Edward Snowden, Whistle-Blower

[Guest ajc]

Edward Snowden, Whistle-Blower

 

Seven months ago, the world began to learn the vast scope of the National Security Agency’s reach into the lives of hundreds of millions of people in the United States and around the globe, as it collects information about their phone calls, their email messages, their friends and contacts, how they spend their days and where they spend their nights.

The public learned in great detail how the agency has exceeded its mandate and abused its authority, prompting outrage at kitchen tables and at the desks of Congress, which may finally begin to limit these practices.

 

The revelations have already prompted two federal judges to accuse the N.S.A. of violating the Constitution (although a third, unfortunately, found the dragnet surveillance to be legal). A panel appointed by President Obama issued a powerful indictment of the agency’s invasions of privacy and called for a major overhaul of its operations.

 

All of this is entirely because of information provided to journalists by Edward Snowden, the former N.S.A. contractor who stole a trove of highly classified documents after he became disillusioned with the agency’s voraciousness. Mr. Snowden is now living in Russia, on the run from American charges of espionage and theft, and he faces the prospect of spending the rest of his life looking over his shoulder.

 

Considering the enormous value of the information he has revealed, and the abuses he has exposed, Mr. Snowden deserves better than a life of permanent exile, fear and flight. He may have committed a crime to do so, but he has done his country a great service.

It is time for the United States to offer Mr. Snowden a plea bargain or some form of clemency that would allow him to return home, face at least substantially reduced punishment in light of his role as a whistle-blower, and have the hope of a life advocating for greater privacy and far stronger oversight of the runaway intelligence community...

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/02/opinion/edward-snowden-whistle-blower.html?hp&rref=opinion&_r=0

[LC]

Good read, thank you for posting.

[Cardboard]

A whistle-blower does not put his firm or country at risk by revealing its trade secrets to its worst enemies. While the NSA seems to have over-reached, the way this guy acted is totally inadequate. There were other ways to raise concerns or at least to disclose less of what was going on. You also don't go hide in China or Russia when you are apparently caring for the well being of your own country or the U.S. You go public in your own land and are prepared to face the music. A whistle-blower shows courage. This guy has no courage and is a traitor. He fully deserves to live in exile and no deal should ever be reached with him. There needs to be a price for treason.

 

While many people are outraged that the NSA might be looking at their e-mails and phone calls, their goal remains to protect Americans and I would argue the world against terrorism. I have yet to hear about a single example of how the NSA used the data other than for this purpose. Now the world is a much riskier place because of this man.

 

Cardboard

[NeverLoseMoney]

I have yet to hear about a single example of how the NSA used the data other than for this purpose. Now the world is a much riskier place because of this man.

This looks like one example: http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2013/08/23/nsa-officers-sometimes-spy-on-love-interests/

[bookie71]

1984 was weak

[yadayada]

A whistle-blower does not put his firm or country at risk by revealing its trade secrets to its worst enemies. While the NSA seems to have over-reached, the way this guy acted is totally inadequate. There were other ways to raise concerns or at least to disclose less of what was going on. You also don't go hide in China or Russia when you are apparently caring for the well being of your own country or the U.S. You go public in your own land and are prepared to face the music. A whistle-blower shows courage. This guy has no courage and is a traitor. He fully deserves to live in exile and no deal should ever be reached with him. There needs to be a price for treason.

 

While many people are outraged that the NSA might be looking at their e-mails and phone calls, their goal remains to protect Americans and I would argue the world against terrorism. I have yet to hear about a single example of how the NSA used the data other than for this purpose. Now the world is a much riskier place because of this man.

 

Cardboard

If he would have stayed in the US, they would have taken the information away from him, and he would be locked up in a undisclosed location. They would use the media against him full force to discredit him every way they can. And releasing all the info at once would cause most people to look over most of the info.

 

And it seems the NSA is mostly used for corporate espionage. Terrorist networks are operating in the stone age anyway. It just seems like they laid the groundwork for a police state with this, and he uncovered it. What are they protecting the country from? Bin laden didnt even have power, let alone internet. The people who they are trying to catch know by now not  use facebook to plan an attack. the protecting america argument is a bunch of crap, because 99% of the people will never benefit from that.

 

what you are basicly saying is that he ruined a chance for the US to get ahead by cheating.

 

what I am saying is, he let the people know there is a very powerfull organization that has seemingly unlimited budget, and that no one really keeps an eye on. This seems pretty dangerous to me. If the government plays dirty, why shouldnt he do so?

[Palantir]

Yeah, and he decided to seek asylum in Russia, the land of limited, ethical government. Some hero of freedom he is. *facepalm*

[turar]

He only ended up in Russia because the US cancelled his passport while he was en route to Latin America. Regarding going the official routes to blow the whistle -- it's been tried and didn't work before: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/06/16/snowden-whistleblower-nsa-officials-roundtable/2428809/

 

[yadayada]

the woman who was a whistleblower about some bad stuff in the CIA about how evidence for WMD's didnt exist and the CIA knew about it,  got murdered by the media. They completly destroyed her life, and tried to discredit her every way possible on tv. And you couldn't even remotely call that treason. If you do this from inside the US, the media will largely ignore you before your locked up in an undisclosed location. The only way to do it was to do it from outside the US.

[rkbabang]

If someone from China leaked a bunch of documents on Chinese government spying programs and took refuge in another country to protect himself from certain life in prison (or worse) we'd be calling him a hero.  Snowden is no less a hero and his life is in every bit as much danger from the US government as that hypothetical Chinese spy would be in my scenario above.  Look at Bradley Manning, (s)he is likely going to die in jail.

 

[rkbabang]

Yeah, and he decided to seek asylum in Russia, the land of limited, ethical government. Some hero of freedom he is. *facepalm*

 

"ethical government"  You are talking about an organization that claims the right to make pronouncements that everybody in a certain geographical area must obey on penalty of being caged or killed and funds itself through theft.  There is no such thing as an ethical government.  If you mean to say that some are better than others to a certain degree, yeah some criminal gangs are worse than others, but none are ethical.  He's accepted the shelter of one criminal gang, because another one wants him caged or killed.  I don't see that he had much of a choice.  If you tell the world what the violent gang calling themselves the federal government of the united states of america is doing, you are risking your life, and you better run for it.

 

[LC]

I don't see what his personal decisions have to do with anything. He could have gone to North Korea for all I care.

 

He exposed a fact that a branch of the government is spying on citizens without their knowledge. What he does afterwards is of no consequence to the validity of that fact.

 

I don't know the constitutional legalities behind whether the NSA is "legally" allowed to do what it is doing. I frankly don't care. What I do know is that the government shouldn't be collecting this type of information in the way that it is doing so. In my opinion, bringing up any other issue related to this individual is just avoiding having to deal with this fact.

[mikazo]

A whistle-blower does not put his firm or country at risk by revealing its trade secrets to its worst enemies. While the NSA seems to have over-reached, the way this guy acted is totally inadequate. There were other ways to raise concerns or at least to disclose less of what was going on. You also don't go hide in China or Russia when you are apparently caring for the well being of your own country or the U.S. You go public in your own land and are prepared to face the music. A whistle-blower shows courage. This guy has no courage and is a traitor. He fully deserves to live in exile and no deal should ever be reached with him. There needs to be a price for treason.

 

While many people are outraged that the NSA might be looking at their e-mails and phone calls, their goal remains to protect Americans and I would argue the world against terrorism. I have yet to hear about a single example of how the NSA used the data other than for this purpose. Now the world is a much riskier place because of this man.

 

Cardboard

 

+1

[Olmsted]

His first disclosure, maybe, MAYBE, could be described as whistle blowing.

 

However:

 

-Whistle-blowers make the necessary disclosure to effect change, then move on.  They do not secret away a hard drive or a few full of secrets to use as blackmail.  They do not continue leaking national security secrets after the impact has been made.

 

-A whistle-blower concerned about American citizens' rights does not need to concern himself with, or leak state secrets about, foreign espionage.  That is not whistle-blowing, that is treason.

 

-Whistle-blowers do not run away to their country's 'best pals' China, then Russia for protection.  (I can only imagine what the FSB has gotten out of him.)  Real national security whistle blowers have the courage to stick around and face the music.  Contrast  Snowden with Daniel Ellsberg:

 

I felt that as an American citizen, as a responsible citizen, I could no longer cooperate in concealing this information from the American public. I did this clearly at my own jeopardy and I am prepared to answer to all the consequences of this decision.

 

Even if one has a difference of opinion with Mr. Ellsberg as to whether his Pentagon Papers leak was justified, one cannot help respecting his conviction.  He put himself on the line.  Mr Snowden did not, and lacks any moral credibility.  As an aside, had he stuck around I expect he would have gotten a slap-on-the-wrist sentence and then settled down to a nice sinecure or tenured professorship somewhere.

[moustachio]

I don't think Snowden should have leaked the information on foreign espionage... With that said, you don't need to be perfect or face an almost certain lifetime in prison to be a hero in my opinion. Snowden exposed some of the the unconstitutional machinations of our police state. Having him here in the USA rotting away in court or jail wouldn't be doing him or those of us that still value privacy in the USA any good at all. Good for him on fleeing the country. I prefer heroes over martyrs any day.