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What happened to the Snowden archive

728 points · 599 comments · EXHades

firesteelrain · 1789953037 · focus · HN ↗
People became ambivalent. Snowden fled eventually to Russia. Some people viewed him less relevant over time as the archive merely trickled out. When he fled to Russia, he looked less like a martyr and more like a national security information leaker or spy like Robert
A lot of what sounded extraordinary in 2013 is now baked into everyday discussion like metadata and mass surveillance. He is also available less for interviews because he is in Russia.
Basically bigger fish to fry
1. unsungNovelty · 1789958514 · focus · HN ↗
  He didn't "flee" to Russia. His passport was renounced/revoked/disabled while he was on his way to the original destination. He got stuck in the Russian airport for a freaking long time in a small room while the govt made sure he can't go anywhere else. Good Lord, fled to Russia it seems.
  1. firesteelrain · 1789958607 · focus · HN ↗
    He could have returned to the US. He chose to exile in Russia. He was already fleeing. I posted a bunch about it below
    maxbond · 1789963990 · focus · HN ↗
    If we're going to judge Snowden by the standard that he could've rectified his situation through a radical act of self sacrifice, then every US president has had the opportunity to pardon him and has failed to do so. It's an equally sensible proposition. It's plain to see that no US president would entertain the notion. Similarly, it's not reasonable to expect someone to return from exile without being offered some kind of clemency.
    lern_too_spel · 1789964952 · focus · HN ↗
    No radical act of self sacrifice would have been necessary had he only leaked illegal or possibly illegal programs. Instead, he went to Hong Kong and leaked a list of compromised Chinese networks and systems in hopes of getting asylum from China.
    pydry · 1789972199 · focus · HN ↗
    That's a conspiracy theory I haven't heard before which I'm pretty sure I'll never hear a shred of evidence for.
    lern_too_spel · 1789982350 · focus · HN ↗
    It's well documented. Snowden himself has admitted as much, and it requires no conspiracy — only the stupidity of a single high school dropout.
    <a href="https://amp.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3178655/june-12-2013-us-spy-net-targets-hong-kong-edward-snowden" rel="nofollow">https://amp.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3178655...
    <a href="https://amp.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1260306/edward-snowden-classified-us-data-shows-hong-kong-hacking-targets" rel="nofollow">https://amp.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1260306/edward-s...
    <a href="https://amp.scmp.com/news/china/article/1266821/us-hacks-chinese-mobile-phone-companies-steals-sms-data-edward-snowden" rel="nofollow">https://amp.scmp.com/news/china/article/1266821/us-hacks-chi...
    linkregister · 1790015123 · focus · HN ↗
    Snowden wasn't stupid. He was the world's best Sharepoint administrator.
    It was probably unwise of him to insult the T group director publicly, which led to the entire subsequent chain of events.

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