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> He broke into computer systems he did not have the right to access, copied information, fled the United States, and illegally released the information he stol

> He broke into computer systems he did not have the right to access, copied information, fled the United States, and illegally released the information he stole about government programs that were in no way illegal or unconstitutional. Ugh he didn’t break in, he had access. Also if you know anything about his case or related cases, you’d also know the proper channels don’t lead anywhere. There’s a great frontline documentary called “United States of secrets” Even the oversight committees aren’t privy to the full details and arguably they are where the proper channels should lead. There’s heads of agencies lying to Congress and the Senate about what is happening. The judiciary can’t rule on constitutionality.... which is part of its job. The reality is, whistleblowing the way Snowden did was the only way to put evidence in the public, such that the judiciary And public can make a decision.

HenryKissinger 7y ago
> Ugh he didn’t break in, he had access Snowden convinced colleagues to give him their passwords: https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/11/snowden-convinced-colleagues-give-him-their-passwords/354905/ https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/11/snowden... A Google query for "Snowden stole passwords" returns a lot of results.
- lettergram 7y ago
  I think you missed a lot of the phrasing: > supposedly gained access He was an IT administrator who had Sudo access to pretty much everything. I’d be careful of a lot of the stuff you read in 2013. There was and still is a concerted effort to discredit Snowden and make people feel he is a traitor. Example: why did they cancel his passport after his plane left for Russia? (To say he’s a Russian spy) There’s a lot of examples of this. Highly recommend some of the documentaries on the subject I and some recent discussion on the topic.
  - wallace_f 7y ago
    If he wasn't a traitor then he wouldn't have fled to Daddy Putin's arms and don't act like I'm wrong because that's the same thing Hillary Clinton said during her campaign. Then you have Trump who as Putin's asset would jump at the chance to pardon Snowden if he wasn't 100% criminal. The only politicians who support Snowden are Putin assets like Tulsi Gabbard who is actively trying to subvert the Democratic Party. That's why Wikileaks lied about the DNC subverting the election because actually it was Russia. Next thing you know the Russia controlled Libertarian Snowden defenders and jokes like Ron Paul will be in control of the United States of Russia. You should watch the news and be aware of all of this, but I guess HN is just a breeding grounds for fake news stories.
    - disposewhocares 7y ago
      "You should watch the news and be aware of all of this" says it all. You watch far too much TV, all of these points are laughable and your phrasing suggests you are rather emotionally involved in all this. I would suggest staying away from the 24-hour news cycle and finding better sources of information.
- NeutronStar 7y ago
  > A Google query for "Snowden stole passwords" returns a lot of results. And a Google query for "Fake Moon landing" returns a lot of results.
- linkregister 7y ago
  Snowden gained the vast majority of the electronic information from scraping web tools he had access to. Recall the "wget hacking tool" controversy, where he used the command line to retrieve internal websites. The removal of that information, and obviously the disclosure of it, was illegal. The government didn't present a release claiming a substantial portion of the information was retrieved with that password list.
linkregister 7y ago
I dispute that Edward Snowden actually made a formal whistleblowing complaint. He claims he went through the channels, but never specifically stated he actually made the type of complaint that goes to the IG or to the U.S. Congress. We see in 2019 the Executive Branch is going to great lengths to discredit a whistleblower, but it is indisputable that a complaint was made. I have not heard any statement from Snowden claiming that the government was making false statements about this matter. The government did publish an email [1] that Snowden sent to a training coordinator, disputing the ability of executive orders to supersede law. It is possible that the government did this as a distraction and it is not actually what Snowden is referring to. Nevertheless, Snowden never gets specific about his whistleblowing attempt, despite going into great details about other aspects of his story. 1. https://icontherecord.tumblr.com/post/87218708448/edward-j-snowden-email-inquiry-to-the-nsa-office https://icontherecord.tumblr.com/post/87218708448/edward-j-s...

HenryKissinger 7y ago

> Ugh he didn’t break in, he had access Snowden convinced colleagues to give him their passwords: https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/11/snowden-convinced-colleagues-give-him-their-passwords/354905/ https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/11/snowden... A Google query for "Snowden stole passwords" returns a lot of results.

lettergram 7y ago
I think you missed a lot of the phrasing: > supposedly gained access He was an IT administrator who had Sudo access to pretty much everything. I’d be careful of a lot of the stuff you read in 2013. There was and still is a concerted effort to discredit Snowden and make people feel he is a traitor. Example: why did they cancel his passport after his plane left for Russia? (To say he’s a Russian spy) There’s a lot of examples of this. Highly recommend some of the documentaries on the subject I and some recent discussion on the topic.
- wallace_f 7y ago
  If he wasn't a traitor then he wouldn't have fled to Daddy Putin's arms and don't act like I'm wrong because that's the same thing Hillary Clinton said during her campaign. Then you have Trump who as Putin's asset would jump at the chance to pardon Snowden if he wasn't 100% criminal. The only politicians who support Snowden are Putin assets like Tulsi Gabbard who is actively trying to subvert the Democratic Party. That's why Wikileaks lied about the DNC subverting the election because actually it was Russia. Next thing you know the Russia controlled Libertarian Snowden defenders and jokes like Ron Paul will be in control of the United States of Russia. You should watch the news and be aware of all of this, but I guess HN is just a breeding grounds for fake news stories.
  - disposewhocares 7y ago
    "You should watch the news and be aware of all of this" says it all. You watch far too much TV, all of these points are laughable and your phrasing suggests you are rather emotionally involved in all this. I would suggest staying away from the 24-hour news cycle and finding better sources of information.
NeutronStar 7y ago
> A Google query for "Snowden stole passwords" returns a lot of results. And a Google query for "Fake Moon landing" returns a lot of results.
linkregister 7y ago
Snowden gained the vast majority of the electronic information from scraping web tools he had access to. Recall the "wget hacking tool" controversy, where he used the command line to retrieve internal websites. The removal of that information, and obviously the disclosure of it, was illegal. The government didn't present a release claiming a substantial portion of the information was retrieved with that password list.

linkregister 7y ago

I dispute that Edward Snowden actually made a formal whistleblowing complaint. He claims he went through the channels, but never specifically stated he actually made the type of complaint that goes to the IG or to the U.S. Congress. We see in 2019 the Executive Branch is going to great lengths to discredit a whistleblower, but it is indisputable that a complaint was made. I have not heard any statement from Snowden claiming that the government was making false statements about this matter. The government did publish an email [1] that Snowden sent to a training coordinator, disputing the ability of executive orders to supersede law. It is possible that the government did this as a distraction and it is not actually what Snowden is referring to. Nevertheless, Snowden never gets specific about his whistleblowing attempt, despite going into great details about other aspects of his story. 1. https://icontherecord.tumblr.com/post/87218708448/edward-j-snowden-email-inquiry-to-the-nsa-office https://icontherecord.tumblr.com/post/87218708448/edward-j-s...