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I don’t know, did he really change really anything? It doesn’t feel like it at least. Outside of the tech community, he’s not really known except for being tha

I don’t know, did he really change really anything? It doesn’t feel like it at least. Outside of the tech community, he’s not really known except for being that guy who leaked things.

dmix 2y ago
You don’t have to become a celebrity that every random person on the street knows to try to do some good in the world, whether it works or not. And objectively the internet is a safer place thanks to the Snowden NSA leaks which were directly inspired, not just ideologically but technically in how it was done, by Assange. You can look at the mass adoption of encrypted messaging and HTTPS adoption statistics (which grew exponentially directly after the leaks to become near standard), and plenty of other metrics to see that. Wikileaks was the spawn of many good things, even despite it’s flaws.
- newzisforsukas 2y ago
  > You can look at the mass adoption of encrypted messaging and HTTPS adoption statistics (which grew exponentially directly after the leaks to become near standard), and plenty of other metrics to see that. I don't think increased TLS adoption was caused by Snowden or Wikileaks. It was because of the HTTP/2 protocol and Lets Encrypt taking off. You can read about that history here: https://opensource.com/business/16/8/lets-encrypt https://opensource.com/business/16/8/lets-encrypt According to Aas, they decided to start LetsEncrypt in 2012. Before Snowden leaked anything. Similarly, one could argue that encrypted messaging became popular because of the work done on projects like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Good_Privacy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Good_Privacy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NaCl_(software) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NaCl_(software) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whisper_Systems https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whisper_Systems https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WhatsApp https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WhatsApp (which added "encryption" in August 2012).
imiric 2y ago
A single person doesn't have the power to change how a government system has worked for decades. Snowden merely made the truth public, but change can only happen if the majority of people want it, and even then have to fight hard for it. The sad reality is that most people don't care, and have even less of a desire to fight for it. Governments love complacency.
SuperNinKenDo 2y ago
He gave others the opportunity to change things. Some have taken up the opportunity to varying degrees of success, most haven't. One man takes their place in history and tries to do the most good they have the opportunity to do. Hard to argue Snowden didn't do that. We should ask ourselves if we can or ever will be able to say the same.

I don’t know, did he really change really anything? It doesn’t feel like it at least. Outside of the tech community, he’s not really known except for being that guy who leaked things.

dmix 2y ago

You don’t have to become a celebrity that every random person on the street knows to try to do some good in the world, whether it works or not. And objectively the internet is a safer place thanks to the Snowden NSA leaks which were directly inspired, not just ideologically but technically in how it was done, by Assange. You can look at the mass adoption of encrypted messaging and HTTPS adoption statistics (which grew exponentially directly after the leaks to become near standard), and plenty of other metrics to see that. Wikileaks was the spawn of many good things, even despite it’s flaws.

newzisforsukas 2y ago
> You can look at the mass adoption of encrypted messaging and HTTPS adoption statistics (which grew exponentially directly after the leaks to become near standard), and plenty of other metrics to see that. I don't think increased TLS adoption was caused by Snowden or Wikileaks. It was because of the HTTP/2 protocol and Lets Encrypt taking off. You can read about that history here: https://opensource.com/business/16/8/lets-encrypt https://opensource.com/business/16/8/lets-encrypt According to Aas, they decided to start LetsEncrypt in 2012. Before Snowden leaked anything. Similarly, one could argue that encrypted messaging became popular because of the work done on projects like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Good_Privacy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Good_Privacy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NaCl_(software) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NaCl_(software) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whisper_Systems https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whisper_Systems https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WhatsApp https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WhatsApp (which added "encryption" in August 2012).

imiric 2y ago

A single person doesn't have the power to change how a government system has worked for decades. Snowden merely made the truth public, but change can only happen if the majority of people want it, and even then have to fight hard for it. The sad reality is that most people don't care, and have even less of a desire to fight for it. Governments love complacency.

SuperNinKenDo 2y ago

He gave others the opportunity to change things. Some have taken up the opportunity to varying degrees of success, most haven't. One man takes their place in history and tries to do the most good they have the opportunity to do. Hard to argue Snowden didn't do that. We should ask ourselves if we can or ever will be able to say the same.