
Qwest CEO who resisted NSA spying is out of prison, "vindicated" by leaks - pvnick
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2013/09/30/a-ceo-who-resisted-nsa-spying-is-out-of-prison-and-he-feels-vindicated-by-snowden-leaks/?Post+generic=%3Ftid%3Dsm_twitter_washingtonpost
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fennecfoxen
I submitted this earlier when it was in the WSJ and not the WaPo -
[http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2013/09/27/nacchio-its-life-on-
mars...](http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2013/09/27/nacchio-its-life-on-mars/) \- but
this link adds more about the "vindication" et cetera.

"Mr. Nacchio said he still believes his insider trading prosecution was
government retaliation for rebuffing requests in 2001 from the NSA to access
his customers’ phone records. But some of the evidence he said he wanted to
use was deemed classified and barred from being introduced.

An NSA spokeswoman declined to comment."

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mathattack
This shows how complicated people can be... From an outsiders view (obviously
influenced by the media) it does seem like he sold the stock to keep his
personal fortune as the company went down the tubes. But yet he's the only
major executive to stand up to the government's spying. (Granted this was on
the advice of his lawyers) Sometimes we find heroes in the strangest of
places.

I would like to see an investigative journalist dig into the record to see if
he truly was guilty of insider trading. It certainly looks bad from the
outside.

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fennecfoxen
If, in fact, the government was framing him as a form of retaliation, then of
course it would look bad from the outside: if it didn't, they'd find some
other, more-effective way to retaliate.

Also, the WSJ article provides some other insight into his personality. It
sounds like he treats convicted drug offenders like _actual human beings_ or
something. :)

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mathattack
That's why I'd like to see an investigative journalist look into it. The big
question is which source can we trust? For better or worse, the WSJ has it's
own biases. (Anti-Obama and pro-big business - and this coming from a regular
reader)

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mdturnerphys
*Qwest

~~~
pvnick
Gah, you're right, thanks!

