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United States Files Civil Lawsuit Against Edward Snowden

justice.gov

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Re: United States Files Civil Lawsuit Against Edward Snowden

#271

Post by likpok »

kzrdude wrote: post #260
mCOLlSVIxp6c wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I strongly agree. Since Snowden himself is presumably in Russia, the U.S. government is effectively attempting economic sanctions against him. Their method is to scare anyone that might send him money with a lawsuit.

He's just released a book, I wonder how it is set up, can he earn the money from it or not?

If he loses the lawsuit, no (the money goes to a trust for the USG).

It's possible that Macmillan paid him an advance and so he already has the money. I don't know if the feds can do much in that case.

Re: United States Files Civil Lawsuit Against Edward Snowden

#272

Post by tracker1 »

notredame911 wrote: post #244
markjenkinswpg wrote: post #198

Somebody tell the Donald that Snowden stood up to Obama era policy.

.

The NSA was operating illegal surveillance. Lied about it to congress multiple times, then only confessed once the information was leaked. The NSA were NOT the good guys in any way shape or form.

It's been demonstrated multiple times on multiple occasions that the CIA and NSA operate in bad faith, making poor decisions and causing as much destruction as they prevent.

Re: United States Files Civil Lawsuit Against Edward Snowden

#273

Post by GVIrish »

Swizec wrote: post #231

Something that never made sense to me in the Snowden case is how any of this works in face of whistleblower protection laws in USA. According to Wikipedia, the US offers these legal protections: > Whistleblower protection laws and regulations guarantee freedom of speech for workers and contractors in certain situations. Whistleblowers are protected from retaliation for disclosure of information which the employee or…

The problem with Snowden is that:

A. He did not try to whistleblow through any officials channels in the NSA, intelligence community, or Congress

B. He stole somewhere around 1.5 million documents, of which the vast majority had nothing to do with the programs he thought were illegal

The house intelligence committee report on Snowden actually concedes that he could have enjoyed whistleblower protection under the law at the time. One could make the argument that one should not have trusted those protections and Snowden decided the same. But that still doesn't explain why he stole so much classified material that was unrelated to his civil liberties concerns.

Re: United States Files Civil Lawsuit Against Edward Snowden

#274

Post by bilbo0s »

justinmchase wrote: post #241
markjenkinswpg wrote: post #198

Somebody tell the Donald that Snowden stood up to Obama era policy.

How can he stop this without inviting criticisms of being a Russian asset or some such accusation?

In fairness, that's never stopped him before. Why not now, when it's useful?

Re: United States Files Civil Lawsuit Against Edward Snowden

#275

Post by samstave »

TimTheTinker wrote: post #255
samstave wrote: post #226

Snowden is a national hero. Period. I don’t care what any one thinks otherwise, but we would be a more authoritarian and fascist place without Snowden, Schwartz, (whom YC funded and he was suicided), Manning etc So fuck the #pedopaths and fuck anyone who is against any of the above and fuck you YC for being against truth. This is what killed Aaron Schwartz https://drop.space/watch/amazing-polly-epstein-stories-you-w.…

I suspect the downvotes are responding to your tone (which is acerbic/combative), not the content of your assertions. Personally I'd be interested in hearing you out if your manner of speaking was more intellectual.

That sounds great, may you please list out questions and I can try to answer them. (Yes I get heated and pissed off here on HN as I have been here for over a decade and there are tons of self righteous nerds on HN who think they are the big swinging dick in the room, regardless of the fact there are tech titans here as well, but I’ve built many a thing in Silicon Valley and my pedigree goes deep, I just don’t flaunt it with simple fucking downvotes)

So ask away, please.

Re: United States Files Civil Lawsuit Against Edward Snowden

#276

Post by txcwpalpha »

mattkrause wrote: post #227
txcwpalpha wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sealed vs Unsealed has more nuanced definitions than just "letter"/speech and "item"/things, though. If you look a bit further past the quotes you provided, you'll see: >Sealed mail includes: First-Class Mail; Priority Mail; Priority Mail Express; Shipped packages ("things") can be (but aren't always) sent as First Class or Priority Mail, and thus would fall under the "sealed" category as well. OTOH, you can also sen…

You're making this way more mysterious-sounding than it is. As the text says, those first categories are INTENDED for sealed letters. Things shipped in those ways therefore retain the privacy protections of letters. You can put a (small) rock or whatever in there instead--that's your business--and if you do, the Post Office will never know because they're applying the letter-privacy standard and not looking inside. T…

That simply isn't the case though. First Class Mail (and Priority Mail) are specifically intended for both "letters" as well as "things". A glance at the USPS website shows this. Indeed, even in the CFR you quoted, it specifically mentions certain types of "package" services as sealed mail. I don't know where you're getting that there is a specific "intention" for anything.

Re: United States Files Civil Lawsuit Against Edward Snowden

#277

Post by jstewartmobile »

TimTheTinker wrote: post #255
samstave wrote: post #226

Snowden is a national hero. Period. I don’t care what any one thinks otherwise, but we would be a more authoritarian and fascist place without Snowden, Schwartz, (whom YC funded and he was suicided), Manning etc So fuck the #pedopaths and fuck anyone who is against any of the above and fuck you YC for being against truth. This is what killed Aaron Schwartz https://drop.space/watch/amazing-polly-epstein-stories-you-w.…

I suspect the downvotes are responding to your tone (which is acerbic/combative), not the content of your assertions. Personally I'd be interested in hearing you out if your manner of speaking was more intellectual.

I'll add this to samstave's cause:

I read something by Yoichi Shimatsu (a while back) that was along the same lines of what samstave originally posted. Shimatsu tied MIT and the pedo ring together through Nicholas Negroponte and Bernard Krisher. Didn't really believe it at the time.

Yet in the light of 2019--after Saville, Rochdale, Epstein, and all of these CSAIL guys >>knowinglyThen to read with shock and disbelief Lessig's mental gymnastics on the subject, or Stallman's pedantic quibbling about the Minsky situation, and it looks like even the "good guys" in our industry are devils. Perhaps Zuck and Thiel are the lesser evils?

Re: United States Files Civil Lawsuit Against Edward Snowden

#278

Post by txcwpalpha »

mattkrause wrote: post #267
txcwpalpha wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did not say that A isn't 1. In fact, in my comment I specifically acknowledge that A is 1 (some types of mail are protected by the 4th amendment). Please do not try to construct a straw man. The point is that there is already a determination that not all items sent through mail services have an expectation of privacy. If we're drawing a parallel between physical mail and e-mail, this lends to the belief that such a…

It's worth noting that "Standard Mail" has a specific meaning here, and refers to things sent in bulk, like newsletters and flyers. It is emphatically not the standard service you would use to mail your aunt a letter. That service is called First Class Mail, and is not to be opened.

That's incorrect. "Standard mail" is the type of mail service used for anything that isn't one of the other named mail services, such as First Class or Priority Mail. Things sent in bulk, such as flyers, are an example of standard mail, but that does not preclude anyone from using standard mail to send a normal letter.

Re: United States Files Civil Lawsuit Against Edward Snowden

#279

Post by [deleted] »

samstave wrote: post #275
TimTheTinker wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect the downvotes are responding to your tone (which is acerbic/combative), not the content of your assertions. Personally I'd be interested in hearing you out if your manner of speaking was more intellectual.

That sounds great, may you please list out questions and I can try to answer them. (Yes I get heated and pissed off here on HN as I have been here for over a decade and there are tons of self righteous nerds on HN who think they are the big swinging dick in the room, regardless of the fact there are tech titans here as well, but I’ve built many a thing in Silicon Valley and my pedigree goes deep, I just don’t flaunt…

[deleted]

Re: United States Files Civil Lawsuit Against Edward Snowden

#280

Post by crb002 »

dooglius wrote: post #190
DanielBMarkham wrote: post #182

This may actually be good news. Somebody might have determined that it's not worth the political cost to prosecute him publicly, so they'll press civil charges, slowly make the criminal stuff go away, then it becomes a "normal" lawsuit instead of such a hot potato. (I am freely speculating here)

"The lawsuit also names as nominal defendants the corporate entities involved in publishing Snowden’s book. The United States is suing the publisher solely to ensure that no funds are transferred to Snowden, or at his direction, while the court resolves the United States’ claims. Snowden is currently living outside of the United States." This is the actual goal here.

Wouldn't surprise me if Snowden has the publisher donate the proceeds to the FSF as a screw you.
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