Edward Snowden steals the show

[Tx4obama]

Edward Snowden steals the show

When Edward Snowden first told the world he was the NSA leaker, he insisted he didn’t want to become the story.

What happened to that?

At every turn, Snowden has drowned out the debate over privacy, security and the role of government he hoped to spark by serving up a human drama — starring himself.

He’s given frequent interviews, set off an international manhunt by jetting from the United States to Hong Kong to Russia, and then Monday he took it even further by firing off a missive over President Barack Obama’s handling of his case — without a mention of his original cause.

-snip-

That’s a different model than national security whistleblowers like former NSA officials Thomas Drake, William Binney and J. Kirk Wiebe and former Justice Department lawyer Thomas Tamm, all of whom drew attention to civil liberties concerns about the NSA’s warrantless surveillance program under President George W. Bush. They all became the focus of attention when the government investigated them — but they didn’t seek it out.

-snip-

Full two page article here: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/07/edward-snowden-nsa-whistleblower-93660.html

First he stole classified government documents, now he's stole the show, what's he gonna steal next?

[sibelian]

1. ...

I think you need another hobby.

[leveymg]

2. I'm glad that Snowden broke the rather passive mold for whistleblowers. Note that people are

finally paying attention and the long-delayed national debate on the many steep, terrible costs of the national security state are finally beginning in earnest. This may not have been the ideal way to rouse us out of our national slumber about surveillance, but it's past time.

I admire Drake, Binney and Wiebe for their loyalty and disciplined approach, but Snowden has gotten results.

[uponit7771]

3. Snowden is trying to advance the 4th amendment by being the least credible leaker he can be

[dkf]

4. Well he is certainly making fools out of tptb.

Good.

[frylock]

5. gee another post about snowden bemoaning all the press about snowden..

a clear case of snowden derangement syndrome.

[Gravitycollapse]

6. Take a fucking break for Christ's sake.

[Thinkingabout]

7. Which makes this whole story a bunch of drama. There is no new information coming out and if

untruths are being posted to support a position.

[randome]

8. He also said "I'm not here to hide from justice."

[hr]
[font color="blue"][center]I'm always right. When I'm wrong I admit it.
So then I'm right about being wrong.[/center][/font]
[hr]

[LondonReign2]

9. You haven't embarrassed yourself enough today

with the glee of the Bolivian President's plane being searched?

Ok then, I defer to Rude:

1. Man, it's exciting, isn't it? Where will NSA leaker Edward Snowden end up? Will he live in limbo in a TGI Friday's in the Moscow airport? Will he get asylum? Where will he take a shit? Does he have access to shampoo? Holy fuck, tell us more about his plea bargain deal offers and his attempts to find a country to take him. Tell us more because the more we hear about Edward Snowden, fugitive from the butthurt U.S. government, the less we have to grapple with what Snowden's leaked documents actually reveal about the U.S. surveillance state.

5. The Snowden chronicles (and, to a lesser extent, the irrelevant Glenn-Greenwald-is-such-an-asshole attacks) are an enormous distraction from the real stories, the massive extent of spying on Americans without suspicion or warrant (which, the Rude Pundit has said repeatedly, is something that at least deserves a good debate) and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper lying to Congress. And if these things don't matter to you, especially those of you on the left side of the political wall, if you think "security" has been compromised or some such shit that hasn't been demonstrated at all, well, congratulations. You're finally on the side of George W. Bush, John Yoo, Dick Cheney, and other assorted war criminals.

http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/

[burnodo]

10. Politico?

[emulatorloo]

13. Agreed. right wing hacks

[henrywolfsburg]

11. Snowden Is a Bad Dude. Here's why...

There's a lot more that goes into leaking the type of information he did than just embarrassing the USA. He put people in danger. http://www.hallofbaddudes.com/2013/07/eric-snowden-inducted-into-hall-of-bad.html

[TheMadMonk]

14. Given what we know of the organisations those people...

...signed up to work for, I'm not feeling much sympathy for them now.

Even if one were to allow that the American people signed onto the PATRIOT act with their vote, (a specious argument given that one neither votes for acts of Congress or agency policies) they did so labouring under false apprehensions.

1. They were told every safeguard was in place to protect the privacy of Americans;
2. They were categorically told that NO CONTENT was being intercepted or stored.
   We have since learnt of at least one exemption which puts the lie to that claim. All encrypted content is captured and retained. This means EVERY Skype conversation and all VPN traffic just for starters. And since it is the quintessential "man in the middle", key exchange is a joke as far as NSA is concerned.
3. Obama PROMISED AS A KEY CAMPAIGN PLATFORM to dismantle THESE EXACT PROGRAMS.

[Kurovski]

12. "...what's he gonna steal next?"

I dunno, your ability to make friends and influence people?