Even if he's handed over the materials, it would still be no less satisfying to go after Snowden. In addtion, one could also go after the people that received the information and aided in the commision of said crimes.
Save the pardons for anyone that Snowden targets so that nothing can happen to them. Save the awards for the people that capture Snowden.
Except the part where money can buy government action that much easier in Russia due to high levels of corruption - the kind that warrant gated communities to absurd amounts. Enough money, and Snowden's as good as dead.
Even if Snowden does get the proper treatment of being sent to a black site (or worse), he's in our hands and controlled more easily.
Nope. Look at what happened in the 1970's - for the efforts taken to try to end the NSA only resulted in it being more powerful than imagined. Ultimately, the NSA will recover in ways that Snowden will not be able to stop.
Face it, he will face justice and would gladly help make that happen as a responsible citizen should. If he is so sure of his case, then he will have no problems doing so himself. Unfortunately, he knows of his guilt and knows of how much evidence is there against him.
Putting the US(and other partnering First World nations) in unnecessary danger just for a political manuever will only make the US that more resolved to be stronger when a more military-friendly president gets elected. Russia, China, and their allies should be put in check before anything is ever asked of the US.
If they can't be assured that destroying the machines will do it, then take it one step further. If they don't quit it, they'll learn how deep and quick of an exfoliation can come from an angle grinder.
If it makes The Guardian actually complain, then you know you're doing the right thing.
Then settle for a posthumous pardon with no medal or anything.
While the Rest Of Us point out that Snowden broke the law in ways that cannot be mitigated by the allegations made through unauthorized disclosures.
To what degree is still up in the air, but at the very least he is no whistleblower - no matter what red meat he dangles in the air to make you think otherwise.
It won't stop until people see him face justice with at least the same fate as Manning. Given what damage he has done to the US and its ability to defend itself wrt intelligence, he would be getting quite the deal.
Otherwise he will just become open season. Same goes with any accomplices
At least not during this administration. Probably not during the next either, way too many entrenched political interests want to see him dead.
Then all it takes is an administration that gives no fucks about what part of the world he and his supporters are in.
Or one that will look the other way if unfavorable things start happening to people with that information.
No, that is not why it happened but framing it that way is seductively authoritarian and one of the main reasons for the creation of the modern surveillance state. Having spent billions to stop more attacks, what do we have to show for it? The Boston bombers plus a whole host of "white" attacks like mass shootings and the NSA's "official" record of having stopped precisely zero attacks on USA soil.
That's ~50 attacks short of the total, not counting ones they can't disclose due to classification rules.
...businesses and people spending time and money to shield themselves from the surveillance...
While those threats are mitigated by responsible citizens that render those efforts useless, as well as architectural efforts that make it too costly to implement the rest. Integrate deeply enough and betrayal won't matter.
The only way to win is not to play the game.
Then you leave room for terrorism to happen in the Constitutionally-mandated blind spot. The military and intelligence departments do ugly-but-necessary things that are not meant for the public to know until it is no longer a threat. Not playing the game puts the US at a disadvantage versus other nations that do so.
The way to win is to be ahead of the others in surveillance and to do it more cleanly. Then take care of the loose ends like Snowden and his associates in ways that prevent repeat occurrences.
We need to get away with from the authoritarian framing of the problem of our society being constantly vulnerable and change from a surveillance state
Not going to happen, and the risk calculations in the rest of your paragraph are compatible with the current surveillance posture. The NSA has outlasted its detractors, including this generation.
Until he's in the custody of the government and facing trial for his crimes, however certain his guilt may be, these documents mean nothing more than another charge against him. One could reasonably come up with something out of thin air, attribute it to him, blame a government agency, and people would believe it faster than they would believe the truth.
Some people side with Snowden and the foreign countries that aid and abet him. I side with the US, and the institutions, including the necessary NSA, and the efforts to bring the wayward ex-contractor to justice.
That said:
Hindering the NSA does no good when it comes to finding terrorists since it provides a convenient blindspot for them to stand in. Remove the blind spot and you give no place to hide.
(Of course, this goes against standard
I believe a certain person whose last name starts with B and ends with t already monopolized that. They just haven't figured out how to stop.
By your logic, Google can do no wrong and that the protesters can do no right? You're part of the problem by suggesting that a company should be entitled to wage economic warfare if they're not served hand & foot.
Given that it's happened at least 10-20 times straight, someone really, really, really can't take dissent. It'll only show that you're much like the people you think the NSA is.
Snowden's actions being of questionable ethics won't be changed by modding me down into Bad.
Not only will you get something of comparable (if not better) quality, they're actually designed to be maintained. For the Thinkpads, you finally get to have IPS again after seeing it depart for about 6 years(last model being the 4:3 T60p). For Dell, you're likely to luck out on larger displays and swappable video cards. In both cases, the machines are designed with a higher degree of maintenance friendliness (favoring the Thinkpads though) and greater part availability.
That, and you usually can make them run OS X if you really wanted to.
Thunderbolt:
It wouldn't be an issue if not for the fact that it's been largely an Apple-only one in implementation. See Firewire and USB for a
Form factor:
As for departing from anything resembling ATX, that underscores their disdain for any maintenance. That, and the thermal issues only make it that much more of an issue to fix versus something that was designed to be maintained.
To those reflexively using the Not Target Market Excuse:
Trying to brush these issues off by using the Apple standard Not Target Market excuse doesn't refute any argument. Yes, I've actually done the forbidden thing of Apple and actually repaired things and encountered it in various models. They view maintenance friendliness as a defect to fix with maintenance hostile design.
To restore a sense of reality, I think Walt Disney should have a Hardluckland. -- Jack Paar
