5 ms·
I don't think it'll be cut and dried about Manning or Snowden either. People still disagree about whether or not John Brown was heroic. Whether they're seen a
by LordKano 9y ago
I don't think it'll be cut and dried about Manning or Snowden either.
People still disagree about whether or not John Brown was heroic.
Whether they're seen as heroes or villains will likely depend on which side of the political spectrum one resides. Even now, Manning is considered a hero to most of the left while Snowden isn't and Snowden is a hero to the libertarian-leaning faction of the political right.
Manning's leaks embarrassed the Bush administration and Snowden's leaks embarrassed the Obama administration. Assange ruffled everyone's feathers.
After all of this, Pollard is still in prison.
- grandalf 9y agoI've noticed a chilling effect on speech among my friends who work for the Federal government. People just don't speak freely anymore b/c of surveillance.
- LordKano 9y agoAbout ten years ago, I was riding with my friend in his car and he wanted to score a bag of marijuana so he called his dealer and in plain-speak said he was looking for some weed. I stared at him with my mouth hanging open and when the call ended, I asked him why he would do that. He said that the dealer didn't care because he was small time and no one was listening anyway. I don't hang out with this friend much anymore but I hope he has since wised up.
- grandalf 9y agoChances are nothing will happen all that soon, but it's certainly plausible that in addition to storing a 60 day rolling window of all calls, the NSA stores a 3000 day rolling window of calls explicitly describing intent to commit crimes, even if the crimes are minimal.