7 ms·

> if I had wanted to live a safe life, I would still be sitting in Hawaii in paradise with the woman I love collecting a huge paycheck to do almost no work. Re

> if I had wanted to live a safe life, I would still be sitting in Hawaii in paradise with the woman I love collecting a huge paycheck to do almost no work. Regardless of if he is a hero or villain, he does have integrity. People that sacrifices their safety or lives to help a good cause are the ones I respect the most. I hope he will be able to visit his country safely sometime. p.s. Please fix the title, it is clickbaity and almost unrelated to the actual article/interview.

seppin 7y ago
> Regardless of if he is a hero or villain, he does have integrity. Edward Snowden became an international celebrity because of what he did, and traded a comfortable life in Hawaii for a comfortable life in Moscow. Please don't speak of him in the same vein as, for example, a disappeared Chinese dissident who has actually sacrificed everything for what they believe.
- boomboomsubban 7y ago
  > traded a comfortable life in Hawaii for a comfortable life in Moscow A comfortable life in Moscow that was never guaranteed beforehand, and could be arbitrarily taken away with no notice. Being fortune enough to end up in a decent situation does not change what he sacrificed.
  - lern_too_spel 7y ago
    He thought he was going to get a comfortable life in Hong Kong by leaking lists of compromised systems to China. That China laughed him out of the country after receiving the documents does not change what he thought his trade was.
    - boomboomsubban 7y ago
      So in this fantasy scenario, China is fine completely screwing him over, and then let's him inform everyone what information they now have? Seems dumb.
      - lern_too_spel 7y ago
        He had already broadcast that he had given the information to China. https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1260306/edward-snowden-classified-us-data-shows-hong-kong-hacking-targets https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1260306/edward-s... > Seems dumb. It sure does seem dumb on Snowden's part, doesn't it? Nobody with a technical background who has read Snowden's documents and read what he thought they said has ever accused him of being smart.
        boomboomsubban 7y ago
        >He had already broadcast that he had given the information to China. Where in that article does it say anything like that? As the closest I can see is that he may have shown something to a Malaysian owned paper. >It sure does seem dumb on Snowden's part, doesn't it? No, why would China let him go and publicly release things? There would be so many better ways to handle him.
        lern_too_spel 7y ago
        > Where in that article does it say anything like that? That newspaper is based in China, which can do with information and people within its borders as it pleases. Why do you think he gave out that information out to begin with? There is no benefit to Americans. He leaked all of that and more just to expose one illegal US program (phone metadata collection). Anybody with a high school degree would think of a better way to handle that. > No, why would China let him go and publicly release things? There would be so many better ways to handle him. He did that before China knew what he was going to do. There are so many better ways for Snowden to have handled that data, yes.
        boomboomsubban 7y ago
        >That newspaper is based in China, which can do with information and people within its borders as it pleases. Why do you think he gave out that information out to begin with? There is no benefit to Americans. It's based in Hong Kong, and the Chinese state accessing published information isn't noteworthy. He exposed numerous illegal hacks done by the NSA on Hong Kong civilians, it's beneficial for Americans to know that their government is doing such a thing. >He leaked all of that and more just to expose one illegal US program (phone metadata collection) Your "smoking gun" on giving data to the Chinese exposes yet another illegal US program, and if you look through the other released information you'll find many more. >He did that before China knew what he was going to do. There are so many better ways for Snowden to have handled that data, yes No, according to your ridiculous fantasy, he released the information after giving it to the Chinese. It wouldn't matter what he was going to do then, letting him out of Chinese custody would be a huge mistake as it becomes advantageous for him to expose that he gave China information.
  - seppin 7y ago
    > Being fortune enough to end up in a decent situation does not change what he sacrificed. It really bugs me that people who defend him for ideological reasons cannot admit that he had benefited from the entire ordeal. He bemoaned the lack of respect at CIA (being the IT guy isn't high up on the totem pole) and now he can skype into a conference in Geneva with thousands of people hanging on his every word. He has a twitter account with a headshot of him doing his best impersonation of a greek philosopher with millions of followers. To a lot of people, people that don't feel respected in the life and work, that type of celebrity is priceless. Money and a beach house is nothing compared to that. If you don't think people like Assange and Snowden have a hero complex, and are only motivated by "truth" and "justice", you are kidding yourself.
    - boomboomsubban 7y ago
      None of the things he has was guaranteed when he went public. There was a good chance he never made it out of Hong Kong as a free man, and a decent chance of death. Even if he did desire the fame, which I do not personally believe, he risked everything for it.
      - seppin 7y ago
        I don't think I ever insinuated his move was without risk. I said it was calculated to shield himself from any consequence, and maintain the narrative so he could enjoy his new-found power and celebrity. Like I said, you want a real hero search in the political prisons of Iran or China. Or Russia, the place Snowden now calls home (under circumstances we will never know).

seppin 7y ago

> Regardless of if he is a hero or villain, he does have integrity. Edward Snowden became an international celebrity because of what he did, and traded a comfortable life in Hawaii for a comfortable life in Moscow. Please don't speak of him in the same vein as, for example, a disappeared Chinese dissident who has actually sacrificed everything for what they believe.

boomboomsubban 7y ago
> traded a comfortable life in Hawaii for a comfortable life in Moscow A comfortable life in Moscow that was never guaranteed beforehand, and could be arbitrarily taken away with no notice. Being fortune enough to end up in a decent situation does not change what he sacrificed.
- lern_too_spel 7y ago
  He thought he was going to get a comfortable life in Hong Kong by leaking lists of compromised systems to China. That China laughed him out of the country after receiving the documents does not change what he thought his trade was.
  - boomboomsubban 7y ago
    So in this fantasy scenario, China is fine completely screwing him over, and then let's him inform everyone what information they now have? Seems dumb.
    - lern_too_spel 7y ago
      He had already broadcast that he had given the information to China. https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1260306/edward-snowden-classified-us-data-shows-hong-kong-hacking-targets https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1260306/edward-s... > Seems dumb. It sure does seem dumb on Snowden's part, doesn't it? Nobody with a technical background who has read Snowden's documents and read what he thought they said has ever accused him of being smart.
      - boomboomsubban 7y ago
        >He had already broadcast that he had given the information to China. Where in that article does it say anything like that? As the closest I can see is that he may have shown something to a Malaysian owned paper. >It sure does seem dumb on Snowden's part, doesn't it? No, why would China let him go and publicly release things? There would be so many better ways to handle him.
        lern_too_spel 7y ago
        > Where in that article does it say anything like that? That newspaper is based in China, which can do with information and people within its borders as it pleases. Why do you think he gave out that information out to begin with? There is no benefit to Americans. He leaked all of that and more just to expose one illegal US program (phone metadata collection). Anybody with a high school degree would think of a better way to handle that. > No, why would China let him go and publicly release things? There would be so many better ways to handle him. He did that before China knew what he was going to do. There are so many better ways for Snowden to have handled that data, yes.
        boomboomsubban 7y ago
        >That newspaper is based in China, which can do with information and people within its borders as it pleases. Why do you think he gave out that information out to begin with? There is no benefit to Americans. It's based in Hong Kong, and the Chinese state accessing published information isn't noteworthy. He exposed numerous illegal hacks done by the NSA on Hong Kong civilians, it's beneficial for Americans to know that their government is doing such a thing. >He leaked all of that and more just to expose one illegal US program (phone metadata collection) Your "smoking gun" on giving data to the Chinese exposes yet another illegal US program, and if you look through the other released information you'll find many more. >He did that before China knew what he was going to do. There are so many better ways for Snowden to have handled that data, yes No, according to your ridiculous fantasy, he released the information after giving it to the Chinese. It wouldn't matter what he was going to do then, letting him out of Chinese custody would be a huge mistake as it becomes advantageous for him to expose that he gave China information.
- seppin 7y ago
  > Being fortune enough to end up in a decent situation does not change what he sacrificed. It really bugs me that people who defend him for ideological reasons cannot admit that he had benefited from the entire ordeal. He bemoaned the lack of respect at CIA (being the IT guy isn't high up on the totem pole) and now he can skype into a conference in Geneva with thousands of people hanging on his every word. He has a twitter account with a headshot of him doing his best impersonation of a greek philosopher with millions of followers. To a lot of people, people that don't feel respected in the life and work, that type of celebrity is priceless. Money and a beach house is nothing compared to that. If you don't think people like Assange and Snowden have a hero complex, and are only motivated by "truth" and "justice", you are kidding yourself.
  - boomboomsubban 7y ago
    None of the things he has was guaranteed when he went public. There was a good chance he never made it out of Hong Kong as a free man, and a decent chance of death. Even if he did desire the fame, which I do not personally believe, he risked everything for it.
    - seppin 7y ago
      I don't think I ever insinuated his move was without risk. I said it was calculated to shield himself from any consequence, and maintain the narrative so he could enjoy his new-found power and celebrity. Like I said, you want a real hero search in the political prisons of Iran or China. Or Russia, the place Snowden now calls home (under circumstances we will never know).