I am curious of what you think of Bradley Manning. Is Manning also despicable and prosecutable?
I'm not familiar with all he and others have released. A whistleblower typically was a person who exposed someone or a group for their wrong doings. In some of these cases we have to be careful. Releasing sensitive information for the sake of releasing it is irresponsible unless you can be sure that what you're releasing shows wrong doing.
The question I have in my mind when this information is released is....will it show wrong doing or will it just be exposing a classified program. In the case of Snowden, from what we know of the program at this point, he exposed a classified program.
Before we start finger pointing it helps to get an understanding of the program. The program data mines data that's (already) being data mined by the phone company etc. It's a call log of phone numbers, dates and times.
This isn't a new program. Under the previous administration the program and others ran wild with little to no oversight and engaged in warrant-less wire taps. In order to even use this data today you must have probable cause to seek a warrant. All three branches of the government are involved and informed as well as the FISA Court. More oversight may be needed. The current administration help put some of the current checks and balances in place and welcomes any discussion and solutions to enhance privacy.
Snowden, IMO, worked for a contractor and signed various non-disclosure and non-compete agreements.....both from his company and federal government. I've signed these same documents. He broke these agreements and shared classified information. He broke the law. I could give him a pass "if" it showed that what he was exposing was unlawful but it isn't. Just because a "whistleblower" releases information doesn't mean he or she should be treated as a hero...at least not until all the facts are in.
We already have so much of our information in the biggest database of them all. You can google your name, your phone number (old and current) and even your address. I googled my name and my wife's name. I know where she works and where she lives and even her phone number. I put my name in that standard search engine and got the same results. I ran my name at superpages.com in the public records section and it showed my city, my wife's name and my age and at least 4 cities where I've lived. Even your "
Social Security Number" is online. I then put my name in the search area and it showed my full name, my address, my house number as well as the longitude and latitude of my house. Click the various links and it shows your relatives. In my case it listed my daughter's full name.
Much of what we may consider personal information is floating in the digital world and part of the public record. I don't need a name. I don't need a phone number. I can take every home in my neighborhood, because they're public record, and get the name(s) of the owner, the diagram of their house, what they paid for the home and the value of the home. So with minimal effort....I can know all there is to know about a person's personal information.
Why such hoopla about the government....well, because it's the government which seems to be what's got people riled up but many of us are holding on to this nostalgic notion that we're "private" citizens. Those days are long gone and have been before you or I were ever born.
