Ed Snowden deserves a pardon!

[Don1]

It's not about naivete about spying. All governments spy. However when governments take surveillance to the point where ALL communications are vacuumed for storage and analysis... that's not mere spying... that's a Police State

Governments must be exposed and held accountable for their criminal activities.... that's the only way democracy can be prevented from conversion to fascism

[Don1]

We are on the same page with him going to the enemy.

LOL... Just who is this "enemy'??

[Willi]

Which enemy?

[Willi]

Lemming behaviour!

[Don1]

Mek di frog dem gwaan bwile pawdie

[Sir X]

In a time of universal deceit,telling the truth will be viewed as a revolutionary act.

George Orwell.

[Rockman]

I think it is worth noting Russia has shown more respect fir democracy and due process tgan the so called torch carriers;Iraq,occupying sovereign nations,overthrowing democratically elected Govt etc.

[Karl]

It's not about naivete about spying. All governments spy. However when governments take surveillance to the point where ALL communications are vacuumed for storage and analysis... that's not mere spying... that's a Police State

Governments must be exposed and held accountable for their criminal activities.... that's the only way democracy can be prevented from conversion to fascism

The first paragraph...and the second have inherent conflicts!

SPY -
1.somebody employed to obtain secret information: an employee of a government who seeks secret information in or from another country, especially about military matters;

2.employee who obtains information about rivals: an employee of a company who seeks secret information about rival organizations;

3.secret observer of others: a watcher of other people in secret;

4. to search or look for intensively;

5. to watch secretly usually for hostile purposes...

mmm? It is with wry smile there is this 'look at' (not trying to reconcile) the impossibility of a police force or military organization or private individual or organization to seek 'all information' on a target while conforming to "The Laws" intended to protect privacy rights.

The two, i.e. spying and protection of privacy just do not seem to fit (wry smile emoticon).

[Karl]

...further:

The ongoing publication of leaked NSA documents has revealed previously unknown details of a global surveillance apparatus run by the United States' NSA in close cooperation with its Five Eyes partners: Australia (ASD), Great Britain (GCHQ), Canada (CSEC),[100] and New Zealand (SIS), along with cooperation from the security agencies of "most other Western countries".[3]

According to cybersecurity scholar Peter Singer the material disclosed by Edward Snowden can be divided in three categories:
1.Smart, useful espionage against enemies of the United States

2.Legally questionable activities that involved US citizens through backdoors and fudging of policy/law and

3.un-strategic (stupid) actions targeting American allies that has had huge blowback on US standing and US business.

Aside: It is interesting to see the number of countries that have turned their backs on Edward Snowden?

He has asked for help from these countries and turned down.
Now why would they do that if he has helped them...is helping them?
Could it be, they are not being helped? ...my guess would be as it has always been that embedded within the docs he has released are direct pointers to 'what they also have gotten up to' or clues to same!!!

See: Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Snowden - for some pointers as to possible reasons Snowden must be considered no less than as a rogue agent/employee of the CIA/NSA.

[Don1]

Karl if you want to swallow government lying, propaganda and corruption wholesale....that's your prerogative

People not infected by that virus of gullibility have different perspectives