Edward Snowden. Traitor or Hero?

[BatteriesNotIncluded]

Vote and comment on this former NSA employee and Booz Allen and Hamilton contractor

[Abigail (Source of JOY)]

Im gonna vote "whistle blower"!!

[Lucky01]

Originally Posted by Abigail (Source of JOY)

Im gonna vote "whistle blower"!!

Abi.....you can blow my whistle

[jbravo_123]

He should be afforded whatever protections whistle blowers get under our laws. However, if it turns out that he exposed more than the whistle blower laws protect, then he should be prosecuted for it as well.

[DarthMaul]

I am not sure yet.

I work in IT and we all sign an agreement stating that all information that we administer is "privately owned and not to be revealed under threat of prosecution".

If everyone who worked in a top security position revealed what they saw, we would probably go into our houses and hide or go up into the mountains and hide.

[jbravo_123]

Originally Posted by DarthMaul

I am not sure yet.

I work in IT and we all sign an agreement stating that all information that we administer is "privately owned and not to be revealed under threat of prosecution".

If everyone who worked in a top security position revealed what they saw, we would probably go into our houses and hide or go up into the mountains and hide.

Essentially from what I understand, whistle-blower laws are meant to protect people from specifically those types of agreements employers make them sign if they report on employers doing illegal activities.

Regardless of legal protection under the law though, your career is ruined the second you blow the whistle on any corporation. No one is ever going to hire you again.

[Dorian Gray]

Originally Posted by jbravo_123

Essentially from what I understand, whistle-blower laws are meant to protect people from specifically those types of agreements employers make them sign if they report on employers doing illegal activities.

Regardless of legal protection under the law though, your career is ruined the second you blow the whistle on any corporation. No one is ever going to hire you again.

What illegal activity did his employer commit? If you mean tracking a phone call then telecommunications have been doing that from day one.

I'm surprised that anyone is surprised that this data is collected.

[jbravo_123]

Originally Posted by Dorian Gray

What illegal activity did his employer commit? If you mean tracking a phone call then telecommunications have been doing that from day one.

I'm surprised that anyone is surprised that this data is collected.

That's the rub, isn't it? (which is why I voted I'm not sure yet)

Given all the powers that were granted in the Patriot Act, it's questionable as to what the NSA was doing is actually illegal.

I'm not surprised, but it's something that philosophically we've been against as a country (widespread searches without a specific goal vs narrow targeted searches). However, given the climate of post-9/11, it's not surprising in the least.

[Wakeup]

He's not a whistle blower because no laws were broken by the NSA...

He's a criminal who violated the terms of his security clearance...simple...

[Guest021824]

Even if he witness or was a part of some illegal activity, he was under no oblgation to reveal what he was a witness too. If he becomes a whistle blower at this point. He is ruined. No one will ever hire him again and if he does win anything.....he will have lost so much....It will not have been worth it in the first place Such positions have to sign confidentiality agreements and you just cant reveal what you see or know. That's been my experience.

[Dorian Gray]

Again... I'm typing this slowly. W-h-a-t l-a-w w-a-s b-r-o-k-e-n?

[Don T. Lukbak]

He knowingly risked all for the sake of principle, and that is exactly why - to this day - we still hold Sam Adams, Paul Revere, the signatories to the Declaration of Independence, Nathan Hale, et al, in highest esteem.

It's very interesting to me which politicians jump on the "traitor" bandwagon. Boehner, for example. What a surprise! Rand Paul has the best take on the matter I've so far heard.

Snowden did an heroic thing; he's an unlikely looking hero...but aren't they all.

[texasjohn1965]

Do you think the government has curtailed any of its data mining activities?

They got caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

[Wakeup]

Dorian, it's not working...the righteous indignation is running too strong...

[Don T. Lukbak]

Originally Posted by Dorian Gray

Again... I'm typing this slowly. W-h-a-t l-a-w w-a-s b-r-o-k-e-n?

PRISM is probably entirely lawful. So was the Stamp Act. So was sending American citizens of Jap ancestry to concentration camps during WWII. The Wansee Protocol was 100% legal under German law.

I think Snowden realized he was a participant on the wrong side in the low intensity war being waged by the government of the USA against the American nation and he didn't want to have to live with that.