Decades ago it wasn't a crime to own a slave, hit your wife or stop certain groups from voting. Now it is. Just because what Snowden did (whistleblowing) was a

Decades ago it wasn't a crime to own a slave, hit your wife or stop certain groups from voting. Now it is. Just because what Snowden did (whistleblowing) was a crime at the time, doesn't mean that it should've been / should be. Especially if he was given no recourse. IIRC there were others before him who tried to go through the "legal channels", but got nowhere.