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Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind revelations of NSA surveillance

TheDemSocialist

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The individual responsible for one of the most significant leaks in US political history is Edward Snowden, a 29-year-old former technical assistant for the CIA and current employee of the defence contractor Booz Allen Hamilton. Snowden has been working at the National Security Agency for the last four years as an employee of various outside contractors, including Booz Allen and Dell.The Guardian, after several days of interviews, is revealing his identity at his request. From the moment he decided to disclose numerous top-secret documents to the public, he was determined not to opt for the protection of anonymity. "I have no intention of hiding who I am because I know I have done nothing wrong," he said.
Snowden will go down in history as one of America's most consequential whistleblowers, alongside Daniel Ellsberg and Bradley Manning. He is responsible for handing over material from one of the world's most secretive organisations – the NSA.
In a note accompanying the first set of documents he provided, he wrote: "I understand that I will be made to suffer for my actions," but "I will be satisfied if the federation of secret law, unequal pardon and irresistible executive powers that rule the world that I love are revealed even for an instant."


Read more @: Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind revelations of NSA surveillance | World news | guardian.co.uk

And he is out. The man who revealed this **** storm. A hero and a great man that was not afraid to tell the truth and reveal something he thought was wrong. Whistle blowing is not a crime!
 
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Whistle-blowing is revealing illegal acts. It's not about revealing top-secret information.

From my understanding whistleblowing is revealing information about a gov or company in which that gov or company is partaking in illegal, dishonesty, or activivites that are simply wrong. One could also argue that what the gov is illegal because its unconsitutional which seems to be this is..
 
From my understanding whistleblowing is revealing information about a gov or company in which that gov or company is partaking in illegal, dishonesty, or activivites that are simply wrong. One could also argue that what the gov is illegal because its unconsitutional which seems to be this is..

Illegal is the key word. We can't let people hide behind the term whistle-blower when they are revealing top secret information. So who decides if it's illegal? Some grunt sitting at a keyboard who's been sworn to secrecy? He'd better damned well be right or he goes to jail.
 
Illegal is the key word. We can't let people hide behind the term whistle-blower when they are revealing top secret information. So who decides if it's illegal? Some grunt sitting at a keyboard who's been sworn to secrecy? He'd better damned well be right or he goes to jail.

How is the US gov collecting cell phone information and tapping phones and spying on internet usage without a warrant not unconstitutional? I would always think that if the government was spying on its own citizens i wouldnt imagine a day when the information was finally revealed to the open and finally the media would pay attention to it that some citizens would be sitting back and saying "oh who decides what the gov is doing is illegal"? Whatever happened to transparency?
 
How is the US gov collecting cell phone information and tapping phones and spying on internet usage without a warrant not unconstitutional? I would always think that if the government was spying on its own citizens i wouldnt imagine a day when the information was finally revealed to the open and finally the media would pay attention to it that some citizens would be sitting back and saying "oh who decides what the gov is doing is illegal"? Whatever happened to transparency?

They are acting under warrants issued by the FISA court in compliance with Congressional approval. I do not agree with current activities, but one is not enough to stop the activity...
 
Read more @: Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind revelations of NSA surveillance | World news | guardian.co.uk

And he is out. The man who revealed this **** storm. A hero and a great man that was not afraid to tell the truth and reveal something he thought was wrong. Whistle blowing is not a crime! [/FONT][/COLOR]

The fellow probably violated dozens of security laws and oaths, so he's in a heap of trouble. Why did he out himself? Possibly because he worried about being rubbed out, and the publicity would provide him some protection. Possibly he was also concerned about his colleges in the NSA, who were in for a rough time of it in the coming investigation.

I can't believe he would become this upset and blow the program and himself if the NSA was sticking to the rules and monitoring foreign terrorist activity. There must be some illicit stuff going on.
 
The man's a hero to us arcane citizens who understand that a right to privacy is the core of American society.

Shame on you who hide behind secret courts, secret Congressional correspondence, and the culture of government secrecy that is destroying our privacy.

You will see the err of your acquiescence, perhaps when it's too late. It may already be too late.
 
Could be long-term interesting. He only outed the existence, and not much nitty-gritty, or names. No doubt he broke the law by copying/removing some documents. He will have some defenders in high places on this, especially in Congress.

Book rights with movie deal in his future.
 
From my understanding whistleblowing is revealing information about a gov or company in which that gov or company is partaking in illegal, dishonesty, or activivites that are simply wrong. One could also argue that what the gov is illegal because its unconsitutional which seems to be this is..

"illegal", yes. It's not a bureaucrat's position to decide what is dishonest, or wrong.
 
Could be long-term interesting. He only outed the existence, and not much nitty-gritty, or names. No doubt he broke the law by copying/removing some documents. He will have some defenders in high places on this, especially in Congress.

Err considering Congress approved the bloody thing and both sides are defending the whole thing, minus a few the "usual suspects" that have been against the Patriot act from the start... doubt he has many friends in Congress.

Book rights with movie deal in his future.

Depends on how afraid Hollywood is of the government and making such movies. Would not be the first time that Hollywood would bow to government pressure.
 
Err considering Congress approved the bloody thing and both sides are defending the whole thing, minus a few the "usual suspects" that have been against the Patriot act from the start... doubt he has many friends in Congress.

That's the great thing about The United States; the government will bend to the will of the people.



Depends on how afraid Hollywood is of the government and making such movies. Would not be the first time that Hollywood would bow to government pressure.

Like when classified info was leaked to a movie outfit to hail Dear Leader over the UBL raid? Oh, wait...that's different.
 
Err considering Congress approved the bloody thing and both sides are defending the whole thing, minus a few the "usual suspects" that have been against the Patriot act from the start... doubt he has many friends in Congress.

Depends on how afraid Hollywood is of the government and making such movies. Would not be the first time that Hollywood would bow to government pressure.

If you watched any of the Sunday AM shows, he has friends in Congress. Rand Paul is certainly sympathetic to him.
 
in his own words:

"The NSA has built an infrastructure that allows it to intercept almost everything. With this capability, the vast majority of human communications are automatically ingested without targeting. If I wanted to see your emails or your wife's phone, all I have to do is use intercepts. I can get your emails, passwords, phone records, credit cards."

"I don't want to live in a society that does these sort of things … I do not want to live in a world where everything I do and say is recorded. That is not something I am willing to support or live under."

"We have seen enough criminality on the part of government. It is hypocritical to make this allegation against me. They have narrowed the public sphere of influence."

"I think it is really tragic that an American has to move to a place that has a reputation for less freedom. Still, Hong Kong has a reputation for freedom in spite of the People's Republic of China. It has a strong tradition of free speech."

"[T]he NSA routinely lies in response to congressional inquiries about the scope of surveillance in America. I believe that when [senator Ron] Wyden and [senator Mark] Udall asked about the scale of this, they [the NSA] said it did not have the tools to provide an answer. We do have the tools and I have maps showing where people have been scrutinised most. We collect more digital communications from America than we do from the Russians."

"We hack everyone everywhere. We like to make a distinction between us and the others. But we are in almost every country in the world. We are not at war with these countries."

"You are not even aware of what is possible. The extent of their capabilities is horrifying. We can plant bugs in machines. Once you go on the network, I can identify your machine. You will never be safe whatever protections you put in place."

"My primary fear is that they will come after my family, my friends, my partner. Anyone I have a relationship with"

"I will have to live with that for the rest of my life. I am not going to be able to communicate with them. They [the authorities] will act aggressively against anyone who has known me. That keeps me up at night."

"You see things that may be disturbing. When you see everything you realise that some of these things are abusive. The awareness of wrong-doing builds up. There was not one morning when I woke up [and decided this is it]. It was a natural process."

"A lot of people in 2008 voted for Obama. I did not vote for him. I voted for a third party. But I believed in Obama's promises. I was going to disclose it [but waited because of his election]. He continued with the policies of his predecessor."

"My immediate reaction was he was having difficulty in defending it himself. He was trying to defend the unjustifiable and he knew it."

"I have been surprised and pleased to see the public has reacted so strongly in defence of these rights that are being suppressed in the name of security. It is not like Occupy Wall Street but there is a grassroots movement to take to the streets on July 4 in defence of the Fourth Amendment called Restore The Fourth Amendment and it grew out of Reddit. The response over the internet has been huge and supportive."

"I am a spy and that is how they talk. Whenever we had a debate in the office on how to handle crimes, they do not defend due process – they defend decisive action. They say it is better to kick someone out of a plane than let these people have a day in court. It is an authoritarian mindset in general."

"The only thing I can do is sit here and hope the Hong Kong government does not deport me … My predisposition is to seek asylum in a country with shared values. The nation that most encompasses this is Iceland. They stood up for people over internet freedom. I have no idea what my future is going to be."

"They could put out an Interpol note. But I don't think I have committed a crime outside the domain of the US. I think it will be clearly shown to be political in nature."

"I could not do this without accepting the risk of prison. You can't come up against the world's most powerful intelligence agencies and not accept the risk. If they want to get you, over time they will."

"I think the sense of outrage that has been expressed is justified. It has given me hope that, no matter what happens to me, the outcome will be positive for America. I do not expect to see home again, though that is what I want."

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden: 'I do not expect to see home again' | World news | guardian.co.uk
 
more from the leaker:

t’s important to send a message to government that people will not be intimidated.”

“I’m not going to hide”

“Allowing the U.S. government to intimidate its people with threats of retaliation for revealing wrongdoing is contrary to the public interest.”

“I think [the leaks] already have [changed things]. Everyone everywhere now understands how bad things have gotten — and they’re talking about it. They have the power to decide for themselves whether they are willing to sacrifice their privacy to the surveillance state.”

“It was more of a slow realization that presidents could openly lie to secure the office and then break public promises without consequence.”

“It set an example that when powerful figures are suspected of wrongdoing, releasing them from the accountability of law is ‘for our own good.'"

“That’s corrosive to the basic fairness of society.”

“The government can’t reasonably assert the state secrets privilege for a program it has acknowledged. The courts can now allow challenges to be heard on that basis.”


Edward Snowden identified as source of NSA leaks - The Washington Post

the guy's got guts... and principles

and he's certainly loquacious
 
the recipient of the leak:

Guardian reporter Glenn Greenwald said in an interview Sunday that he has not heard from law enforcement authorities about his reporting into the National Security Agency’s surveillance tactics.
“Any time they would like to speak to me, I would be more than happy to speak to them,” Greenwald said on ABC’s “This Week.” “I will tell them that there is this thing called the Constitution and the very First Amendment of which guarantees a free press.”

Greenwald reported last week that under a government order, Verizon has turned over millions of phone records to the NSA as part of a vast data-mining program. A follow-up article from Greenwald reported that the government collected 97 billion pieces of data in March.

He also shed some insight into the motivations of his sources.

“They risked their careers and their lives and their liberty because what they were seeing being done in secret inside the United States government is so alarming and so pernicious that they simply want one thing,” Greenwald said. “That is, for the American people at least to learn about what this massive spying apparatus is, and what the capabilities are, so that we can have an open, honest debate about whether that’s the kind of country that we want to live in.”

Greenwald pushed back against comments from Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who called the disclosures of the surveillance programs “reckless.”

“The only thing we’ve endangered is the reputation of the people in power who are building this massive spying apparatus about any accountability who are trying to hide from the American people what it is that they are doing,” Greenwald said. “There is no national security harm from letting people know that they are collecting all phone records, that they are tapping into the Internet, that they are planning massive cyberattacks -- both foreign and even domestic.”

Greenwald talks about NSA reporting - POLITICO.com

fascinating times we're witnessing

stay tuned
 
I reserve the right to change my opinion, but so far I see the man as a hero. His reasoning is articulate and solid, and I approve.
 
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Illegal and top-secret go hand in hand.

Exactly. That is the wonderful thing about it, really. They just want to keep something secret that they are doing that they know is wrong and all of sudden it's top secret.
 
How is the US gov collecting cell phone information and tapping phones and spying on internet usage without a warrant not unconstitutional? I would always think that if the government was spying on its own citizens i wouldnt imagine a day when the information was finally revealed to the open and finally the media would pay attention to it that some citizens would be sitting back and saying "oh who decides what the gov is doing is illegal"? Whatever happened to transparency?

Transparency? What is that? No such thing ever existed. I agree with everything you said though.
 
It's a weird country we live in. Revealing confidential information regarding national security to another spy is called espionage and considered treasonous.

Release the same material to the media, for all the world to see, is simply called whistleblowing?

And the media gets a free pass for divulging the classified intel because of the freedom of the press.

What a country!
 
Illegal is the key word. We can't let people hide behind the term whistle-blower when they are revealing top secret information. So who decides if it's illegal? Some grunt sitting at a keyboard who's been sworn to secrecy? He'd better damned well be right or he goes to jail.

He goes to jail anyway. Revealing national secrets to the public is treason, regardless of his beliefs. He'll be lucky if he gets anything under 25-30 years in prison. Both he and Manning should be executed to make an example for others to think about before they develop delusions of heroism.
 
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