What Edward Snowden Has Given Us

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from the age-of-the-whistleblower dept

When Edward Snowden first revealed himself as the source of the NSA leaks, the Guardian released a short video interview with him in which he made the following confession:

"The greatest fear that I have regarding the outcome for America of these disclosures is that nothing will change. People will see in the media all of these disclosures. They'll know the lengths that the government is going to grant themselves powers unilaterally to create greater control over American society and global society. But they won't be willing to take the risks necessary to stand up and fight to change things to force their representatives to actually take a stand in their interests."

Less than a week later, Glenn Greenwald was asserting that Snowden's worst fear had not been realized. That same claim was made somewhat more plausibly a few days ago by Philip Bump, writing in The Atlantic under the headline "Edward Snowden is Winning." Even if you don't agree with that optimistic assessment, the narrowness of the defeat of the Amash Amendment shows how far things have come in a few weeks.

But just as interesting as the fact that the debate is taking place, exactly as Snowden hoped, are the collateral benefits that are flowing from his leaks. Jay Rosen has gathered together a number of examples, part of what he calls The Snowden Effect:

Direct and indirect gains in public knowledge from the cascade of events and further reporting that followed Edward Snowden's leaks of classified information about the surveillance state in the U.S.

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130725/07050423940/what-edward-snowden-has-given-us.shtml

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1. Baader-Meinhof, Edward Snowden and learning the 'right' lesson

In 1981, I went to live with my dad in Stuttgart, West Germany. I soon noticed posters advertising the biggest show in town, a political thriller with a sexy-looking young cast, and it was playing everywhere. Only this wasn’t a movie, it was real life: the Baader-Meinhof Group was freaking out the nation.

Stammheim Prison built a special wing for the notorious terrorists, and it loomed dull and grey over the nearby autobahn. The founding members of Baader-Meinhof spent three years in total isolation before being transferred here, where their cells were bugged and their conversations with their lawyers were recorded, in violation of German law. At Stammheim they alternately ignored and fought a farcically inept show trial in which the outcome was never in doubt, and staged hunger strikes protesting their treatment. They died three years before I had arrived, all committing suicide, according to the official reports. Yet I discovered the Baader-Meinhof group was stronger than ever.

Active members were a regular feature on the evening news, where grim-faced officials issued warnings and journalists speculated on future attacks. What was the status of the latest manhunts? Were the terrorists in Bonn or Berlin, or had they fled to Paris or Amsterdam? Since I was a blond teenager, I was regularly stopped by Polizei officers conducting street sweeps, examining me over the barrels of their machine pistols as they asked for my papers. It was an early, Germanic version of Stop-and-Frisk.

The lessons intended by the West German government were clear: We will prevail. Baader-Meinhof remains marginalized. They can’t escape us. Do what we say, don’t look too closely at our methods, and West Germany will remain safe.

http://www.opendemocracy.net/kevin-frech/baader-meinhof-edward-snowden-and-learning-right-lesson

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2. US Official: We're Not Asking for Snowden's Extradition, but for His Return

Well, if threats and diplomatic pressure doesn’t work, surely begging will. That seems to be the idea that the United States is working when it comes to getting its hands on Edward Snowden once more.

Russian diplomats raised an incredulous eyebrow at the extradition demands made by the United States, especially since there’s no accord between the two countries.

Now, US officials are backpedaling a little when it comes to the tone they use in their dialogue with the Russian authorities over the Snowden case.

“Mr. Snowden ought to be returned to the United States to face the felony charges against him. The U.S. is not asking for “extradition,” but simply the return of Mr. Snowden. We have sent many people back to Russia,” U.S. Ambassador in Moscow Michael McFaul said on his Twitter account.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/US-Official-We-re-Not-Asking-for-Snowden-s-Extradition-but-for-His-Return-370952.shtml

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3. Du rec. Nt

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4. Dueling narratives. Arrogant blowhards being made to explain themselves in public.

Male groupie aficionados made to hide in foreign embassies. Giant egos clashing in fury. Noble/Evil nerds. Sarcasm, schadenfreude, spies. What's not to like? Hollywood drools in envy.

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5. What Edward Snowden has given us

I am afraid most of you will disagree with my post.
Ever since I have been reading about the Snowden case I have been careful to keep in mind what I consider is the National Security Agency, and what it is supposed to contribute to U.S. Security.

I have been careful to keep in mind the importance Americans place on privacy. It indeed is the most cherished right a person can have. And America is notorious in advocating privacy as one of the most basic human rights.

Edward Snowden is without doubt a special person. He felt he needed to reject and make public, with the intention of accusing the U.S Government, of violating citizen´s rights by listening to phone calls without authorization by the owner. I came across the issue and decided to study it and perhaps find a reasonable answer to my doubts.

It was easy to think of security, but that is something we usually take for granted. So I kept thinking and suddenly it hit me: The United States Government has upgraded its capacity to listen to private conversations from telephones. But it is really on other frequency bands where the most interesting communications can be heard.

That led me to think how the United States, or any other country, can have access to communications beyond telephone, to monitor many activities throughout the world.

Edward Snowden is a specialist on one of the most sophisticated communications systems on earth. So he is a walking communicator of everything that happens and is reported in some form or another. This is where the NSA comes to mind. And the NSA takes us to National Security. And the NSA exists to, amongst other things, detect whatever threat there might be to the security of the United States.
And the NSA needs a whole bunch of Edward Snowdens, well trained and generously paid, just to keep track of possible threats to the U.S., so as to be able to do something about it.

But wait! How come Edward Snowden, the one on TV, is making public such a bunch of NSA secrets?

Let´s come back to reality. Edward Snowden´s job was to catch and listen to nothimg less than POSSIBLE THREATS TO THE NATIONAL SECURITY OF THE UNITED STATES, a job that made him so extremely valuable to the United States.
But wait, why did he quit his extremely important and secret job to go to, of all places, Russia?

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6. I don't see your point, so I can't tell if I disagree or not.

I think I understand what you say, more of less, but I don't see that it goes anywhere in particular, it's like an ruminative essay. But what there is, I don't see much objection to.

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7. I don't think exile in Russia was intended

This is my speculation of course, but my sense is that either Snowden and friends didn't think far enough through this journey of exposing himself and the subject at hand, and at the same time securing himself safe passage to South America (assuming that was the actual destination/intention). So he found himself stranded at the Russian airport for several weeks, then given temporary safe harbor (whatever the form of legal status)...

I would find it incredulous the Russians didn't already possess whatever tech capabilities/intelligence/operations etc etc.. U.S. possess. I'm reminded of Putin's comment wrt Snowden's revelations, something to the effect: (paraphrasing) there's a lot of squealing, but very little fleece'...

Or this could be a huge charade, which is quite possible.

Snowden might be quite fluent in Russian, as opposed to never before having spoken a word of it, as we were given to believe.

And Greenwald might have been played.

Perhaps. Perhaps not.

Or maybe the Russians are being played by the U.S., which might answer the question you posed: 'why Russia;?

In any case... all we have is what we think we know to be the story, (apart from what Snowden actually revealed to The Guardian, NYT etc) as it has played out on the "world stage".. with much left to speculation unfortunately.

Never the less, I do find this story intriguing, and will continue to follow, to the extent that I can make sense of it.

Just to be clear, I'm a strong supporter of Whistleblowers and based on this case as it has been revealed to the public so far, I consider Snowden courageous and principled.

On the other hand, I was a strong supporter of John Edwards once upon a time. Just sayin' I'm as susceptible to being duped as any body else. I just hope I've learned how/when to remove the veil from my eyes long enough to be able to recognize it when it's happening.

my 2cents.. fwiw..