Alleged backdoor discovered in WhatsApp could allow governments to read encrypted messages

[Kunming]

If any government does it, they should be called out on it. This includes the US and Russia and all others that have been doing so over the ages. Its tyranny as I see it, and that is why Snowden did what he did. It is wrong when done to any nation's people because it is oppressive, and no matter what nation, they should be called out on it.

Media sources have to pick what they run. Both ends of the spectrum cherry pick to their own ends. Somewhere within the cherry-picking is the truth. IMO, it is unfortunate that things have become as they are, however, when we start blowing things off as fake news, we blind ourselves to any modicum of truth that may be contained in the cherry-picked stories. If you ask me, it is entirely possible than anyone blowing off a story as fake news is doing so because the modicum of truth contained within reveals the inconvenient.

Well said

 

[MilwaukeeMike]

Just because he isn't protected by the laws doesn't mean he's not a whistle blower. What kind of logic is that? I can't even...

Also, he gave all his stuff to journalists, so they could choose what was responsible to release.

He told the world about important invasions of privacy, of the huge overreach of the us government and thus also helped highlight american hypocrisy(since it's easy for republicans to blame china or russia for hacking or spying for instance, while not mentioning what we're doing).

He also didn't go to Russia first anyway and even if he did, so what. It's a statement about how poor the US espionage act laws are, if a man has got to hold up in russia for fear of not being treated fairly..He's a hero and a whistle blower.

What kind of logic? Law. The term 'Whistle Blower' is a legal protection that is provided to someone when they expose someone breaking the law from being prosecuted themselves. Snowden doesn't apply because 1) The surveillance wasn't illegal - it was creepy, unwanted, over-reach and all sorts of other things, but congress DID sign off on it. 2) He broke a whole pile of other laws that weren't even related to the things he was exposing. Meaning - you can get protection from being prosecuted for breaking OTHER laws. You know....like if a cop arrests a drug dealer he doesn't get to steal the money he finds in his house.

You obviously have the internet - use it. And while you're applying some logic to your day - go find a new 'hero'.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistleblower_Protection_Act

 

[Kunming]

What kind of logic? Law. The term 'Whistle Blower' is a legal protection that is provided to someone when they expose someone breaking the law from being prosecuted themselves. Snowden doesn't apply because 1) The surveillance wasn't illegal - it was creepy, unwanted, over-reach and all sorts of other things, but congress DID sign off on it. 2) He broke a whole pile of other laws that weren't even related to the things he was exposing. Meaning - you can get protection from being prosecuted for breaking OTHER laws. You know....like if a cop arrests a drug dealer he doesn't get to steal the money he finds in his house.

You obviously have the internet - use it. And while you're applying some logic to your day - go find a new 'hero'.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistleblower_Protection_Act

And what about the laws and citizens of other countries and their rights not to be spied on and hacked? He's a hero for the people. He might not be a whistleblower according to us law, but that's fine - no reason for him to follow the rules and/or be ethical when NSA and others don't and aren't. It's odd you'd be against someone who's benefitting you and your civil rights. Just odd. Also, he said he did try bring attention to this overreach, but he was continuously ignored and it's very convenient to define whistleblowing in so and such ways, so as to protect oneself from actual revelations, by simply putting away those who have serious accusations.

 

[MilwaukeeMike]

And what about the laws and citizens of other countries and their rights not to be spied on and hacked? He's a hero for the people. He might not be a whistleblower according to us law, but that's fine - no reason for him to follow the rules and/or be ethical when NSA and others don't and aren't. It's odd you'd be against someone who's benefitting you and your civil rights. Just odd. Also, he said he did try bring attention to this overreach, but he was continuously ignored and it's very convenient to define whistleblowing in so and such ways, so as to protect oneself from actual revelations, by simply putting away those who have serious accusations.

So much confusion.... The rights of citizens in other countries not to be spied on? If you're cruising ISIS sites and chat rooms and talking about how to carry out a shooting I WANT you to be spied on (Don't you?!) . These shootings are happening almost regularly now. You wouldn't know this, but in Milwaukee the FBI stopped a mass shooting that is literally 1 block from where I'm sitting right now. Terrorism isn't just something on the news.

None of this even matters - you keep thinking Snowden's goal was to expose the NSA. His much main goal was to steal military secrets. This has been proven by the jobs he applied for. He specifically applied for a job within his NSA contractor firm that gave him access to higher level documents (and he took a pay cut to get it!). More than just the surveillance stuff. He stole like 1.5 MILLION documents, less than 2% of which had anything to do with the NSA's surveillance programs. He stole documents on the NSA's Level 3 Toolkit. I have no idea what that is obviously, but it's the exact stuff Russia and others haven't been able to get to in hacking attempts.

Look at it this way - if Robin Hood had kept 98% of the money he stole from the rich and only gave 2% to the poor, would you call him a hero? What if he used the money to buy weapons and gave them to your enemies. Because Snowden didn't just steal those documents, he ran off to Russia with them.

I'd write more, but you can read about it if you're interested. Maybe someday people will stop calling him a hero.