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Edward Snowden warned us and most people forgot about him. "Oliver Stone’s Snowden film remains a terrifying surveillance warning 10 years on." (www.scmp.com)
submitted 1 month ago by to c/privacy@lemmy.world
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[+] -20 points 1 month ago (7 children)

Snowden seems cool but anybody who flees first to China but upon learning about their extradition agreements then to Russia is probably not a trustworthy source on anything liberty.

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  • [–] 10 points 1 month ago (3 children)

    I would probably choose a shithole like Russia over US prison (or a death sentence..?). I've heard terrible things about Russia, but I can say the same for the US penal system. And being high-profile probably doesn't help him.

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  • [+] -9 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

    It seems like a false choice to say those are the only two options. Being comfortable in China and Russia implies he had contacts there beforehand, and that wouldn't make him a whistleblower it would make him a foreign agent.

    I'm not saying he didn't reveal some important stuff to the public while working as a government contractor employed by the NSA, just that I don't think he's a cool person and I understand why people don't trust him.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 month ago (1 child)

    Nah, it just means he was smart enough to know the US couldn't extradite him from there. Other, smaller countries could be bribed or bullied into handing him over.

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  • [+] -8 points 1 month ago

    You're the kind of person who would have defended Italy and Spain joining hands with the Nazis. There is nothing smart about fleeing to Russia because Russia only acts out of greed and malicious intents. France and Germany both spoke out against the USA when the news broke. Austria, Finland, Ireland, Poland, Norway, Spain, and others all stated that they would consider his requests for asylum if he had been present in those respective countries at the time his US passport was revoked.

    The condition for which he was granted Russian asylum was that he stopped leaking classified info.

    But he had gone straight to Hong Kong while meeting with reporters at the start intending to cross into China, and then he fled directly to Moscow.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 child)

    I mean, what he exposed came with proof. There is no believe or disbelieve. It's not religion, there is no faith. He made an assertion and proved it with evidence.

    If you think that the government doesn't need to follow the laws and that they are immune, then yes I can see why what he did would seem negative.

    But if you believe the government should also follow its own laws, I have difficulty understanding your objection.

    The information is the information, focus on the man is only a distraction.

    A cat leaked it. A dinosaur leaked it. Hitler was resurrected and leaked it while riding a flying pig. Snowden leaked it and fled to Russia.

    It makes no difference, the information is the information regardless of the catalyst.

    Before Snowden, the US government was thought to obey its own laws, though obviously not always (for better or worse). After Snowden, we finally had confirmation that violations are commonplace and intentionally hidden.

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  • [–] -3 points 1 month ago

    If Hitler had leaked it then a shitload of people would be apprehensive to the topic, leading to both a ton of nazi sympathy and exaggeration as well as leading to many outright denying his claims, so yes that's a correct comparison.

    stembolts: "Snowden is basically Hitler"

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