They were state secrets with a very well documented list of individuals to which it had been disclosed and he was documented as having had taken issue with the program. It's reasonable that it would be traced back to him and that he would not be given protections or a fair trial.

At work, you keep your opinions to yourself.

It doesn't matter if you are asked for your opinion by your boss, in an "anonymous" survey, or by a co-worker at a seemingly innocuous kids birthday party. There are no friends in business. Stick to business. Anything you say can and will be used against you.

I'm not a very political person. I don't have strong feelings about it sir. Taking care of business is my priority.

Stay safe out there folks.

I neither agree nor disagree.

Do you feel better that the NSA is spying on Canadians while Canadians spy on US citizens and the two countries exchange what they have on each other’s citizens?

but then,

do we need another traitor to hand over classified data to foreign adversaries to make you aware of it?

Government doing it in secret vs a citizen exposing it? I'm going to back my fellow citizen in this one.

This is happening because it’s the job of the NSA to gather data for intelligence purposes. They will sponge up any data they can legally obtain. And if you agree to data being shared with third parties, you’ve agreed that the data can be shared with the NSA. So it is.

That's some serious bootlicking there, you think they're only collecting "legally" obtained information? Let's also gloss over the anti-consumer practices that companies employ to obtain that sweet third party data on you.

"you’ve agreed that the data can be shared with the NSA. So it is." - JFC you have some weird logic going on in your head. Let's just forget what's required in today's society, the data that has to be shared to perform basic functions like employment now adays. The average citizen is not a privacy expert and no one is educated in K-12 to be consensual informed.

I just spent the entire time reading this just aghast at the audacity for you to voice an opinion like this in 2024, with rising fascism throughout the world.

How deeply under a rock must your mole-hill have been built, how jingoistic and nationalistic must one become to have such... such a collosally naive take? I am so angry with you right now.

Yeah, and any programmer knows how much important software is written by people with "only" a highschool diploma

Last I heard he's in Russia because everywhere else was going to extradite him, and Russia was stoked to have him in the country as a big FU to the USA.

He immediately got charged under the Espionage Act. If he didn't leave or if he came back he'd be tried, without a jury, and get either life in prison or the death penalty.

What's funny about this picture is Obama was seeking his extradition for the leaks. I'd still vote for him again though.

From what I remember in her memoir, she said she pent about 2 months in what was essentially a holding cell in Kuait after she was arrested, with little to no stimulation, and limited human interaction.

our re-definition of 'torture' excludes waterboarding, hog-tying, force-feeding, and sexual assault.

According to the federal government even the people at Guantanamo weren't tortured.

We literally torture people who have never been seen by a judge. This country is fucking evil

I understand his view but I just can't fathom how could someone be pro Bitcoin in the context. Giving power over the financial system to criminal cartel(s) (who provenly control Bitcoin) is ludacris. Thankfully the cartel has no intent to run the future of finance whatsoever, just to extract as much USD as possible before they are shut down.

Edit: Yes, downvote me that will help your bags.

I don't think we should discount the fear here. Unless Snowden had a fortune tucked away somewhere, blowing the whistle was a sure fire way to blow up your career and make yourself homeless.

I'm also sure he didn't just walk into the bureau and get handed everything on day 1.

I'm also sure it took some time to exfil the data. Most companies have policies that can make it difficult to legitimately walk off premise with information, I can only imagine how much more difficult it would be to do that with anything government related, nevermind federal, nevermind something considered to be secret by the country...

Simply put, there's a lot of hurdles to get over, and doing so carefully enough to not get caught until you have what you want to blow the whistle on, may take a very very long time.