Obama has the luxury of not seeking another term to guide whatever moral compass might remain within him.
He has an opportunity to make the reform of government surveillance an even greater legacy for his presidency than his ACA program.
Will he? Possibly not, but a newly elected POTUS will have even less incentive: any terrorist incident that occurs after a restructuring of the quasi-governmental snooping agencies will land at the feet of it's sponsor.
Not sure why this is modded "Troll"... the hive mind is buzzing in full force.
Any future terror attack will be exploited by the opposition against any politician that moved to restructure or restrict government spying... that is insightful not trollish.
So sad that a criminal is listed as an influential person. Especially one so cowardly and spineless as to flee instead of actually staying and working towards what he believed in. I hope he lives to a ripe old age and has to spend his life constantly hiding in the shadows in fear. In countries with worse personal liberties and freedoms than the one he fled from.
I'm sorry you feel this way. Very few people here feel that way, in fact, the only people here that feel that way you do usually work for the NSA.
Right even one who has a different opinion than yourself is obviously in the employ of the Satan.
It seems all one has to do here to get their post moderated as "insightful" is ejaculate some pro-Snowden commentary even as dumb, trollish, dismissive and broad brushed as the one above.
If the program to spy on American citizens without a warrant is perfectly legal, then why is is it so super-secret? Why is Edward Snowden in so much trouble? Why did James Clapper feel the need to lie under oath to Congress? Why am I asking so many rhetorical questions?
For one thing he revealed classified information about NSA spying on the Chinese....
If we lived in an area where the threat of tiger attack is real and if some of your relatives were mauled and killed by tigers,,, I would be in the market.
Ps... Bad analogies only serve to confuse the issue
When a terrorist attack occurs the Press, the opposite political party, or people in general immediately blame the standing president. The NSA is the most powerful tool against terror attacks against soft targets that an open liberal democracy presents. The fact we haven't had another major terrorist attack in over a decade is notable.
Yes, it is. You may have some moral justification, but it can still be a crime. In the US, telling the truth about intelligence techniques to real and potential enemies is a crime, even if you also tell the public. Snowden broke the law, and is now a criminal evading law enforcement, but he satisfied his own conscience.
Correct... A specific example Snowden leaked to a Hong Kong newspaper classified documents that revealed the specific IP addresses in Hong Kong and China that NSA may have hacked. What's up with that? Apparently out of desperation or drunk with his new found fame he was trying to curry favor with China and Russia... that is chicken shit IMHO. What he has given up to Russia one can only guess.
The irony is he has to hide out in Russia... a country known for its liberal freedoms and openness.
He gave aid and comfort to the United States' enemies — the American people? Because he told us about the crimes being committed against us on our own dime?
What crimes specifically? If crimes have been committed who has been arrested, charged and convicted? Perhaps you are basing your opinion on the "facts" from television (or slashdot as it may be).
Funny all these high mighty sounding posts such as yours are always without any sort of actual specifics - please be specific next time. Contrary to the common misconception there has yet to be any proof that the NSA has consistently and routinely monitoring citizens illegally.
If God uses evolution as a tool... Then this alleged Being is not Good and Omnipotent. Darwin when he fully started to understand that ramifications of his theory remarked that:
"What a book a Devil's chaplain might write on the clumsy, wasteful, blundering low & horridly cruel works of nature!"
What sort of God would use evolution, lubricated with the blood, guts and unrelenting cruelty, as a means to bring about his favored species or race? Just doesn't make any sense.
Nevertheless Genesis is a earth centered creation story... told from a species centric position. I can't believe anyone would give it any stock or think it has some resemblance to reality. The one thing we do know is that the earth wasn't created first with the stars created at a latter date.
It's not an unfounded speculation. We know he revealed information about US spying on China to the Chinese authorities. In any case, putting himself in Russian custody and begging them for favors (asylum) while in possession of tons of classified information is not a good idea if you actually intend to keep that information secret.
Is this true? I haven't been following the case that close but if Snowden did do this then yes he is a traitor.
Slashdot Mirror
I respectfully disagree.
Obama has the luxury of not seeking another term to guide whatever moral compass might remain within him.
He has an opportunity to make the reform of government surveillance an even greater legacy for his presidency than his ACA program.
Will he? Possibly not, but a newly elected POTUS will have even less incentive: any terrorist incident that occurs after a restructuring of the quasi-governmental snooping agencies will land at the feet of it's sponsor.
Not sure why this is modded "Troll"... the hive mind is buzzing in full force.
Any future terror attack will be exploited by the opposition against any politician that moved to restructure or restrict government spying... that is insightful not trollish.
So sad that a criminal is listed as an influential person. Especially one so cowardly and spineless as to flee instead of actually staying and working towards what he believed in. I hope he lives to a ripe old age and has to spend his life constantly hiding in the shadows in fear. In countries with worse personal liberties and freedoms than the one he fled from.
I'm sorry you feel this way. Very few people here feel that way, in fact, the only people here that feel that way you do usually work for the NSA.
Right even one who has a different opinion than yourself is obviously in the employ of the Satan.
It seems all one has to do here to get their post moderated as "insightful" is ejaculate some pro-Snowden commentary even as dumb, trollish, dismissive and broad brushed as the one above.
Because Slashdot has become a temple of the first Church of Snowden
Sure but can you mention any specifics?
I applaud the fact that Snowden let the American people in on the specifics.
Can you identify the specifics that weren't known before? (excluding revelations concerning spying on other countries).
If the program to spy on American citizens without a warrant is perfectly legal, then why is is it so super-secret? Why is Edward Snowden in so much trouble? Why did James Clapper feel the need to lie under oath to Congress? Why am I asking so many rhetorical questions?
For one thing he revealed classified information about NSA spying on the Chinese....
They failed to prevent 9/11, and every terrorist attack since the 70's.
This would be like claiming the Polio vaccine is useless because it has failed to prevent every case of polio since the 50's
If we lived in an area where the threat of tiger attack is real and if some of your relatives were mauled and killed by tigers,,, I would be in the market.
Ps... Bad analogies only serve to confuse the issue
The failures we know about.
When a terrorist attack occurs the Press, the opposite political party, or people in general immediately blame the standing president. The NSA is the most powerful tool against terror attacks against soft targets that an open liberal democracy presents. The fact we haven't had another major terrorist attack in over a decade is notable.
This...
countries="(?:AU|BN|CA|CL|JP|MX|MY|NZ|PE|SG|US|VN)[0-9]*"
print "\n".join(re.findall("(?:{0}/)+{0}".format(countries), txt))
vs
my $countries = qr/(?:AU|BN|CA|CL|JP|MX|MY|NZ|PE|SG|US|VN)[0-9]*/;
print "$_\n" for $txt =~ m|(?:$countries/)+$countries|g;
Much nicer? Biased at all? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder... however in this case it looks like 6 of one kind and half a dozen of the other.
Right because we know the Chinese and Russians don't engage in these sorts of activities.
Is it just coincidence that there hasn't been any leaks embarrassing to the Chinese or Russians?
Right because we know communist countries don't spy or attempt to control its people... someone needs a history lesson.
To tell the truth is not a crime.
Yes, it is. You may have some moral justification, but it can still be a crime. In the US, telling the truth about intelligence techniques to real and potential enemies is a crime, even if you also tell the public. Snowden broke the law, and is now a criminal evading law enforcement, but he satisfied his own conscience.
Correct... A specific example Snowden leaked to a Hong Kong newspaper classified documents that revealed the specific IP addresses in Hong Kong and China that NSA may have hacked. What's up with that? Apparently out of desperation or drunk with his new found fame he was trying to curry favor with China and Russia... that is chicken shit IMHO. What he has given up to Russia one can only guess.
The irony is he has to hide out in Russia... a country known for its liberal freedoms and openness.
He gave aid and comfort to the United States' enemies — the American people? Because he told us about the crimes being committed against us on our own dime?
What crimes specifically? If crimes have been committed who has been arrested, charged and convicted? Perhaps you are basing your opinion on the "facts" from television (or slashdot as it may be).
Funny all these high mighty sounding posts such as yours are always without any sort of actual specifics - please be specific next time. Contrary to the common misconception there has yet to be any proof that the NSA has consistently and routinely monitoring citizens illegally.
I have yet to meet a citizen that considers him a traitor...
Now you just did. Snowden is a traitor and will eventually pay...
"If i was a honest company, Snowden is the sort of person I'd probably like working there."
Until he thought your trade secrets was something that should be generously shared....
Actually it was the woman that was ultimately at fault... read your bible.
If God uses evolution as a tool ... Then this alleged Being is not Good and Omnipotent. Darwin when he fully started to understand that ramifications of his theory remarked that:
"What a book a Devil's chaplain might write on the clumsy, wasteful, blundering low & horridly cruel works of nature!"
What sort of God would use evolution, lubricated with the blood, guts and unrelenting cruelty, as a means to bring about his favored species or race? Just doesn't make any sense.
Nevertheless Genesis is a earth centered creation story... told from a species centric position. I can't believe anyone would give it any stock or think it has some resemblance to reality. The one thing we do know is that the earth wasn't created first with the stars created at a latter date.
Humans wrote the bible... while God wrote the rocks. I am going with what God wrote!
Since there is no legal "standard" coffee cup does the study define a cup? Could be anywhere from 5 ounces to 8 oz.
It's not an unfounded speculation. We know he revealed information about US spying on China to the Chinese authorities. In any case, putting himself in Russian custody and begging them for favors (asylum) while in possession of tons of classified information is not a good idea if you actually intend to keep that information secret.
Is this true? I haven't been following the case that close but if Snowden did do this then yes he is a traitor.
Indeed... Supermax is by far worse than capital punishment.