Quote:In the story of Edward Snowden, the NSA leaker, a good deal of theThis is to me the curious thing: There are established channels for whistle blowing. The agency I work for is dependent on it. Why he chose not to choose that option is for me the greater mystery? If he really wanted to to be a martyr, he could have exposed the whole thing here in the U.S. and accepted the consequences of his actions. Instead he fled to a country that is actively trying to penetrate our internet.
context is still missing, and what remains is peculiar. Certainly
Snowden styles himself a martyr: "I'm willing to sacrifice all of that
because I can't in good conscience allow the U.S. government to destroy
privacy, Internet freedom, and basic liberties for people around the
world with this massive surveillance machine they're secretly building."
And yet some of the key facts of the case are still in doubt. Does the
NSA really have full access to private companies' Internet servers as
first implied? Or was that, as it now seems, an exaggeration?
Some details now appear to be wrong as well. Snowden might not, for
example, have stolen four laptops as originally and flamboyantly
reported, but instead—less glamorously—removed information on a thumb
drive.
His methods are curious as well. There is a tradition of
whistle-blowing in the United States, even among people who work with
classified information—and there are long established ways to do it.
Snowden might have approached a member of Congress, perhaps one of those
with intelligence oversight. He might have written to his
organization's lawyers, to clarify the legality of his work. He might
have argued his case from within. The legal expert Jack Goldsmith, then
working in the Department of Justice, fought against the use of torture
by the Bush administration. Eventually he resigned and wrote about it.
There were setbacks, but ultimately, Goldsmith was successful: The
policy was reversed.
Snowden chose a different path. He stole a hoard of documents—and
fled to Hong Kong. Thus did he place his ultimate fate in the hands of a
government that exerts total control over its own national Internet,
and which spares no expense in its attempts to penetrate ours. His
decision to speak from there, in public, is also noteworthy: It means
his interest in publicity trumps his stated fear of arrest.
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Into terror!, Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell