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Why the Snowden Situation Shows 'Protected Disclosure' Is Critical (zdnet.com)
An anonymous reader writes: In the wake of NSA leaks debacle, New Zealand's Inspector General of Security and Intelligence has developed a process to enable whistleblowers to act safely. "The Edward Snowden disclosures demonstrate how critical it is to have a clear path, with appropriate protections, for disclosing information about suspected wrongdoing (PDF) within an intelligence and security agency," Cheryl Gwyn says. The Inspector General's powers were boosted after it was discovered New Zealand's Government Communications Security Bureau had been spying illegally on Kim Dotcom and others. "Edward Snowden has consistently said it was impossible for him to make internal disclosures about what he believed was wrongdoing due to the lack of whistleblower protections he faced in the U.S."
The sheer volume of what Snowden leaked is proof that you are a naive fool.
Revealing details of the metadata program that collected phone numbers from domestic carriers? You can make a whistleblowing claim here. I supported Snowden during the first 1-2 weeks after he revealed himself, because I want to protect the constitution and values we live by here in the U.S.
But what else has Snowden revealed as time went on? The whistleblowing material dried up very quickly... Snowden revealed detailed information beyond just generalities on the following topics:
That the U.S. government intercepts routers and other hardware going to foreign governments, and implants spy devices on them... not whistleblowing.
That the U.S. government taps undersea cables, sometimes with host government permission... not whistleblowing.
That the U.S. government spies on leaders of foreign governments, like Angela Merkel... not whistleblowing.
That the U.S. government hacks into Chinese computer systems... not whistleblowing.
That the U.S. government has many specific tools for infiltrating foreign government computer systems... not whistleblowing.
Again, he didn't just reveal "that these things are happening". The documents he leaked (now numbering in the several thousands of publicly released documents according to Cryptome) go into specific detail about these programs and how they work. This is information that would have been better left secret so the U.S. government could do its legitimate job against foreign governments: collecting their intelligence, and catching their spies trying to do the same to us.
Snowden had several legal options he chose to ignore. Every employee that works around protected data is briefed on legal paths of whistle-blowing that are outside of the chain of command. Legal reporting has protection against reprisal and isn't treason. He could have presented his case to IG, FBI, Congress, Congressional Committees and Sub-Committees... There were hundreds of routes available that did not entail dumping classified data out to the public that placed lives at risk and would not be considered treason. The public surveillance part of the data dump was only a small portion of what he stole. This small section has everyone upset and calling him a hero, while the majority of what he stole had nothing to do with his claim of "public good."
So no, he did not have to report to that one guy. His work was a calculated play to get public support.
I'll bite - I AM a former employee of the NSA, and I can tell you this:
During our training there was an awful lot of winking taking place. Like, "It is against the law for us to copy American targets, so if we end up accidentally copying something from an American it is our responsibility to stop immediately and move on. "
Of course, this was back in the pre-internet days, so surely they've gotten MORE (and not less) responsible, right?
Not only that but a quick google search will show you that you are definitively wrong - from election shenanigans perpetrated by the Fed to small pockets of NSA employees targeting specific people (remember the IRS fiasco(s)?).
If you believe that the United States Government has any motivation to protect your privacy, you're delusional. If you think that the people that the NSA hires are "more ethical" than the usual band of idiots, you are also delusional and that's just a little bit sad.
A healthy dose of paranoia would do you some good. What they are doing is not right. It's not right even under the heading of "protecting Freedom!!!", if only because it flies in the face of the stated goal.
Something was rotten in the state of denmark.
Snowden's revelations caused a huge shakeup in the intelligence community. Such as a federal judge ruling that the NSAs blanket collection was unconstitutional. If things were right beforehand, none of this would have happened
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