Ask HN: Can we please slow down the stories about Edward Snowden?

I'm not normally in favour of "political" stories on HN but this one is an exception for three reasons.

Firstly, mass surveillance and the end-run around the Constitution is a technological as well as social and political issue that also touches on the hot button issue of privacy and how the legal system is increasingly at odds with the Internet (eg distinguishing between "US persons" and "foreign persons" is increasingly difficult and makes less and less sense in a connected world).

Secondly, most of these stories have been surprisingly informative if you read between the lines.

- Hong Kong (as a plausible deniability front for the PRC basically) stalled on the arrest warrant and essentially ignored the cancelled passport. When prompted by the US AG they further stalled by requesting more information. Basically they took the approach of "who is this Snowden guy?" and threw up their hands saying "we've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas; we're confused!" Make no mistake: this is the PRC making a stand against US policy;

- Russia likewise (it is reported today) claims it has no "legal authority" to detain Snowden and don't know where he is (despite him being contained to the airport as he has no valid Russian visa as far as anyone knows). This, too, is Russia taking a stance against US policy.

- Ecuador too of all countries is taking an anti-US stance. It's a strange country to claim to be supporting human rights (given its record and persecution of journalists who criticize the president). In a news article today it was mentioned that the US refused to extradite bankers to Ecuador. Are we seeing the true tit-for-tat motives here?

- Whether the US will interfere with a Russian commercial airliner that travels in or near US airspace (being the flight from Moscow to Cuba) is an open and noteworthy question. It seems unlikely but the very fact that we even need to ask that question says a lot.

- Obama's war on whistleblowers exceeds that of all presidents that came before him. "Justice" is not the only goal here. Making an example of these "traitors" is. That can be the only explanation for the disgusting behaviour (arguably torture) that applied to, say, the detention and solitary confinement of Bradley Manning (ostensibly under the guise of "suicide watch").

- the administration's adoption of the "Insider Threat Program" basically turns all Federal employees into informants on each other where you can be punished for not informing. This is straight out of the Stasi playbook and happening in the US in 2013. Not only that but different departments and agencies have leeway on defining what "sensitive" information is, which goes beyond "classified".

Third, nothing changes and nothing works... until it does. To take the fatalistic and cynical position that there's no point in trying is just... sad.

This issue matters and it's germane to HN on several fronts. If you don't feel the same, just don't click on the links.

Honest question: how are privacy-related topics not tech news? If Google, Apple, FB, and other big techs are being required to give up data to the US government, isn't that something that should concern our community worldwide?

"It means stuff that teaches you about the world."

I guess you do not find the story is teaching you anything about the world?

"But if this... was a sign of some bigger, underlying trend, then perhaps it could be."

Maybe it is, but you just are not seeing it?

That these stories are upvoted so much only proves that it's an interesting topic to the community.

So your post is kind of senseless.

Agreed. Although I have seen some tabloid-esque articles get upvoted, it's important that the issue of NSA wiretapping (not necessarily the whereabouts of Snowden) do not fade from our mind. It's important here on HN especially, because as technologists we understand far better than others, politicians in particular, the gravity of collecting even the most trivial data. (See the great article "Using Metadata to find Paul Revere")