

A Year Later, Most Americans Think Snowden Did The Right Thing - christianbryant
http://www.darkreading.com/a-year-later-most-americans-think-snowden-did-the-right-thing/d/d-id/1269269?

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dfc
_55% of employed Americans believe Snowden was right to expose PRISM_

A poll on "employed Americans" seems like a strange demographic to poll? I
cannot think of why someone would chose such an odd demographic. I am looking
forward to reading the questions.

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dan_bk
55% - that's frighteningly low, for a developed country.

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mike-cardwell
"55% of employed Americans" != "55% of Americans are employed"

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trustfundbaby
I want this to be true, but that would be a massive reversal from this poll
from January [http://www.cbsnews.com/news/poll-most-think-edward-
snowden-s...](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/poll-most-think-edward-snowden-
should-stand-trial-in-us/) and other very similar polls around that time (even
as late as April) ... [http://bit.ly/1jyVj6t](http://bit.ly/1jyVj6t) ... so
I'll wait till the actual poll hits the presses before taking this seriously.

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cklaus
It depends on the question asked... if you ask people whether he did the right
thing by exposing the surveillance, 55% yes.

another poll in favor of snowden:
[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/01/edward-snowden-
supp...](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/01/edward-snowden-
support_n_5071938.html)

if you ask them if he should stand trial, they also agree with that. tweaking
the poll question can make a significant difference.

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jessaustin
One could just pick defendants at random from the general population and get
most Americans to vote for a trial. We are jealous, vindictive bastards.

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rtpg
Or a country that believes in the rule of law above other things.

You can simultaneously believe that what someone did was the right thing and
think that they still need to stand trial. Now, believing those two and not
thinking some sort of reform is necessary might be a harder position to hold.

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mariodiana
If we're going to go by the rule of law, let's start with the offenders in
this administration, the last administration, and in the intelligence and law
enforcement community.

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cottonseed
> Eighty-two percent believe their personal information is still being
> analyzed by the US government, and 81 percent believe their personal
> information is being analyzed by corporations for business purposes.

I can't wrap my head around the other 20%, esp. in the latter statistic. What
do they think the world looks like?

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seren
The wording mentions especially "their personal information". If you live
without using much any internet site or service, no facebook, no twitter, etc,
no smartphone either, you don't have anything to spy on. I don't know US
statistics, but it seems possible that 10 to 20% of the population is living
pretty much offline. So they can feel "safe".

However, they are still using a phone and pretty much all their call metadata
are recorded at least...

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webmaven
You don't have anything to spy on, except your magazine subscriptions, credit
card purchases, phone records, public library records, etc.

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enterx
All that this Snowman did is that he confirmed that the API's really exist and
that there were requests for weakening of the security protocols.

All in all, direct data access thru API's isn't a bad thing in general because
it provides a fast response option but also we should have in mind the human
factor error option and the misuse of the API's for the sake of personal
interest and that should really make any citizen worried.

Did he endangered the security of the USA ? No. We all had assumptions about
it before but they weren't yet confirmed.

Did the weakening of the security protocols endangered the USA/World economy
and the security of the USA/World citizens? Absolutely YES. Anyone could
reverse-engineer the weakened protocol.

All in all:

Did he did the right thing regarding his employer? No.

Did he did the right thing regarding the rest of us? Yes.

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quotha
I would say the answer to both questions is yes.

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wil421
Sadly, I dont think this the case. Most everyone I've spoken to about Snowden
either didnt know who he was or was some what fine with being spied on the
catch "terrorists."

I still dont believe the general public understands the gravity of the
situation. Now the US is looking way worse than China. Most people still dont
understand how tarnishing this is to our already horrible image abroad.

~~~
DanBC
> Now the US is looking way worse than China.

Do you not see any irony in you being allowed to saythis online?

The US is bad, but it is hyperbole to suggest that the US is "way worse" than
China. How many political dissidents does the US execute or imprison, for one
example?

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wil421
> _is looking_

I didnt say we were way worse than China I said we are looking way worse (this
is in regards to spying not human rights, pollution or other issues). Its one
thing to claim China is conducting corporate espionage abroad. But its also
pretty bad to say we are indiscriminately spying on people in _entire_
countries. Literally the entire country.

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SEJeff
And who's saying China isn't capable (and more likely doing) of the exact same
thing? There are some absolutely brilliant hackers and tech workers who are
born into PRC propaganda.

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jsun
With absolute neutrality towards the topic of the article, here are some
warning flags for the data presented.

"Employed Americans" isn't a typical survey category, and the author makes no
attempt at explaining why "Employed Americans" was a more relevant demographic
to survey than all americans, all adults, all adults between ages of x and y,
etc. Nor does the author present equivalent statistics for the more commonly
surveyed demographics.

"Nearly one in two employed Americans" really just means almost 50%, and could
be misleading on quick glance.

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mark_l_watson
Perhaps relevant: I was having coffee at a friend's house yesterday morning,
and he was talking about Snowden. My friend has totally changed his mind, now
thinking that Snowden did the right thing. I know this is just one data point
but the flip in opinion surprised me.

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tbatterii
i was reminded of this video regarding polls. tldw: they are bullshit.
[http://youtu.be/If9EWDB_zK4](http://youtu.be/If9EWDB_zK4)

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jokoon
why do I feel this title implies that what "americans" think is inaccurate or
wrong ?

