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On the 10th anniversary of the Snowden revelations

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Re: On the 10th anniversary of the Snowden revelations

#111

Post by MrYellowP »

bandrami wrote: post #16

The weirdest thing is that Drake had already whistleblown about the program in 2005. It was front page on the NYT and WP. But 8 years later everybody seemed to have completely forgotten that and acted like Snowden was revealing something new.

It's really not weird at all.

When the mainstream media doesn't report on something, it's forgotten within days. They dictate what most people think and talk about.

Pandora papers? Pleasure Island?

What was the name of the woman that got jailed? Do you remember her jail sentence being a joke? What about the list?

What was in the news two weeks ago? What was NOT in the news two weeks ago, despite being noteworthy?

Re: On the 10th anniversary of the Snowden revelations

#112

Post by [deleted] »

lern_too_spel wrote: post #31
f1refly wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean the most sensitive government secrets that are about warrantless total surveillance of everyone on earth? The proof that the US government has lost all control over their spying apparatus? Where would be a sensitive place to take them instead in your opinion?

As the article we're commenting on makes very clear, Snowden had no such documents.

[deleted]

Re: On the 10th anniversary of the Snowden revelations

#113

Post by sensanaty »

mike_d wrote: post #30
AequitasOmnibus wrote: post #20

10 years on, Snowden remains arguably the most important whistleblower in the US after Daniel Ellsberg. The fact that the government pursued Snowden and effectively drove him into exile in an unfriendly country shows how serious the revelations were, and exposes the dangers of an unchecked government. I don't think it's hyperbole to say that Snowden single-handedly changed public perception against the NSA and the do…

> The fact that the government pursued Snowden They had to. He broke the law. He would have had the chance to go to trial and defend himself and seek whistleblower protection status. Given the politically charged nature and public opinion at the time, he might have had a pretty fair shake and could have been living comfortably in the US working for the ACLU or something. Instead he plotted an escape to an openly host…

> He would have had the chance to go to trial and defend himself and seek whistleblower protection status...

In what universe would the US Gov't not just ship him off to some blacksite on a remote island somewhere and disappear him forever?

Re: On the 10th anniversary of the Snowden revelations

#114

Post by Sharlin »

0xDEF wrote: post #96
kome wrote: post #94

This really feels like CIA NSA propaganda. As if nothing wrong happened. What the hell. The character assassination of Snowden&co in the anglophone sphere is absurd, and probably manufactured. But this didn't quite happen in other languages. Assange trials are just mind-blowing and worrisome, and yet the simple truth is here: who told the truth is in jail, and who committed war crimes is outside.

>The character assassination of Snowden Well nobody forced him to repeat Russian propaganda in late 2021 and early 2022 that "Russia was totally not going to invade".

In late 2021 and early 2022 almost everybody, including most European heads of state, believed Russia was just bluffing and wasn't going to invade (because they correctly thought it would be incredibly irrational).

Re: On the 10th anniversary of the Snowden revelations

#115

Post by titzer »

yreg wrote: post #90
titzer wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You think Russian intelligence just let him have asylum (and be granted citizenship) without finding everything he knows about how the NSA operates? That'd be extremely naive to believe. Witting, willing, or not, Snowden has been extremely useful to Russia.

Then perhaps the US shouldn't have forced him to stay in Russia?

According to what I am reading on Wikipedia about the specific timeline, the US revoked his passport before he left Hong Kong. He claims he was planning to fly to Ecuador and was just going to pass through Moscow. And yet there are direct flights from Hong Kong to Ecuador.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Snowden#Flight_from_the...

The US government is not responsible for him flying to or staying in Russia.

Re: On the 10th anniversary of the Snowden revelations

#116

Post by denton-scratch »

willis936 wrote: post #105
INTPenis wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the simplest explanation is that people have it good enough to not rock the boat, and those among the literally unwashed, and untreated, masses who don't have bread and circuses would quickly be shutdown if they tried to move on any part of the government. Seems to me this state of surveillance has just been accepted as a norm. People in the business have taken precautions like using more encryption and audit…

>People in the business have taken precautions like using more encryption Do you mean for their own small scale activities? The only ECDH curves possible to use on the big tech internet were given by the head of the NSA with no explanation and are manipulatable.

ED25519 is not a NIST curve.

Re: On the 10th anniversary of the Snowden revelations

#117

Post by denton-scratch »

yreg wrote: post #100
0xDEF wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Snowden was behaving like a Russian propagandist in late 2021 and early 2022. He was repeating Russian lies that they were totally not going to invade etc.

For what it's worth almost everyone but US government predicted the Russians won't invade. Zelensky himself predicted there is no imminent invasion and complained that the west creates panic which is harmful to UA economy.

This is true; and I find it hard to understand.

I mean, I can understand Zelensky talking it down; as the public face of Ukraine's government, I assume everything he says is propaganda of some kind (whether or not it's true).

But back in December, the satellite photos were showing the huge build-up of troops and armour on Ukraine's border. I didn't believe it was just an "exercise", nor did I believe it was sabre-rattling. I was convinced that an invasion was imminent.

I paid no attention to Snowden's opinion; he was a guest of the Russian government, and couldn't easily flee Russia.

Re: On the 10th anniversary of the Snowden revelations

#118

Post by bjourne »

caskstrength wrote: post #89
yreg wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently noticed how the public perception of Snowden changed on reddit. Years ago it was I think very positive. But with the war going on now when I see him come up, usually there are many users saying that he is a naive Russian asset and so on. Makes me a bit sad to see.

The guy was regurgitating Russian propaganda talking points on twitter just days before the invasion and then accepted Russian citizenship after the fact. At this point considering him a Russian asset seems reasonable IMO.

Isn't the big threat the US government's illegal and omnipresent spying on its own and other countries citizens, rather than what Snowden been up to lately?

Re: On the 10th anniversary of the Snowden revelations

#119

Post by willis936 »

denton-scratch wrote: post #116
willis936 wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>People in the business have taken precautions like using more encryption Do you mean for their own small scale activities? The only ECDH curves possible to use on the big tech internet were given by the head of the NSA with no explanation and are manipulatable.

ED25519 is not a NIST curve.

And Ed25519 is not supported by major CAs.

Re: On the 10th anniversary of the Snowden revelations

#120

Post by lioeters »

willis936 wrote: post #107
proudeu wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of comments you read on reddit are written and/or upvoted by bots. No wonder they are trying to shift the narrative to be more pro-US. Eglin Military base was some time ago biggest source of traffic on Reddit. It’s up to you what you make of that

>pro-US *pro-illegal-spying I am on the side of the US citizens, Snowden's side.

It's one of those rhetorical tricks being used to manipulate public opinion, where any criticism of the status quo is branded as "un-American" and "un-patriotic". But in fact it's the other way around, we criticize and are angry because we care about the country and the values it stands for.

The sleight of hand, the sneakiness of how everything gets turned upside-down is impressive though, how quickly a hero becomes a villain, and the villains openly continue with their villainy as if it were heroic.

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