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Petition to pardon Edward Snowden reaches 100,000 signatures
- Xanza 13y agoPeople sometimes forget that although espionage is indeed a crime, Snowden did not release these classified documents to an enemy of the state, but rather the American People. Our founding father, Benjamin Franklin also committed the act of espionage in 1772 when he exposed and printed letters from Thomas Hutchinson, the royal governor of Massachusetts, detailing information about the revocation of civil liberties of the resistive American colonists. This act alone is one of the major linchpins that broke into the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the revolutionary War. Without American heros such as Snowden and Ben Franklin, this country would not exist.
- jivatmanx 13y agoMost of his works were written anonymously using a fairly ridiculous number of different Pseudonyms including Silence Dogood, Poor Richard, ect. What did he have to hide? Might as well have been a terrorist.
- Xanza 13y agoPseudonyms !== Terrorist If that was the case than any single person who uses a proxy, VPN, or Tor might as well be a terrorist; you're attempting to browse the web with a pseudonym. The REASON that they were used is because the use of assassins back then was pretty common, especially by the Empire.
- almostflan 13y agoThis petition is missing Snowden's point. It's not about him, it's about the documents he released. A better petition would ask the government to elaborate on the documents released.
- drawkbox 13y agoOk Obama, time for some of that Change.
- contingencies 13y agoI believe he progressed to a completely new level of nonspeak recently: I'm not against change. (Compare during the election - Change!, and before the election: When I am president, there will be no more illegal wiretapping of American citizens. No more national security letters to spy on citizens who are not suspected of a crime. No more tracking citizens who do nothing more than protest a misguided war. - Senator Obama, December 24, 2007)
- drawkbox 13y agoAgreed. He is not running for re-election anymore. He should start thinking about his legacy now. And fix this executive branch overreach now, the same one he was concerned about before he was in. If a constitutional lawyer and one who goes in promising this change won't, then we have lost all hope.
- j546 13y agoDo you really think getting 100K signatures is going to make a difference?
- deletes 13y agoMaybe a response similar to SOPA, should be started.
- pgrote 13y agoI don't think so, but it reached the threshold requiring a response from the White House.
- LoganCale 13y agoThe Aaron Swartz petition has never even gotten a non-response response.
- knowaveragejoe 13y agoTo be fair, that's quite typical of the petitions.
- 97s 13y agoIs 100K really the threshold for the government to respond? It seems like such a minor number.
- adrr 13y agoBetter off geting 100k people to donate $10 and use that $1m to lobby congress.
- hobs 13y agoYuuuuup. Getting a specific person elected or a specific person threatened in their district is actually what would start working. Political change comes through money, and the reason is because money can effectively buy votes.
- aashaykumar92 13y agoWhen someone stands up for so many people, this is the expected outcome. Unfortunately, it's doubtful that the government will take much of this into account given how badly they were exposed--they will more than likely make an example out of Snowden in such a way that no one is encouraged to do something like this again.
- SeanDav 13y agoThey clearly tried to do this with the treatment of Bradley Manning but it just as clearly, has not worked.
- noselasd 13y agoOn the other hand, it's barly 0.03% of the popluation - which I'm sure many policy makers will call 'irrelevant'
- coldtea 13y agoReally? Then why did the Whitehouse itself considered 25,000 people relevant enough to set them as the limit for petitions? And then QUADRUPLED it to the current 100,000? Also, it's not "0.03% of the population" that agree with this. Only the ones that (a) know about the petition and (b) took time to sign it.
- gamegoblin 13y agoIs there any evidence to support that these petitions have done anything that wouldn't have already been done? They seem like a red herring.
- danielharan 13y agoProving that existing institutions and strategies are failing is a big part of what activists have to do at the beginning of a movement. So the questions I'd ask about whether petitions work are: -will they work to get government to reconsider policies? -will they reveal government's unwillingness to act? Either way, that's a victory in my books.
- danielharan 13y ago(downvotes, really!?)
- Blahah 13y agoSurely the unwillingness of government to act is already evident? The petitions seem to provide an illusion of democratic consultation.
- jccc 13y agoThat remained my opinion just a moment ago. But reading though the thread now I wonder if at least some significant number of the signers might become more invested in the issue than they were before. Not to mention others who read about the petition reaching this threshold. One major objective of activism is to inspire more activists.
- throwaway10001 13y agoOn the other hand: Considering it takes just a minute to sign one, it's not that much of a downside. Unless NSA is adding the signatories to a special database :-) At worst, it shows that a lot of people are listening and agreeing with Snowden regarding NSA's snooping
- freyrs3 13y agoExpect a response pretty much like this: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/response/why-we-cant-comment-bradley-manning https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/response/why-we-cant-commen...
- Nrsolis 13y agoThis petition wont change anything. We have REAL petitions every 2/4/6 years. It's called an election. You want change, that's how you get it.
- quonn 13y agoIn a two party system they won't understand why you voted that way.
- dominotw 13y agoYou are joking right?
- overgard 13y agoHow will candidates know what platform to offer if we don't tell them what matters to us? If you wait till election season it's too late, they'll be terrified of changing their positions and being a "flip flopper" or a "chameleon". Government is like a giant cruiser, you can't wait till the last minute to change its direction if there's an iceberg ahead, you have to start steering early.
- Nrsolis 13y agoWell, just as an example, I wrote a letter to my particular Senators and Representatives. I talked about my support for them during the past election and pointed to my contributions to their campaign. I also made a point to make my voice an individualized one that connected my particular concern with a specific issue. I made my opinion personally known to their staff (the people who REALLY read the letters) and tried to educate them about my specific concerns. So, yeah, I participate in the process by being educated about the issues, educating my elected representatives about the issues, and then highlighting that my continued support for them as an elected representative depends on my determination of how good of a job they are doing at just that. That's why I'm poo-poo'ing this petition stuff. It's too general, too diffuse, not aimed at a particular politician with real influence, and ultimately going to be a wasted effort. It'll be ignored. That's where Alexis Ohanian and his group have really done good work. They made a point of getting people to connect directly with their representatives and make it clear where the populace stood. THAT is how stuff gets done. Slacktivism doesn't get you anywhere since it requires nothing that involves any real EFFORT. Letter writing and phone calling does. Working on campaigns does. Visiting representatives and senators does. Clicking a button does NOT.
- matthuggins 13y agoOn an unrelated note, does anyone know how to update their info on petitions.whitehouse.gov? My displayed city is three years old on there.
- notdrunkatall 13y agoIt'll be interesting to watch the Administration entirely ignore this petition. Kidding, it won't be interesting at all.
- bmelton 13y agoThey won't ignore it, they'll just respond with a total non-answer.
- notdrunkatall 13y agoWhich is essentially the same thing.
- tripzilch 13y agobut marginally more interesting.
- lignuist 13y agoMr. Obama, stop the madness now! You once have been a civil rights activist and you have been awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize. Doesn't it make you feel uncomfortable, to have switched the camp in just a few years? There is nothing wrong with becoming a nice guy again.
- rantanplan 13y agoYou really think that he's pulling the strings? That it's his call?
- lignuist 13y ago> You really think that he's pulling the strings? I have absolutely no idea. How could I, if everything is kept in secret? What I can do, is asking Obama, if he likes what he is doing. If his daughters like what he is doing. If he still believes in "change". If he wants to appear in history books in a row with Bush jr., McCarthy and Soviet leaders. I don't expect answers from Obama, but I can say, that I would not like it, if I were him.
- rantanplan 13y agoYou said it all in your last sentence. You could not ever be him. You're a normal human being. Presidents, regardless of country of origin, don't have that prerequisite. Actually it's a bonus point if they don't have it. The history books will find a way to portray him in a good light. As history books have taught us.
- lignuist 13y agoOf course he is a normal human being. He might live an extreme life, but this does not make him an exemplar of a different species. History books tend to be very diverse, depending on where they come from, but they also tend to align more and more as centuries are passing by.
- nmcfarl 13y ago
- ekianjo 13y agoNow we undestand what "yes we can" was supposed to mean. Yes. we can do what we want without giving a f### about what people think.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- mtgx 13y agoAt least the petition is another signal that the public is against what the administration is doing on this one.
- joe_hoyle 13y agoThe petition is not evidence of the public being against what the administration is doing, as it only represents the people who want Edward Snowden pardoned, not the "opposite" view, if such a view exists.
- kdkdkdkdkdkdk 13y agoGo ahead and create another petition that asks for Edward Snowden not to be pardoned and to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law and I bet that it hardly gets any signatures. Edit: This is a response to several of the replies. I'm assuming of course that nobody within the government would game the petition system. If we've gotten to the point were they would impersonate people in a petition to the white house then I guess we are pretty much doomed.
- moderators 13y agoThere is no need to petition for the inevitable.
- rantanplan 13y agoWell what if... obama's signature counts as 100,000 signatures? :P
- SCAQTony 13y agoThe NSA, CIA and FBI would game that petition. I think the phrase is "Manufactured Consent."
- XorNot 13y agoAnd people who've already written their own narrative wouldn't care if it was real.
- snitko 13y agoThis petition would only be effective at all if this 100k people announced they started using Bitcoin for at least saving money. This is when they shit bricks.
- jordiae 13y agoPardon? Award!!!
- sudo_robin 13y agoAhh.. alright a hundred thousand more people to be targeted..
- kdkdkdkdkdkdk 13y agoWhich is not a bad thing. We increase it to a couple of million and it might as well be noise.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- bhauer 13y agoI feel fairly silly hawking my own site whenever subjects like this come up, but here I go anyway. Feel free to tell me to shut up. :) I just simultaneously believe quite strongly in the idea of pairing calls for action with charitable donations. The donations make a clear and measurable message of the idea's importance. Plus, even if nothing happens, the charities benefit. So in any event, to get to the fireworks factory already: A plea to the US government to pardon Edward Snowden (donate to the EFF in particular!) [1] The idea: "More than a petition" [2] [1] http://btf.io/382 http://btf.io/382 [2] https://brianstaskforce.com/blog/more-than-a-petition https://brianstaskforce.com/blog/more-than-a-petition
- austenallred 13y agoWell, I support the cause, but I don't $5 support the cause.
- nadaviv 13y agobtf.io seems to be down, but http://brianstaskforce.com/382 http://brianstaskforce.com/382 works (which I think is the same website?).
- bhauer 13y agoIt is! Thanks for the heads-up on my (relatively new) short URL domain. I'm not certain why it didn't work for you, though. It seems to work from external sources I've tested (e.g., Google translate).
- nsns 13y agoCan't we simply utter "pardon Snowden" into our Skype or cellphone knowing it's being recorded?
- mpyne 13y agoSure, but theoretically no one would hear you anyways unless they got a warrant. ;)
- pvnick 13y agoNext up, 200k [1] [1] http://i.imgur.com/NNfWqFW.jpg http://i.imgur.com/NNfWqFW.jpg
- cuil 13y agoSo what exactly happens now ?
- skylan_q 13y agoGreat! 100,000 signatures! This will surely lead to something!
- fixxer 13y agoI wish someone would compile a list of all petitions which have reached critical mass and map the administration's responses. Would love to see exactly how "effective" this little charade has been since inception.