, writing letters, or blowing things up," Snowden wrote in 2003 in response to a discussion about corporate greed on the Ars Technica online forum.

 

"That's not the way a good person does things. I will, however, do what I can with the tools that are available to me."

 

New information discovered by Reuters about Snowden's employment record, online postings and education comes as U.S. lawmakers grill intelligence officials about how a 29-year-old high school dropout managed to gain access to such top secrets as the NSA's electronic surveillance programs.

 

LINK

I'll bet the people being subjected to the greatest invasions of privacy right now are employees and contractors of NSA, CIA, etc. The pseudo spook organizations will be taking a *real* close look at their employees' online activities outside of work. Thanks to Ed Snowden.

 

OTOH, is it an "invasion" of privacy if the online postings are public, albeit under an alias?

[krill]

Somewhere in between. A hero would have stayed in the country and faced the consequences, but then he'd quietly be be rotting in a prison in a state of legal limbo like Bradley Manning.

 

If I was living in Hawaii with a stripper girlfriend and making $200k at a cushy job, I'd probably keep riding the train. Perhaps shunning that makes him a hero in a different way.

[Junior]

Honestly, I think at this point, he would have been smarter to stay in the US and go to prison. Now he'll be lucky to not be snatched by some foreign government and tortured for secrets.

[BigRedBuster]

Honestly, I think at this point, he would have been smarter to stay in the US and go to prison. Now he'll be lucky to not be snatched by some foreign government and tortured for secrets.

 

 

This was actually discussed on some show I was watching. They claimed that if he is still in Hong Kong, there is a big chance that China would not allow him to leave so they could get their hands on any documents or secrets he may have.

 

He really isn't the smartest light bulb in the chandelier.

[Junior]

http://www.slate.com...sa_secrets.html

 

Edward Snowden secured a job with a US government contractor for one reason alone – to obtain evidence on Washington’s cyberspying networks, the South China Morning Post can reveal.

 

For the first time, Snowden has admitted he sought a position at Booz Allen Hamilton so he could collect proof about the US National Security Agency’s secret surveillance programmes ahead of planned leaks to the media. "My position with Booz Allen Hamilton granted me access to lists of machines all over the world the NSA hacked," he told the Post on June 12. "That is why I accepted that position about three months ago." ...

 

Asked if he specifically went to Booz Allen Hamilton to gather evidence of surveillance, he replied: "Correct on Booz." His intention was to collect information about the NSA hacking into "the whole world" and "not specifically Hong Kong and China".

 

I'm planted firmly in the 'traitor' camp now.

[krill]

If that's the case, it says quite a bit about the state of our intelligence agencies when a high school dropout is able to infiltrate the NSA in a position where he had unilateral access to highly sensitive information. Due to the abstruse nature of their work with little, if any public oversight, combined with the increasing privatization of their operations, it's been fairly well documented that the CIA and NSA are now cesspools of the most unimaginable waste, incompetence, and increasing politicization. Whether you believe Mr. Snowden is a hero or a traitor, I believe everyone needs to parse through the fallout and consider exactly what is going on here.

[NUance]

http://www.slate.com...sa_secrets.html

 

Edward Snowden secured a job with a US government contractor for one reason alone – to obtain evidence on Washington’s cyberspying networks, the South China Morning Post can reveal.

 

For the first time, Snowden has admitted he sought a position at Booz Allen Hamilton so he could collect proof about the US National Security Agency’s secret surveillance programmes ahead of planned leaks to the media. "My position with Booz Allen Hamilton granted me access to lists of machines all over the world the NSA hacked," he told the Post on June 12. "That is why I accepted that position about three months ago." ...

 

Asked if he specifically went to Booz Allen Hamilton to gather evidence of surveillance, he replied: "Correct on Booz." His intention was to collect information about the NSA hacking into "the whole world" and "not specifically Hong Kong and China".

 

I'm planted firmly in the 'traitor' camp now.

If our gov't is secretly doing something evil or unlawful, is it okay to bring it out into the light of day?

[walksalone]

How about the U.S. intel community getting it's sh*t together?

[MLB 51]

http://www.slate.com...sa_secrets.html

 

Edward Snowden secured a job with a US government contractor for one reason alone – to obtain evidence on Washington’s cyberspying networks, the South China Morning Post can reveal.

 

For the first time, Snowden has admitted he sought a position at Booz Allen Hamilton so he could collect proof about the US National Security Agency’s secret surveillance programmes ahead of planned leaks to the media. "My position with Booz Allen Hamilton granted me access to lists of machines all over the world the NSA hacked," he told the Post on June 12. "That is why I accepted that position about three months ago." ...

 

Asked if he specifically went to Booz Allen Hamilton to gather evidence of surveillance, he replied: "Correct on Booz." His intention was to collect information about the NSA hacking into "the whole world" and "not specifically Hong Kong and China".

 

I'm planted firmly in the 'traitor' camp now.

If our gov't is secretly doing something evil or unlawful, is it okay to bring it out into the light of day?

If it is protecting and saving American lives then I don't have that much of problem with it.

[knapplc]

http://www.slate.com...sa_secrets.html

 

Edward Snowden secured a job with a US government contractor for one reason alone – to obtain evidence on Washington’s cyberspying networks, the South China Morning Post can reveal.

 

For the first time, Snowden has admitted he sought a position at Booz Allen Hamilton so he could collect proof about the US National Security Agency’s secret surveillance programmes ahead of planned leaks to the media. "My position with Booz Allen Hamilton granted me access to lists of machines all over the world the NSA hacked," he told the Post on June 12. "That is why I accepted that position about three months ago." ...

 

Asked if he specifically went to Booz Allen Hamilton to gather evidence of surveillance, he replied: "Correct on Booz." His intention was to collect information about the NSA hacking into "the whole world" and "not specifically Hong Kong and China".

 

I'm planted firmly in the 'traitor' camp now.

If our gov't is secretly doing something evil or unlawful, is it okay to bring it out into the light of day?

If it is protecting and saving American lives then I don't have that much of problem with it.

So you believe the Fourth Amendment should be repealed? They're violating your privacy, in direct violation of that Amendment. You really should have a problem with that.

 

Even if you trust the Obama Administration, or in general "the government," that's today. What if someone irresponsible gets ahold of your information? Detailed intel on who you are, your secrets, your idle curiosities, anything and everything you've said or searched online, even just for fun or to see what it was about, is available to them. You can't think of a scenario where someone may have an axe to grind with you, and that info could be used against you? I can, and I'm pretty boring online, really.

 

If you've ever downloaded an mp3, watched a TV show online from an alternative source, you could be guilty of a felony. LINK

 

Is it far-fetched to think that these felonies might be enforced? If so, why?

[StPaulHusker]

http://www.slate.com...sa_secrets.html

 

Edward Snowden secured a job with a US government contractor for one reason alone – to obtain evidence on Washington’s cyberspying networks, the South China Morning Post can reveal.

 

For the first time, Snowden has admitted he sought a position at Booz Allen Hamilton so he could collect proof about the US National Security Agency’s secret surveillance programmes ahead of planned leaks to the media. "My position with Booz Allen Hamilton granted me access to lists of machines all over the world the NSA hacked," he told the Post on June 12. "That is why I accepted that position about three months ago." ...

 

Asked if he specifically went to Booz Allen Hamilton to gather evidence of surveillance, he replied: "Correct on Booz." His intention was to collect information about the NSA hacking into "the whole world" and "not specifically Hong Kong and China".

 

I'm planted firmly in the 'traitor' camp now.

If our gov't is secretly doing something evil or unlawful, is it okay to bring it out into the light of day?

If it is protecting and saving American lives then I don't have that much of problem with it.

So you believe the Fourth Amendment should be repealed? They're violating your privacy, in direct violation of that Amendment. You really should have a problem with that.

 

Even if you trust the Obama Administration, or in general "the government," that's today. What if someone irresponsible gets ahold of your information? Detailed intel on who you are, your secrets, your idle curiosities, anything and everything you've said or searched online, even just for fun or to see what it was about, is available to them. You can't think of a scenario where someone may have an axe to grind with you, and that info could be used against you? I can, and I'm pretty boring online, really.

 

If you've ever downloaded an mp3, watched a TV show online from an alternative source, you could be guilty of a felony. LINK

 

Is it far-fetched to think that these felonies might be enforced? If so, why?

Like Snowden?