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In response to the commenters, we're talking about the Espionage Act, not jaywalking. What message does it send to excuse someone from breaking this law? It's a

In response to the commenters, we're talking about the Espionage Act, not jaywalking. What message does it send to excuse someone from breaking this law? It's a very important law, do we want anyone exposing national secrets? Giving him a pass on this particular law sets a dangerous precedent. I support what Snowden revealed, but why didn't he go about it legally? Can anyone provide a good reason why he didn't follow whistleblower laws?

fnordfnordfnord 11y ago
The Espionage Act, an absurd broadly worded thing that's been used how many times? Contrast that with how many people have recently "leaked" classified info but in contrast with Snowden, those leaks served the interests of some faction in the government. Why haven't there been dozens of others charged under this law?
- hellofunk 11y ago
  The Act has been used in Wikileaks cases also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelsea_Manning https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelsea_Manning
dllthomas 11y ago
"What message does it send to excuse someone from breaking this law?" It sends a message that if, in good conscience, you believe that what we're secretly doing is wrong enough that you need to reveal it to the American people, you can do so without facing inordinate punishment. This is the best possible message we can send! If we are going to have secret programs doing this kind of stuff, this is an important check that we're not being horrendously evil in the world. Remember that we're not polling a random collection of people, but people who have chosen to work on this kind of thing, whose paycheck relies on accepting it, who are regularly thinking about how to make it do more good and less bad and want to believe they're being somewhat competent at that, and people who have already been extensively vetted for security access. If one of those people are sufficiently concerned to raise this kind of alarm, it needs to be raised.
- hellofunk 11y ago
  But somebody in good conscience could use our existing whistleblower laws to expose it right. Deliberately breaking a major law on national security isn't a risk we should recommend anyone to take.
  - slavik81 11y ago
    > Clinton said that Edward Snowden could have gotten all the protections of being a whistleblower." A key 1998 law focused on intelligence community workers does lay out a pathway Snowden could have followed. However, there is at least a significant legal debate over whether the issues Snowden wanted to raise would fall under that law. > Additionally, legal experts including an Army inspector general have said that the 1998 law does not protect whistleblowers from reprisals. > The protections that Clinton referenced do not seem to be as strong as she suggested, and most of the expert opinion suggests they would not apply to Snowden. > We rate this claim Mostly False. http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/oct/14/hillary-clinton/clinton-says-nsa-leaker-snowden-failed-use-whistle/ http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/oct/...
  - tracker1 11y ago
    If you read the article, you would know that he wasn't protected under existing whistlyblower laws, and in fact makes reference to three others who specifically were unduly reprised, punished and proscecuted...
Retra 11y ago
You think the president should only pardon jaywalkers? What kind of message does that send?

fnordfnordfnord 11y ago

The Espionage Act, an absurd broadly worded thing that's been used how many times? Contrast that with how many people have recently "leaked" classified info but in contrast with Snowden, those leaks served the interests of some faction in the government. Why haven't there been dozens of others charged under this law?

hellofunk 11y ago
The Act has been used in Wikileaks cases also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelsea_Manning https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelsea_Manning

dllthomas 11y ago

"What message does it send to excuse someone from breaking this law?" It sends a message that if, in good conscience, you believe that what we're secretly doing is wrong enough that you need to reveal it to the American people, you can do so without facing inordinate punishment. This is the best possible message we can send! If we are going to have secret programs doing this kind of stuff, this is an important check that we're not being horrendously evil in the world. Remember that we're not polling a random collection of people, but people who have chosen to work on this kind of thing, whose paycheck relies on accepting it, who are regularly thinking about how to make it do more good and less bad and want to believe they're being somewhat competent at that, and people who have already been extensively vetted for security access. If one of those people are sufficiently concerned to raise this kind of alarm, it needs to be raised.

hellofunk 11y ago
But somebody in good conscience could use our existing whistleblower laws to expose it right. Deliberately breaking a major law on national security isn't a risk we should recommend anyone to take.
- slavik81 11y ago
  > Clinton said that Edward Snowden could have gotten all the protections of being a whistleblower." A key 1998 law focused on intelligence community workers does lay out a pathway Snowden could have followed. However, there is at least a significant legal debate over whether the issues Snowden wanted to raise would fall under that law. > Additionally, legal experts including an Army inspector general have said that the 1998 law does not protect whistleblowers from reprisals. > The protections that Clinton referenced do not seem to be as strong as she suggested, and most of the expert opinion suggests they would not apply to Snowden. > We rate this claim Mostly False. http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/oct/14/hillary-clinton/clinton-says-nsa-leaker-snowden-failed-use-whistle/ http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/oct/...
- tracker1 11y ago
  If you read the article, you would know that he wasn't protected under existing whistlyblower laws, and in fact makes reference to three others who specifically were unduly reprised, punished and proscecuted...

Retra 11y ago

You think the president should only pardon jaywalkers? What kind of message does that send?