Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind the NSA surveillance revelations

[dead0man]

link

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A new piece of sh**t for the usual suspects to worship.  My favorite part was where he said he was a "Self-proclaimed crusader for internet freedom." and then fled to one of the most repressive nations on earth.  Hilarious!

[tpfkaw]

Hong Kong is far less repressive than our own totalitarian hellhole (for example, people are allowed to and regularly do protest in favor of the violent overthrow of the mainland Chinese government).  But then, you'd probably have to be some sort of college-educated fancy pants or something to figure that out.

[dead0man]

"totalitarian hellhole"?  really?  You don't think that's a giant insult to people that actually live in a "totalitarian hellhole"?

and yes, Hong Kong is better than the mainland, but it's still under the control of the PRC which isn't really a place one would think a self proclaimed crusader of internet freedoms would flee to.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Epic Freedom Fighter.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Out of curiosity, are there circumstances under which somebody leaking information from secretive government agencies would not be a 'piece of sh**t' in your eyes?

[dead0man]

Out of curiosity, are there circumstances under which somebody leaking information from secretive government agencies would not be a 'piece of sh**t' in your eyes?

Of course, Daniel Ellsberg, mentioned in the article, did it the right way.  He didn't run to China, he turned himself in, faced trial and won.  Because he was right.  Or at least more right than the govt was.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Out of curiosity, are there circumstances under which somebody leaking information from secretive government agencies would not be a 'piece of sh**t' in your eyes?

Of course, Daniel Ellsberg, mentioned in the article, did it the right way.  He didn't run to China, he turned himself in, faced trial and won.  Because he was right.  Or at least more right than the govt was.

All right. Thank you; I was just wondering, since you didn't really make that distinction in your original post, while the link mentions Ellsberg along with Manning and Snowden.

I agree that Hong Kong is an odd choice and raises questions about Snowden's bona fides, but I'm not inclined to provide my answer to those questions as immediately as you are. I certainly don't think 'piece of sh**t' really applies here, unless it turns out he has the personality of Julian Assange.

[Zioneer]

A new piece of sh**t for the usual suspects to worship.  My favorite part was where he said he was a "Self-proclaimed crusader for internet freedom." and then fled to one of the most repressive nations on earth.  Hilarious!

This guy is better than you, at least.

[Beet]

Snowden didn't flee to Hong Kong because he thinks the PRC is an exemplary place to be. He made a cold, calculated decision that the PRC is one of the very few places on earth that could potentially be able to resist U.S. extradition demands. If he'd fled to Iceland, for instance (which he said would be his ideal asylum country from an ideological standpoint), the U.S. government would no doubt bring to bear all of its mighty power down on the tiny island country, with what would to them be overwhelming pressure. It would instantly shoot up to the top of the priority list on U.S.-Iceland relations. With the PRC however, it's different. There are too many high stakes issues involved (North Korea, cybercrime, trade) for the U.S. to blow up the relationship over one man. If Beijing wants to keep him from being extradited, it likely can.

While I think I understand his reasoning however, I also disagree with it. The U.S. and Hong Kong have a close law enforcement relationship; if the U.S. prioritizes this highly enough, there's little doubt the government could get him. I think he would have been better off with an ideologically left-wing government, such as Ecuador, which has already been granting asylum to Julian Assange.

It's a high risk gamble and he didn't have any good options. As the Washington Post reported, the Supreme Court has changed since the liberal-minded Warren Court of Ellsberg's day; recent leakers such as Aaron Swartz have been treated harshly. Snowden has more reason to be worried than Ellsberg did.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Epic Freedom Fighter.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

I think I might add him to my list of Inspirational People on Facebook.

[Leftbehind]

Epic Freedom Fighter.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Wow doesn't dead0man claim to be a libertarian? And he's actually siding with the NSA?

[Cory]

Hong Kong is far less repressive than our own totalitarian hellhole (for example, people are allowed to and regularly do protest in favor of the violent overthrow of the mainland Chinese government).  But then, you'd probably have to be some sort of college-educated fancy pants or something to figure that out.

*claims America is a totalitarian hellhole*

*criticizes the government openly and often with no repercussions*

[Oakvale]

It's not often I agree 100% with dead0man... but I agree 100% with dead0man. This guy will presumably go on the list along with Julian Assange and Bradley Manning of people venerated by internet LIBERTY crusaders and make me facepalm for months or even years to come.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Assange is an attention whore prick, but I fail to see anything wrong with what this guy or Manning did ("they have some douchey admirers" is not something that they did wrong.)

[© tweed]

Out of curiosity, are there circumstances under which somebody leaking information from secretive government agencies would not be a 'piece of sh**t' in your eyes?

Of course, Daniel Ellsberg, mentioned in the article, did it the right way.  He didn't run to China, he turned himself in, faced trial and won.  Because he was right.  Or at least more right than the govt was.

not sure why evading state power is a cardinal sin in this context, particularly for a self-styled 'libertarian', as we're talking about people avoiding the deadman-designated 'piece of sh**t' tag here.

[© tweed]

anyway, Chris Hedges deals with some of the moral confusion that often motivates the Manning/Assange type figures below, and does so without resorting the dualistic idealization-devaluation categorizations that plague the deadmans of the world.


http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/we_steal_secrets_state_agitprop_20130602/

[Lief 🗽]

oh cool, another thing dead0 and I agree on!

Hopefully this guy is locked away for a long time. His fan's tears will be delicious.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

oh cool, another thing dead0 and I agree on!

Hopefully this guy is locked away for a long time. His fan's tears will be delicious.

What did he do wrong? (Referring only to he himself, not his annoying fanboys.)

[dead0man]

Wow doesn't dead0man claim to be a libertarian? And he's actually siding with the NSA?

I'm not "siding" with anybody.  I'm making fun of somebody that claimed to be defending the internet from the evil government and then fled to safety to place with some of the most draconian internet laws on the planet.  Granted he fled to the largest duty free shop in the world without those restrictions, he's still went there to be protected by a govt that bans 98% of its population from looking at pornography.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I get why Dead0 is not a fan, but what the hell, Oakvale and Lief?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Wow doesn't dead0man claim to be a libertarian? And he's actually siding with the NSA?

I'm not "siding" with anybody.  I'm making fun of somebody that claimed to be defending the internet from the evil government and then fled to safety to place with some of the most draconian internet laws on the planet.  Granted he fled to the largest duty free shop in the world without those restrictions, he's still went there to be protected by a govt that bans 98% of its population from looking at pornography.

Uh, did you read Beet's post?

I get why Dead0 is not a fan, but what the hell, Oakvale and Lief?

Worst of all, it's just guilt by association attacks. And I recall Lief defending Assange, who is a massive prick, though not for his leaks.

[DINGO Joe]

Edwin left his professional pole dancer girlfriend behind in Hawaii and she has unleashed a torrent of attention whore drama upon the world.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/snowden-girlfriend-nsa-mills-photos-131840670.html


"My world has opened and closed all at once. Leaving me lost at sea without a compass," Mills, a professional pole dancer, wrote on her blog, "L's Journey," on Monday. The blog post was written a day after Snowden, a former technical assistant for the CIA and current employee of defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, was identified by the Guardian on Sunday as the source of its stories revealing the NSA's controversial telephone and Internet surveillance programs.

"As I type this on my tear-streaked keyboard I’m reflecting on all the faces that have graced my path," Mills continued. "The ones I laughed with. The ones I’ve held. The one I’ve grown to love the most. And the ones I never got to bid adieu. But sometimes life doesn’t afford proper goodbyes."

"Surely there will be villainous pirates, distracting mermaids, and tides of change in this new open water chapter of my journey," Mills—who refers to Snowden as "E" and herself as a "world-traveling, pole-dancing super hero"—added. "But at the moment all I can feel is alone."

Almost makes me wish we had a government assassination program.

[patrick1]

Edwin left his professional pole dancer girlfriend behind in Hawaii and she has unleashed a torrent of attention whore drama upon the world.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/snowden-girlfriend-nsa-mills-photos-131840670.html


"My world has opened and closed all at once. Leaving me lost at sea without a compass," Mills, a professional pole dancer, wrote on her blog, "L's Journey," on Monday. The blog post was written a day after Snowden, a former technical assistant for the CIA and current employee of defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, was identified by the Guardian on Sunday as the source of its stories revealing the NSA's controversial telephone and Internet surveillance programs.

"As I type this on my tear-streaked keyboard I’m reflecting on all the faces that have graced my path," Mills continued. "The ones I laughed with. The ones I’ve held. The one I’ve grown to love the most. And the ones I never got to bid adieu. But sometimes life doesn’t afford proper goodbyes."

"Surely there will be villainous pirates, distracting mermaids, and tides of change in this new open water chapter of my journey," Mills—who refers to Snowden as "E" and herself as a "world-traveling, pole-dancing super hero"—added. "But at the moment all I can feel is alone."

Almost makes me wish we had a government assassination program.

^Gross.

I hope he spends a long time in a cell when caught.