"Snowden is much wiser from a legal perspective than many people initially gave him credit for"

[DesMoinesDem]

Snowden extradition may be complicated process if criminal charges are filed

If U.S. officials criminally charge Edward Snowden, they are likely to confront a complicated and lengthy process to bring the admitted leaker of top-secret documents back home to stand trial, according to extradition experts and law enforcement officials.

Although the United States has an extradition treaty with Hong Kong, where Snowden was last seen, the treaty offers an exception for political offenses. It also has a rare exception that would allow Snowden to stay in Hong Kong if the government there determines it to be in its best interest. He also could apply for asylum in Hong Kong, Iceland or another country. On Wednesday, the founder of WikiLeaks told reporters that his legal advisers had been in touch with Icelandic officials on Snowden’s behalf.

“There are a number of hurdles that the government will have to jump through before Snowden will ever end up in a U.S. courtroom,” said Stephen I. Vladeck, an associate dean at American University’s Washington College of Law who studies national security law.

http://washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/snowden-extradition-may-be-complicated-process-if-criminal-charges-are-filed/2013/06/19/c525a4b8-d8e6-11e2-9df4-895344c13c30_story.html

[railsback]

1. Yeah, what happened to this guy?

Seems to have disappeared off the attention radar.

[Thinkingabout]

2. Thieves are smarter in the craft of their crimes for a while, legally if he was a good

Person he would not have taken information because he had signed Code of Ethics. Since there is a claim of his intelligence he must have intentionally gotten himself in NSA with the purpose of violating his oath which makes him an sven bigger jerk.

[backscatter712]

4. Your psychic powers are amazing!

I'd say that the all-important, all-compelling Code of Ethics that you're so authoritarian about is overridden by a duty to uphold this law:

AMENDMENT IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

[Thinkingabout]

17. Reread your attachment and pay close attention to the word warrant and since this data is collected

with a warrant then in this case the law has been upheld on the collecting. Where the law was broken was in revealing information by Snowden. You need to read the entire law to be an authoritarian not just the words you care to have in the law.

[1-Old-Man]

5. Yep, and if he was a Witch he would float.

[idwiyo]

9. Absolutely! Ethical person will NEVER report a wrongdoing. ! Because its unethical to do so.

Or something like it.

[avaistheone1]

19. SNAP You solved this conundrum.

[backwoodsbob]

12. yeah like our government lives by a code of ethics

what a joke

[allin99]

3. i wish that guy all the luck in the world...

Personally I think we’ll see him in handcuffs in a month or so, but whether he’s a twerp, or a traitor or whatever, he did many of us in this country a great service for shining a spotlight on some of the nsa practices and brought it to a place where it can't just be swept under the rug. I hope finds a safe place.

[1-Old-Man]

6. Even if he turns out to be both a twerp and a traitor he has still done his Nation a service.

What he is or is not doesn't really matter much. He has awakened the country to a patently illegal set of practices and schemes that our Government has been engaged in for many years. That took courage on his part, either that or profound naiveté.

[Kolesar]

7. too bad that you cannot give an example of what he revealed

Probably because you haven't had a newspaper in your hands in over a month

[magellan]

10. Is there any particular reason you felt it necessary

...to personally attack 1-old-man here?

[backscatter712]

18. And people wonder why I get so many posts hidden lately.

When it comes to character assassination, police-state shilling and general griefing, I let my "fuck-you" flag fly high at them!

[idwiyo]

13. Yes, of course. One absolutely MUST read a PAPER copy of newspaper or forever hang their head in

shame. Better yet, one should read ONLY Official Press Releases from the White House and other Government Agencies. in paper form. Those are the ONLY trusted sources of information. Everything else is either leftwing or rightwing propaganda.

[xiamiam]

8. courage imo.and not the kind that some folks get typing gossip about him in their pjs

This is not the 24 hr tabloid piece. He's sparked a debate. .and an acknowledgment that we have to deal with it. WE must be involved in this process. It will be remembered as a historical pivot point...hopefully.

[randome]

14. So he's 'clever' because he chose a country where he might be stuck for years?

And he's an IT 'genius' who doesn't understand what a secure FTP server is?

Not to mention he seemingly forgot to steal anything more important than internal NSA documents instead of evidence of his claims.

He's clever, all right. His resume appears to be mostly lies and exaggerations. He has successfully bamboozled his way through life. Until now.

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[font color="blue"][center]You should never stop having childhood dreams.[/center][/font]
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[flamingdem]

15. I'm on bombshell watch

Greenwald and Snowden promised those would be delivered shortly..

[randome]

16. So did Assange. Another 'clever' dude who barricaded himself in an Ecuadorian embassy.

God, I wish I was that smart.

[hr]
[font color="blue"][center]You should never stop having childhood dreams.[/center][/font]
[hr]

[Catherina]

20. Even wiser than that lol. " Hong Kong's asylum system is currently stuck in a state of limbo "

June 10, 2013 05:09Updated June 10, 2013 08:30
Why Edward Snowden's flight to Hong Kong might be brilliant

The NSA whistleblower could exploit a loophole in the Chinese territory's asylum system to buy himself some valuable time.

...

Hong Kong's asylum system is currently stuck in a state of limbo that could allow Snowden to exploit a loophole and buy some valuable time.

...

Simon Young, director of the Centre for Comparative and Public Law at the University of Hong Kong, told GlobalPost that a decision delivered by Hong Kong's High Court in March of this year required the government to create a new procedure for reviewing asylum applications.

Until the government does this, he said, asylum seekers are allowed to stay in Hong Kong indefinitely.

...

In other words, should Snowden apply for asylum, then even if the US made a valid extradition request and Hong Kong was willing to comply he could not be deported until the government figured out a new way to review asylum cases — a potentially lengthy process.

Nicholas Bequelin of Human Rights Watch says that any Snowden extradition must be "a long way off" because of this gap in the law.

...

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/china/130610/why-edward-snowden-hong-kong-extradition-asylum