
Edward Snowden book coming out Sept. 17 - jbegley
https://apnews.com/eaf726bd05e3491bb03852a10e10b1bf
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str33t_punk
What I find interesting is that my opinions on Edward Snowden have drastically
changed over time.

When the leaks first came out, I regarded him as a hero, for exposing what the
US Government was doing. At this time my view of the world was extremely
America centric, where all other countries were pretty powerless and the US
was the only one doing such deeds. I think this view was fairly naive.

In the last decade my thinking has changed. After seeing that Russia, China,
many EU countries, Iran, and Israel have similar programs and are also
weaponizing the internet, I've come to think of Edward Snowden as a traitor.
It is not just the US doing these things, everyone is. He exposed the US's
tools and has weakened the US's security position immensely. Countries like
China and Russia are gaining in this new battlefield, and what advantage the
US had has was lost with Snowden. It is now more like if he leaked the
schematics of US weapons to Russia during the cold war. I find it telling as
well that he fled to Russia.

I find many people have had a similar turn of opinion with Julian Assange.
Perhaps it is because Geo Politics has simply gotten more confusing -- it does
seem that America is no longer the 'World Police'

But on the other hand, he did wake up Americans to the concept of security.
Once the cat was out of the bag that everyone was being spied on, and that
governments have the power to breach systems, it seems that people have come
to care more about these matters. I would say this a good thing

He is definitely a very interesting topic

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dTal
It's not about inter-nation spying. It was about the NSA secretly spying on
the US's own citizens, on its own companies. This is not acceptable, and that
is why it's illegal - it subverts democracy. "China and Russia are doing it"
is not an excuse for that - they are examples of countries we should not
aspire to be like.

Also, regarding this geopolitical information warfare business - none of us
were told about this, or _asked_ if this was a game we wanted to play. That is
not how democracy is supposed to work. Defense, sure. But the best defense
against the current way that Russia/China is weaponizing the internet is
sunlight, not secrecy. In this too, the NSA is derelict.

Also Snowden didn't "flee to Russia" \- that's pure right-wing "talking point"
(lie). His passport was suspended by the US State Department while on layover
in Moscow.

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t3rse
Is Vlad getting a cut for hosting him?

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verizonuser
Snowden is a top scumbag. Bring him to justice. He could have just disclosed
domestic spying operations. Instead, he lit a match and torched the NSA to the
ground, while kicking off a global subversion movement directed primarily at
the USIC. That he fled to adversaries while, for instance, disclosing USIC
hacking efforts against them indicates his motives. He's anything but a
patriot. He's a traitor against the United States, against the oath he took.
His profits from the book should be seized.

Why does Snowden's twitter only follow @NSAGov? Are they his sole "target"
forever? His entire social presence is centered around this idea of the NSA
being his sole "adversary"? He torched the NSA to the ground.

Why did someone who is so calculating execute an ostensibly haphazard plan to
end up overseas? Intentional or not, Snowden went to HK then Russia. He stays
in Russia to avoid facing justice.

How much time did Snowden have to plan for his escape? At least since December
2012. It was enough time for him to think through and coordinate the biggest
part of such a plan: the diversion. It would not be surprising to discover
that he had help domestically during this process.

The forthcoming book does allow Snowden to write his own history.

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A4ET8a8uTh0
Writing your own story is what every human does. Then we mediate our
perceptions with others. It does get amusing that we apparently live in times
where there is already an established hivemind perception people are expected
to adhere to. I could have understood it in former USSR. I do not understand
or accept it for US. I moved here by choice and I am stupid and naive enough
to believe founding fathers dreams.

Snowden is still a hero to me. At least he shone light on it. Before that,
Wyden tried to do it through official channels, but Clapper outright lied in
public.

So what do you do? Collect paycheck, keep your head down, not make waves and
listen to elected critters make statements you know to run counter to reality.

Alternatively, you can tell the truth and risk government wrath for telling
how things really work.

Yeah. What a scumbag that Snowden is.

~~~
lern_too_spel
Most of what Snowden said was the nonsensical ravings of a conspiracy
theorist. You would think he would have documents to prove his conspiracies,
but the only illegal program he revealed was phone metadata collection, which
was borderline enough that the second court to look at it ruled that it was
legal.

