Here's the security software Snowden is using to evade the NSA

[cliffordcooley]

And until you can prove the ID is in fact fraud, you have no grounds to stand. If TechSpot was strictly US website , I could see your attempt at exile. As for the general use of banning an account, there has been no regulations broken here.

 

[MilwaukeeMike]

I was born and grew up in communistic Russia, in Siberia, left it in 2000, when I was 24. It was never anything as bad as many articles like that are trying to make it. It was very peaceful, and seemed quite sufficient in every meaning. The education and medical systems were really good and 100% free. It takes to grow up and to live in a different environment to start looking at it otherwise, while on the surface it was perfect, and at least in the eyes of any child that grew up there.

Also, it is not good to be judging Russia based on an article about Romania. That's not the same thing.

Excuse me, but this is an utter crap that you picked up in some nonsense media bend on badmouthing Russia. In fact, I know that it could have only come from one of the Baltic countries, they are the ones who has been hating Russia way before WWII, and even supported Germans out of nationalistic spite. The way they treat Russians living there today, they are the new Nazi.

I got most of my 'utter crap' from a co-worker who did grow up in Russia, and left around age 14. If you had a good experience than you're lucky, and I'd imagine, had money and/or knew the right people. Regardless... this is an article about Snowden, who is now living in Russia, and who exposed US secrets because he 'Didn't not want to live in a world where everything I do and say is recorded." in his words. The issue is not the quality of life in Russia, the issue is the irony behind someone running from one of the most free countries to one decidedly less free. I don't think anyone can really debate that America provides more personal freedom than Russia.

This is a good read on Snowden if it's available.... http://online.wsj.com/news/articles...95391321958008?KEYWORDS=snowden&mg=reno64-wsj

 

[verneronomous]

It amazes me that a man just trying to spread the truth has to hide as he does. It's good to see someone stand up for themselves and follow through with it.

 

[Wendig0]

@MilwaukeeMike Sorry dude, but those state secrets Snowden leaked, were about the US illegally spying on its own citizens, and in my eyes the guy is a hero. I don't care that Russia is giving him asylum, when our President (who was supposed to be pro-whistle blower) wants him tossed in a cage for the rest of his life for blowing the whistle on one of the biggest unconstitutional government conspiracies to ever come out in this country.

 

[Guest]

>If Snowden was a true whistleblower he would have stayed in the United States rather than fleeing to Hong Kong and then to Russia.

What do you think would have happened to him if he stayed? He'd be swiftly put in jail, despite whatever little public support he would have. Yes it would be discussed on TV for a few months and then soon forgotten over some other important news like "a dog riding a bicycle" or "lady gaga's wrinkled tit slip".

Lets assume if he was a true whistle blower, what purpose would him being in jail serve? being able to say "I stand by my beliefs" and spending rest of your years in jail over an issue that will be soon be forgotten by the very public he was trying to inform is not worth it in my book.

>I got most of my 'utter crap' from a co-worker who did grow up in Russia, and left around age 14. If you had a good experience than you're lucky, and I'd imagine, had money and/or knew the right people.

Its quite interesting how a 14 year old kid would know all about how truly horrible his communist government was. You sure his opinion wasn't, perhaps, influenced by his unhappy parents, who actually took him out of the country, or some other reading he did after he already left? Just saying, a 14 year old does not strike me as someone with a complete and unbiased opinion on the world.

Also, the stuff that the other guy was saying about free school, healthcare, and yearly paid vacations is all true. Though, on the flip side, there is no way that someone living in communism would be able to afford all the modern toys that are the topic of this site. There are pros and cons to everything you know.

 

[TJGeezer]

We know what Snowden is using. it's called Russia. ...

Nice trolling! As if illegal acts by a secretive government agency had everything to do with Russia and nothing to do with illegal acts by a secretive government agency. Way to conflate unrelated subjects!

 

[MilwaukeeMike]

@MilwaukeeMike Sorry dude, but those state secrets Snowden leaked, were about the US illegally spying on its own citizens, and in my eyes the guy is a hero. I don't care that Russia is giving him asylum, when our President (who was supposed to be pro-whistle blower) wants him tossed in a cage for the rest of his life for blowing the whistle on one of the biggest unconstitutional government conspiracies to ever come out in this country.

We could argue about whether it was illegal. The spying was legal, which was why he had to leave. Otherwise he would have been protected by whistleblower laws. But he wasn't, because he wasn't stopping illegal activity. I say Snowden is a narcissist who has committed the biggest act of treason in a generation.

Here's some more evidence. Recently he went on TV in Russia to ask Putin a question.... here's the transcript.

"Does Russia intercept, store, or analyze in any way, the communications of millions of individuals?" Snowden asked. "Do you believe that simply increasing the effectiveness of intelligence or law enforcement investigations can justify placing societies rather than subjects under surveillance?"

Mr. Putin, a former KGB agent, said Russia's security service adheres strictly to the law in obtaining warrants for wiretapping and electronic surveillance. "We don't have a mass system of such interception and according to our law, it cannot exist," he said. "We do not have a wide-scale, uncontrolled effort like that in the United States."

He added that "we don't have as much money as they have in the States, and we don't have the technical ability that they have there."

So now he's helping Putin look like the good guy. Maybe everyone in this thread thinks he is except me. When I look at Snowden I see a guy who put his own personal beliefs about what is right ahead of an entire county's potential safety. Who am I to say that we should get rid of all surveillance if there's even a 1 in a billion chance that it could prevent another Boston Bombing (happy anniversary btw). But that's what Snowden did.

I don't trust Obama any farther than I could throw him, but I do trust our military... I think for the most part they're full of brave people with good intentions. I'll link it again... read the WIRED article... they actually interview some of the NSA people. They do NOT defend the NSA, but they're objective, which is extremely rare on this subject.

If nothing else, you'll learn the real reason the surveillance is such a problem, and it doesn't have to do with anyone's useless personal information.

 

[cliffordcooley]

I say Snowden is a narcissist who has committed the biggest act of treason in a generation.

And I say you are dead wrong.

How can the Constitution start "We the people" if the government is going to operate without including the people. Snowden in his own way was including the people which is Constitutional.

 

[MilwaukeeMike]

And I say you are dead wrong.

How can the Constitution start "We the people" if the government is going to operate without including the people. Snowden in his own way was including the people which is Constitutional.

Without including the people? Well... now it's getting off the subject, but it's because the US has what's called a 'representative democracy' where we vote for others to make the laws. It's to prevent 51% of the people from taking away the rights of 49%. You're not in favor of changing that are you?

HL Mencken said 'Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard' and it's true. All the things Snowden stands against were voted into law by our govt. If you're so against the spying, you should find out what bills legalized it, find out who voted for them, and try to get them out of office in Nov. Or you can sit around and call a traitor a hero because you agree with him. There are people who agree with Wade Michael Page too, but I'll bet they at least understand he broke the law.

You're excusing Snowden's actions because you agree with him. I call him a narcissist, which is my opinion and obviously can't be proven. He is a traitor, by law. I am not 'dead wrong' about it at all. If I were, he'd still be living in Hawaii.

 

[cliffordcooley]

He is a traitor, by law.

Yes by law but not by the people. The problem here is that the law does not represent the peoples interest. This is the subject of controversy by calling him a traitor. Snowden is no more a traitor of the people, than the laws that proclaim him to be.

 

[MilwaukeeMike]

Yes by law but not by the people. The problem here is that the law does not represent the peoples interest. This is the subject of controversy by calling him a traitor. Snowden is no more a traitor of the people, than the laws that proclaim him to be.

Yes, that's true, and I think the laws will change to reflect that. I just hope we're not biting off our nose to spite our face.

 

[Andrew Jones]

So now he's helping Putin look like the good guy. Maybe everyone in this thread thinks he is except me.

Look, even if Putin is lying the point is that when Russia starts to look like a less "in your business" surveillance state than the US, the US should be worrying about being a bad guy, rather than worrying about who looks like a good guy.

Who am I to say that we should get rid of all surveillance if there's even a 1 in a billion chance that it could prevent another Boston Bombing (happy anniversary btw). But that's what Snowden did.

So staggeringly weak and strangely ignorant -- do you think we should stop driving because more people die of automobile accidents every year than in all terrorist attacks on the US ever combined? There are so many real world hazards, and the hazard of an oppressive surveillance state is far more real than the risk of getting killed by terrorists. The government is preying on your inability to assess risk, and you are being terrorized by both the government and the terrorists. The whole point is to use fear to make you more afraid of the bad guy (and your state, in many cases) than you are of actual real-world risks, like dying in a car accident or from secondhand smoke. Everyone says "but terrorism is so much scarier and abrupt!" Yes, that's the point...but if you live in fear and give up your entire right of privacy because of "even just one attack" then you're a sucker and not a good steward of American democracy.

 

[Guest]

The truth of one statement doesn't alter the truth of the another statement ...... both are true ... If a Cow is calling a Cow a Cow , they are both still Cows .....