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What happened to the Snowden archive

728 points · 599 comments · EXHades

  1. BLKNSLVR · · focus · HN ↗
    The term "responsible disclosure" may no longer have any meaning.

    "Irresponsible disclosure" for the short term may be equivalent to "responsible disclosure" for the long term.

    There must be some pretty dark stuff yet to be disclosed, and/or some pretty overt threats for those relatively fearless journalists to close ranks. The "Assange example" may have done its job perfectly.

    1. iamnothere · · focus · HN ↗
      Not just Assange, basically everyone involved except maybe Poitras took a hit. Appelbaum was driven out of his work with Tor (and from public life) after a smear campaign, Greenwald had to shift to alt media, and Snowden had to flee the country. Other journalists and editors “moved on” from their work with the papers.

      Snowden did ask them not to get into any direct military secrets that were in the leaks, so that could explain some of the restraint.

      1. walrus01 · · focus · HN ↗
        > Greenwald had to shift to alt media

        That's a pretty generous and kind way to say "became a far-right lunatic regurgitating the same talking points you see from AfD politicians". I don't know what the hell happened to that guy. But he clearly went off the deep end.

        1. rerdavies · · focus · HN ↗
          ... but only after making $400K+/year for seven years, winning a Pulitzer Prize, and then CHOOSING to leave The Intercept because they wouldn't publish his extreme far-right lunatic stuff. If Greenwald isn't currently doing well, I don't think you can really say that it was because of the Snowden papers.

          Very generous indeed.

          1. walrus01 · · focus · HN ↗
            As I recall he became fixated on the contents of Hunter Biden's laptop, to the extent that he got himself fired from The Intercept over it. Maybe he saw the pictures of naked Biden and became absolutely obsessed with the photo gallery of coke and dong.
            1. rerdavies · · focus · HN ↗
              Hard to say whether he resigned, or "resigned". And I'm not sure there's a huge difference, practically speaking. By Greenwald's account, it was the former, I think. Either way, he took his marbles and went home. In fairness, I can imagine why, after having spent 7 years of his life mining through the Snowden archive, spending another few years mining the Biden hard disk might have been attractive.
        2. microtherion · · focus · HN ↗
          It would probably be more accurate to say that for some time, his politics (opposing the Iraq war & the surveillance state) looked sympathetic to many people. His later embrace of Trump & Putin rather undermined the idea that his politics was based on deep libertarian principles.

          But in reality he had already done some fairly vile things by then already, e.g.:

          * Defending murderous Neo Nazis (not vile in itself, they need lawyers too) while calling their victims “odious and repugnant”.

          * Running escort websites and producing cinematic masterpieces such as “Piss Boys in Love”, both with the involvement of his then-boyfriend and later husband David Miranda, under circumstances that seem rather exploitative of the Brazilians involved.

          <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;masternotions.com" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;masternotions.com

          1. iamnothere · · focus · HN ↗
            Defending your client is not vile, and making statements that contribute towards that defense is part of the game, even if they are harsh.

            Funny to see someone who seems to be on the left engaging in “kink-shaming.” Glenn has the right to a personal sexual life, including whatever exotic sexual proclivities he may have. Frankly, the film you mentioned sounds pretty tame for gay porn.

        3. nextstep · · focus · HN ↗
          far-right lunatic? do you have a source for this or an example

          I read his substack, he seems to be critical of the US security state and not inline with alt-right principles at all

          1. iamnothere · · focus · HN ↗

            [dead]

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