USA Today Names Edward Snowden Tech Person of the Year

An anonymous reader writes with an excerpt from the USA Today tech column: "...But until a lone information-technology contractor named Edward Snowden leaked a trove of National Security Agency documents to the media this summer, we didn't know just how much we'd surrendered. Now that we do, our nation can have a healthy debate — out in the open, as a democracy should debate — about how good a bargain we got in that exchange. For facilitating that debate, at great risk to his own personal liberty, Snowden is this column's technology person of the year for 2013."

Comments

USA Today

[egr]

And yet by the government he is named as traitor and fugitive.

Re:USA Today

[Dutchmaan]

Maybe you're confusing "person of the year" as something that means good guy or bad guy.. It doesn't. It just means someone that causes change or brings things to light or causes a big splash etc... someone who greatly impacts us.

Re:USA Today

[EdIII]

it is doomed to be lost

Which side?

The only way we could possibly lose is with continued apathy and stupidity. If we lacked those attributes we could defeat them in six months. People act like encryption is impossible or something. Push open source hardware, aggressively replace firmware with custom builds, mitigate as many possible threats as you can, and use the strongest encryption wherever possible.

Goooood news. With TAO being out in the open, and the US losing billions upon billions to its economy in the coming 12 months because hardware and software can't be trusted, you can bet your ass that the major players will be taking drastic action. Not as a PR job to the public citizen, no no no. It will be drastic action to convince me the person in charge of equipment purchasing that Cisco is still a good bet.

Why should Cisco care? Why should I choose to utilize them for public infrastructure, secure MPLS between financial institutions, etc. when I know they have been backdoored by the NSA? Especially, when the NSA is actually the least of my worries, but other governments and entities that would do harm to my network?

Kiss a huge amount of contracts goodbye. The worldwide consumers will most certainly be at least looking for other options right now.

Remember, the name of the game is NOT to deny them access to your networks from a full frontal assault from the NSA, but only to do just enough to raise the costs associated with mass surveillance several orders. The NSA can't get the financial resources to be approved for several orders more than what their budget has.

We can most certainly win.

The problem is that we will not even try.

Re:This could be avoided

[easyTree]

I understand you can get those on the outside, if you're missing them :P

Re:If ever there was a "Conscience Award" ...

[Bob9113]

Of the untold numbers of spooks working in / for NSA, Ed Snowden is the only one who has the conscience and the courage to reveal the dastardly unconstitutional secrets of the NSA.

Actually, two other guys did; William Binney and Thomas Drake. Unfortunately, they went through official channels, so they got harrassed and prosecuted by the government, and without the massive trove of documents Snowden exfiltrated, they were ignored and marginalized by the major media. Their experience is what convinced Snowden that he had no choice but to go outside.

Re:If ever there was a "Conscience Award" ...

[lagomorpha2]

He seems to have dropped a little weight - I guess being targeted by those the run the 'land of the free' amusement ride takes its toll :S

It's actually pretty normal for Americans to lose weight after living in Europe for a few months. Probably a combination of diet and there not being a social phobia of having to walk more than 30 feet.