Edward Snowden - Hero or Trader, Your Opinion

That said, and with time to reflect on it more, and with what kind of information he revealed, I'd say he is more of a "whistle-blower" and that should be a decent defense, should he stand trial.

In a trial, I could accept a short-term prison sentence, "time-served" would satisfy me. Any additional time and I may want a Presidential pardon, depending on what evidence surfaces in the trial, of course.

In any case, I feel he should be returned here to face up to what he's done, as he himself understands that his actions are, at least in part, criminal.

Honestly, I can't help but like the guy.

IMO, he made a mistake in judgement that doesn't appear to be too damaging, except to Obama's poll numbers.

The government may disagree with me on this but, he'd actually be a benefit should he return and become a "watchdog" for them or a private group keeping tabs on government accountability. Who better to serve that post, than someone willing to sacrifice life and liberty to expose a program people know too little about?

I'd still keep him away from government servers though lol...Put multiple firewalls and remote access limitations on him (and everyone, really) forever. Don't allow security clearance to include areas that a person shouldn't have access to...and watch them constantly, using security protocols that alert others to suspected unauthorized access.

I mean really, there doesn't appear to be enough safeguards in place. The government needs multiple redundancies put in place, on top of the multiple redundancies already in place, to thwart people like Snowden if they want a semblance of cyber-security.

In any case, I'd rather see Snowden home again, and not as a fugitive, but as a free citizen. His actions were dumb, but I doubt any serious harm will come of this.

 

Snowden had this to say about Obama:

View attachment 1797

http://nation.foxnews.com/2013/07/01/snowden-unloads-obama