This is a strange and ambiguous statement, I think: > Several sources said that as a systems administrator, Snowden would have been unable to actively spy on p

This is a strange and ambiguous statement, I think: > Several sources said that as a systems administrator, Snowden would have been unable to actively spy on people, even though he told the Guardian newspaper, "I, sitting at my desk, certainly had the authority to wiretap anyone, from you or your accountant, to a federal judge, to even the President." What does "actively spy on people" mean in this case? As a systems administrator, did Snowden have a way to get to the private data, even illegal or otherwise? To me what Snowden said, considering his position and assumed competence, what the aforementioned sources say seems to contradict that. However, they might just rely on saying that sysadmins don't have the legal power to do so, or that other sysadmins would notice it even if he breached his privileges and so on, rather than that there is no way Snowden could have done that. A play on words and not revealed meanings might just be turning a fact into fiction here, at least that would be in the best interests of NSA for sure, so there's also the motive for such wordplay. Or then Snowden is a liar, which I find doubtful, especially in such a clear case and would turn up being harming for his cause.