[teammatters]

Why is Edward Snowden a hero?

He divulged sensitive U.S. documents and information that now bad actors use to exploit/harm the US. Further, he knew what he was doing was against the law and ran as far away as he could to avoid facing the consequences(Bradley, now Chelsea Manning as far as I know didnt run like a coward). Now he's a pawn between Russia and US relations.

The information he divulged that we are being watched by our govt. was nothing knew. It was information publicly known back in 2006.

I don't get why he is so exalted?!?

[ceejayoz]

He disclosed evidence of wrongdoing and illegal activity by the NSA, making him a whistleblower.

He ran away to avoid the extrajudicial punishment Chelsea Manning experienced - years of pre-trial solitary confinement with such privileges as clothing being arbitrarily revoked.

You can't say that the information he divulged was both known and sensitive without being pretty laughable, by the way.

[teammatters]

I was speaking in general terms.

In 2006 I recall seeing reports of the NSA's activities. Back then it didn't go into all the details that he later divulged.

Further, all those small details are now being exploited against the US by bad actors. I know this via someone who works in cyber security for the Govt.

Obviously I hold the unpopular opinion here, as most dudes 18 to 40 in tech circles exalt him as a hero.

[rhino369]

>He disclosed evidence of wrongdoing and illegal activity by the NSA, making him a whistleblower.

The only illegal things he disclosed was that some NSA agents/employees illegally used their tools to track ex-gfs and stuff.

All the rest is completely legal. The country had a public debating about warrantless wiretaps and congress wrote laws about it. The NSA follows those laws.

He released the information because he had a political problem with them. That cannot be allowed. I wouldn't call it traitorous, but it was a massive violation of state secrecy laws.

Though, some of his actions since are at least flirting with traitorous behavior. He has released information about US spying on other governments. What the fuck did he think the NSA did? That was its raison d'être.

[bsimpson]

Are you trolling or seriously asking?

Do you have any evidence that the articles published from the disclosures he's made have made people less safe? I think many of us had a little Truman Show-esque paranoia, especially regarding the Internet, but that paranoia wasn't widely considered credible until after his disclosures. We certainly weren't having a public discourse about the legitimacy of the US intentionally compromising SSL or hacking into our private communication en masse in 2006.

[sp332]

Yes, and he admitted as much in a recent interview. http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/04/edward-snowden-fa...

[unprepare]

I see why its called a 50 cent army, the quality of this comment is laughable; an outright contradiction a sentence apart?

>divulged sensitive U.S. documents and information that now bad actors use to exploit/harm the US

But somehow also

>The information he divulged ... was nothing knew. It was information publicly known back in 2006.

How can it be both sensitive enough to endanger the US, yet completely common knowledge since 2006?

[sixQuarks]

Fair question. You should listen to Dan Carlin's common sense podcasts specifically addressing your question in detail. It costs $2 but well worth it:

http://www.dancarlin.com/product-tag/edward-snowden/

[aceperry]

He's more controversial than exalted. Snowden did an interesting interview last weekend with the comedian John Oliver which showed the public's perception of Snowden and the information he revealed. A lot of people aren't aware of him or not very familiar with what he did. But given the types of information collected, people weren't too happy about it when they learned what could be collected.

[sobkas]

>He divulged sensitive U.S. documents and information that now bad actors use to exploit/harm the US.

Just to be frank, what Keanu Reeves or Charlie Sheen can do to harm U.S.?

[teammatters]

Pardon I witnessed the World Trade Center fall right in front of my eyes. I don't want to witness that again ... let me know your watching my every move and I'm fine with it! I don't want to witness the same type of tragedy again and I have nothing to hide. I am a law abiding citizen.