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Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind revelations of NSA surveillance

guardian.co.uk

161–170 of 304 posts

Re: Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind revelations of NSA surveillance

#161
post #89
post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By the way, I don't know about anybody else, but for the first time I can think of, I'm seriously concerned about the consequences of posting support for somebody like this online. I don't know how things will play out years down the road and who will do what with this information this is exactly what's so scary. people have to think about posting on Hacker News.

We all have to die someday. Might as well die for something.

This gentleman is willing to risk his life to comment on HN! Very brave, our very own Snowden.

Re: Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind revelations of NSA surveillance

#162
post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By the way, I don't know about anybody else, but for the first time I can think of, I'm seriously concerned about the consequences of posting support for somebody like this online. I don't know how things will play out years down the road and who will do what with this information. I don't know about you, but that's a chance I'm willing to take. As far as I'm concerned, Edward Snowden is an American hero and deserves…

"To any NSA / CIA / FBI / etc. spooks who are reading this - blow me." It is easy to feel anger towards those we perceive as oppressors, but if this nascent movement (I hope it is a movement!) is to have any success, thoughts like these from Gandhi should not be forgotten: Real noncooperation is noncooperation with evil and not with the evil doer. Noncooperation is not a hymn of hate. My noncooperation is with method…

Gandhi's tactics, while plainly effective in his time and place, against his aggressors, should not be accepted as universalizable. It is not the only way to realize change, nor it is necessarily the most effective way to realize change in any particular situation, nor is it even necessarily a way that works in the slightest in any situation.

Noncompliance and noncooperation have a time and a place. We must avoid the temptation of viewing them as silver bullets simply because we find them pleasant, easy to stomach.

Re: Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind revelations of NSA surveillance

#163
post #26

"I carefully evaluated every single document I disclosed to ensure that each was legitimately in the public interest," he said. "There are all sorts of documents that would have made a big impact that I didn't turn over, because harming people isn't my goal. Transparency is." This seems commendable.

Certainly better than Bradley Manning's approach of indiscriminate mass disclosure.

Indeed. I was amazed that The Guardian would characterize Manning as a "whistleblower". Manning broke OPSEC and fed a lot of good people into the meat grinder, rather than show why the policies might be a bad idea.

Re: Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind revelations of NSA surveillance

#164
post #9

" Once he reached the conclusion that the NSA's surveillance net would soon be irrevocable, he said it was just a matter of time before he chose to act. "What they're doing" poses "an existential threat to democracy", he said. " Thoughtful people brave enough to blow whistles seem to be the greatest check on what looks like a secret, unaccountable, illegal centralization of power based on lies from the top of the gov…

By the way, I don't know about anybody else, but for the first time I can think of, I'm seriously concerned about the consequences of posting support for somebody like this online. I don't know how things will play out years down the road and who will do what with this information. I don't know about you, but that's a chance I'm willing to take. As far as I'm concerned, Edward Snowden is an American hero and deserves…

I HOPE there is a NSA / CIA / FBI spook going through this...because this man and his courage should shake the rust off of people, who are in a position to witness the tyranny of those in power(just like our whistle-blower) and take a stand and start caring more about what is the right thing to do and not what everyone around them seems to be doing.

Re: Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind revelations of NSA surveillance

#165
First they came for the communists,

and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.

Then they came for the socialists,

and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,

and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for me,

and there was no one left to speak for me.

Re: Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind revelations of NSA surveillance

#166
post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"To any NSA / CIA / FBI / etc. spooks who are reading this - blow me." It is easy to feel anger towards those we perceive as oppressors, but if this nascent movement (I hope it is a movement!) is to have any success, thoughts like these from Gandhi should not be forgotten: Real noncooperation is noncooperation with evil and not with the evil doer. Noncooperation is not a hymn of hate. My noncooperation is with method…

Gandhi's tactics, while plainly effective in his time and place, against his aggressors, should not be accepted as universalizable. It is not the only way to realize change, nor it is necessarily the most effective way to realize change in any particular situation, nor is it even necessarily a way that works in the slightest in any situation. Noncompliance and noncooperation have a time and a place. We must avoid the…

[deleted]

Re: Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind revelations of NSA surveillance

#167
When I was a kid Russians from the CCCP wanted to defect to the USA... Now we have American Edward Snoden seeking asylum outside the USA for trying to bulk up the 4th amendment of the US constitution:

"...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. ..."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/09/nsa-whistleblowe...

Re: Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind revelations of NSA surveillance

#168
post #96
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If he is in Beijing, I agree. Hong Hong is quite it's own place.

They'll come get him in Hong Kong. I meant the Chinese.

His public disclosure makes that exceedingly unlikely. At this point, China would rather let Obama reap the shitstorm alone.

Re: Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind revelations of NSA surveillance

#169
post #45

"I sitting at my desk certainly had the authorities to wiretap anyone from you or your accountant to a federal judge to even the president if I had a personal email" "I had access to the full rosters of everyone working in the NSA, the entire intelligence community and undercover assets all around the world, the locations of every station, we have what their missions are" Wow, is this guy for real? It sounds crazy.

erm he pointed out his level of access to illustrate that what he did wasn't to harm the US but to inform the people. He is saying look I could have done anything with the access I had, literally anything, but what I choose to do was take some specific info I felt would be relevant to the public and disclose it in a way that didnt put operatives at risk or put people in harms way. Its the whistle blower equivelant of "I have nuclear tech, and instead of building a bomb, I built a power plant".

Re: Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind revelations of NSA surveillance

#170

Ironic in Catch-22: "Snowden is a member of Yossarian's flight during a mission, and acts as catalyst for the fundamental change in Yossarian's mentality and outlook." [1] Are U.S. Citizens Yossarian? 1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yossarian#Snowden

Is Snowden Snowden?

"He felt goose pimples clacking all over him as he gazed down despondently at the grim secret Snowden had spilled all over the messy floor. It was easy to read the message in his entrails. Man was matter, that was Snowden's secret. Drop him out a window and he'll fall. Set fire to him and he'll burn. Bury him and he'll rot, like other kinds of garbage. The spirit gone, man is garbage. That was Snowden's secret. Ripeness was all."

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