
In 2009, Ed Snowden said leakers “should be shot.” Then he became one - Libertatea
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/06/exclusive-in-2009-ed-snowden-said-leakers-should-be-shot-then-he-became-one/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+arstechnica%2Findex+%28Ars+Technica+-+All+content%29
======
jumblesale
Snowden said some unwise things in his past? Well that definitely makes it ok
for the government to spy on me!

Seriously Ars? You don't feel it's a little ironic to be raking through his
communications like this?

~~~
sp332
Ars doesn't log IRC chats on their server. All this was collected from other
users' chat logs.

~~~
mpyne
You mean other people are watching me besides just the NSA? Holy crap, I
didn't realize, I thought I was only using TLS to keep the _government_ from
finding out my credit card information!

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ryguytilidie
I'm really happy the media is choosing to focus on what Snowden may or may not
have done in his private life versus spending a bit of time on the biggest,
unconstitutional domestic spying operation in world history. Yeah, I want to
know more about whether he used a dvorak keyboard or a regular one, the NSA
stuff is just a yawnfest.

~~~
mpyne
Live by the pageview, die by the pageview.

I can't figure out why you are all so surprised. Is this really the site of
A/B testing to figure out which shade of ochre maximizes your Web INF.0
conversion rates or not? The site where tax evasion is OK as long as it's
legal?

Ars isn't going to see a pageview goldmine like this come again for a long
time, so as long as the reporting is _accurate_ then I see no reason why they
shouldn't take advantage, especially since Greenwald and WaPo are doing the
muckraking anyways. Ars doesn't have an exclusivity deal with Snowden so
they're doing the smart thing by reporting on what they _do_ have exclusivity
about.

~~~
ryguytilidie
I'm not surprised at all, I'm just tired and depressed by it.

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ajays
And in 2008, (candidate) Obama said there should be no warrantless
wiretapping. Then he started doing it himself.

[http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9845595-7.html](http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9845595-7.html)

~~~
pan69
I'm shocked to find out that a politician actually lied..

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corford
If anything, I'd say it actually improves my respect for him. 4 years ago it
seems he was an idealistic employee working for the secret services to fight
the good fight.

Fast forward to today and the realities of what is actually being done in the
name of "security" have turned his idealism in to alarm.

Fortunately for us, he had the self-awareness, conscience and bravery to take
the blinkers off, question what is happening and try and do something about
it.

------
carlyle4545
"When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?" \- John
Maynard Keynes

~~~
altcognito
He espouses a lot of libertarian views, which would be consistent with leaking
information on the fact that the government is poking into everyone's lives to
damage said over-reaching government.

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quesera
Ages 24 and 28 can be farther apart than the math would suggest.

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will118
I read the whole thing, the title put me off but I stood firm.

Page 3 is where the stuff about leakers is; in the context of
[http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/11/washington/11iran.html?_r=...](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/11/washington/11iran.html?_r=1&hp)

To me it seems 4 years ago while working for the CIA, he was an idealist. He
saw it from the protecting national security angle.

To me, not entirely surprising?

~~~
krek
Especially not surprising because working for CIA he expected to be monitored,
and it's just self preservation to publicly espouse the "correct" ideologies.

------
gerhardi
Ed was of course planning already towards becoming a leaker - he wanted to
stay under the radar or gain some NSA points by giving the image of being
strictly against leaking.

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snarfy
Hey look, more hatchet job done Joe Mullin. Fuck that guy, and fuck ken fisher
for defending him.

------
uvdiv
This is interesting:

 _these are the same people who blew the whole "we could listen to osama's
cell phone" thingthe same people who screwed us on wiretappingover and over
and over againThank god they're going out of business._

Referring to the _NY Times_. "Screwed us on wiretapping" in the sense that
they reported about it, thus tipping off terrorists and making it less useful.
(Snowden's interpretation, not mine).

~~~
mpyne
Interestingly, that was _exactly_ what a former intel community official had
also complained about when discussing the Snowden case, was when the news
leaked of what type of phone OBL was using, that OBL switched to couriers and
set back the government in their efforts to track him.

Or in other words, Snowden knew of the national security impact this leak
would have and did it anyways. The gracious viewpoint is that he figured the
improvement to civil liberties would outweigh the cost to national security.
But that still doesn't explain divulging secrets to China, or why Snowden felt
that he was unilaterally qualified to assess the risks of each.

------
human_error
People change in time. Their opinions too.

~~~
fnordfnordfnord
Not me man. I never said any dumb shit when I was younger. No way.

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jcampbell1
There is a difference between "should be shot", and "those people should be
shot in the balls.".

He seems to have regarded the leaks surrounding the Iranian nuclear program as
potentially leading to war. Little did he know, those leaks were intentional
with the goal of preventing Israel from launching a conventional attack, and
getting Russia / China on board with sanctions. It wasn't obvious to most at
the time that the leaks were intentional.

~~~
vehementi
Yeah this disgraces ars a bunch.

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poink
Hey look. More creepiness re: Snowden from ArsTechnica.

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fnordfnordfnord
If this were a spy fiction plot, it'd be clear by now that Snowden is a CIA
agent conducting an operation against the NSA.

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pearjuice
Unbelievable how respectable tech blogs puts up sensationalist stories just to
get some visitors over the back of a popular topic.

------
philamonster
paradigm shift

