This is a question that opinion is divided on and I will admit to not having a solid opinion either way yet. I am curious to see what Clutchfans opinion is.
It sounds like what NSA is doing is illegal. They aren't supposed to be able to spy on domestic communication which they Arte doing. Obama is pos. He promised transparency and he has prosecuted whistleblowers harder than W.
Who cares? I mean, besides the folks trying to get us to ignore what has happened over the last 12 years? This should not be a referendum on Snowden.
35% chance he's a spy, 45% chance he's legitimately this stupid, and 20% chance that he's both. Still, Hanlon's Razor means that I'm inclined to go with the second option for now.
I am just curious but are you a US citizen? I've noticed several people supporting Snowden who aren't US citizens and am wondering how that affects there view of him.
It is an interesting question but it also goes to how much you are going to believe or accept what Snowden says. For example not surprising but those who already were very critical of the Admin's record on privacy tend to praise him as a hero while those who supported the Admin. on national security grounds call him a traitor. While the message should be more important than the messenger it is always going to be hard to separate the two. I myself am somewhat skeptical of all of Snowden's claims because I don't know much about him, what his motivations and his goals are. While I believe much of what he says because it does fit in with other known info at the same time he also seems to be self-aggrandizing. I also think his choice of where he has been seeking sanctuary does raise some questions about what his motives are.
I'm going with hero even though I don't agree with how he did it. He focused national attention on an a well-intentioned but inherently dangerous law (the Patriot Act) that has been abused to the point of criminality, if not actual criminality, by the Obama administration.
US clandestine operations against China and Russia were not domestic communication. Why did he out them as well? Can the US play the China = cyber hacker card again? Is Putin a US citizen? Ever wonder why China let him go so easily? It baffles me why some Americans consider him a hero. For sure, he is a traitor to the US government. Therein probably lies the answer: like or dislike of the current "government". Some were willing to support "sleeping with the enemy" for it. BTW, am not a US citizen so you know why I replied to your post.
All I know is that the one image of him they show most often looks remarkably like my son. I keep waiting for someone to report my son and have him hauled away in handcuffs and a black hood to an undisclosed location. Good thing he has no plans to fly int he near future.
Snowden looks like friends of mine and there is nothing particular remarkably looking about him. That is another question though is whether his appearance (race) plays a role in people's view of him. Would people think differently if he had been a Chinese, Indian, Hispanic, African or some other American instead of an Anglo-Saxon?
Snowden on left, my son on right: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/55439965@N08/9125003909/" title="Screen Shot 2013-06-24 at 9.49.42 AM by bobrek, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2888/9125003909_48c32b9497.jpg" width="500" height="263" alt="Screen Shot 2013-06-24 at 9.49.42 AM"></a>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>If Snowden were Chinese or Iranian, had leaked info about their spying and then sought asylum in US, we'd grant it and call him a hero.</p>— Stephen Walt (@StephenWalt) <a href="https://twitter.com/StephenWalt/statuses/349077809014128640">June 24, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
I am not a US citizen and I do think it is legit for NSA to spy on US citizens. Anti-terrorism is a good excuse to break the law that is more than 200 years old. Just keep NSA in check. no biggie. I'm glad that I have the same thinking as US government. I should be a US citizen. However USA has been deliberately hacking other country's universities, government offices, scientific programs, private corporations and ordinary people's emails, messages, using the technique, and privileges that only USA can have. USA is brewing a WAR out of nothing again. Everyone, US citizen or not, will all be doomed in that war. That's terrorism. Mr. Snowden found us a terrorist. A hero , no doubt.
Of course we would. That's how it works. If a Chinese spy defected to the US and gave us critical info, we'd say it's great. If a US spy defected to China and gave them critical info, he'd be a traitor. That's the definition of traitor. I think this part is interesting - regardless of the PRISM stuff, why reveal this if you are a "patriot"? Does he also believe the US should not be involved in international espionage either? I don't think anyone would suggest any of that is remotely illegal, but revealing it clearly has harmed the US' diplomatic positioning.
You're fairly delusional if you think only the US does this. Espionage has been going on since the beginning of human history.
Yup, only the US can do this, on this level. You confused "massacre" with "espionage". I am 100% sure because all other countries, including Britain, Canada, German, Russia, China, Japan,Iran, Israel..... all combined, they could not even achieve 1% of what USA is doing. Why? Because only USA has google, facebook, twitter, yahoo, youtube, Apple, Microsoft .... and root DNS servers.
It is such a strong word that I hesitate to use it much, but if I had to choose one or the other, it would definitely be hero. The main reason he's being pursued is because he alerted Americans to the crimes committed against them by "their" government. The other stuff is just secondary.
