Edward Snowden whistle blower

[piranha]

Any thoughts about the news about NSA and Edward?

I wonder where he will go. My guess is that he had left hong kong by the time the story was revealed and that the talk about Island might also just be talk. Where would you go in his situation?
Would you try to hide somewhere in some remote place on the planet or would you be public where you are and hope that it would make it hard to abduct you when everyone would know about it?

Any thoughts about the information collecting done / planed by the NSA?

I know this topic has potential to lead to one of the many political flame wars online but I hope we are mature enough to not attack each other.

[magian]

Well, I can't say I find it all that surprising that the US government is collecting all this data. It does have some pretty scary implications though. It is all pretty classic stuff. Governments using fear tactics to tighten their grip over their citizens under the flag of 'national security' is in no way new.

[KGB]

Magian is right though we usually associate such tactics with dictators and despots. But I suspect the level of outrage will be based on age.

No one under 25 is old enough to remember what being free and not being monitored by the government is like. For them the US has always been at war (91-93 in Iraq, mid 95-97 in Yugoslavia, 2001+ in Iraq/Afghanistan) and the gov't has always monitored the population as part of the war on Terror, war on Drugs, war on Illegal immigrants etc. So they will shrug, wonder what the big deal is and go back to giving out all that info for free to Facebook and Twitter.

Not sure what the 25-35 crowd remembers.

But for those of us who are say 40+ there will be outrage. I'm in that age group and I remember taking family vacations and crossing the US/Canada border and it required no ID. Nor did it require any ID to rent a hotel room, my dad just paid cash and rarely if ever even gave a name unless we were reserving ahead of time. Hell, I'm old enough to remember my first flights in the early 70's at age 6 where you just walked on to the airplane like walking on to a bus/train with zero security at all. Those were the days when you were truly free.

Today the country is a quasi-police state. I also remember watching old WWII movies where the Germans would always ask for 'papers' and my Dad and Grandfather telling me that was why there was a war and that it could never happen here because we were free. Sadly it has come to pass here. In the 'war on illegal aliens' you now technically have to carry your passport within 100 miles of any border. In Arizona police regularly profile Hispanic people and force them to show passports/papers showing they are not illegals. I've experienced it here in Florida too while boating when the Coast Guard pulled us over (we were not even 1/4 mile off shore) and asked for citizenship and gave one of my Hispanic friends a hard time because he didn't have enough ID for them.

If I was Edward I would head for the Ecuador embassy and request Asylum like Julian Assange did. They will likely grant it and it will give him a safe place to go. Assange is right, the guy is a hero for speaking out about this illegal monitoring of citizens.

Speaking of Assange, I remember a couple of years ago when Time's man of the year was Zuckerberg for Facebook. I laughed at that choice because he didn't even invent social media. I told my friends it should have been Assange.

KGB

[Igor]

Thing not only that government is watching people, but that anyone who wish to say about this can be criticized by the government. Same in Russia, same in USA, as I can see.
If Snowden goes to Britain, then from there he can be extradited on sex scandal. One of his girlfriends youth probably will be found for starting a prosecution in harassment against him, I think so.
In general, it is better that he remained to the end the hero, went through court in the United States and for all free-thinking people has become a fighter for publicity.
Assange, Manning, Snowden, all the guys who wish to see all clear and understandable for people. But they personal fate will not be easy. Hope all will be ok with them though.

[KGB]

I forgot to mention that when you go to the dictionary and look up the definition of Irony you'll now find it says:

"when a citizen of the US has to go to China to escape persecution for exposing an organization that is illegally spying on its citizens..."



KGB

[magian]

"Those who surrender freedom for security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one."

-Benjamin Franklin