The comments in this thread (and every other Snowden-related revelation in the last six months) have made it clear you are incapable of appreciating the magnitude and complexity of this scope of issue. The comment threads have been dominated by narrow, small minded thinking, bereft of any considered thoughtfulness. I quit reading your comments on these posts long ago, because they were a worthless echo chamber of self-righteous arrogance. I thought maybe, perhaps, this post would elicit better discussion. I should have known better.
Even after six months, I don't yet have a well-formed opinion on the topic. It's incredibly complicated and encompasses considerations most of us can barely comprehend. In an essay on the topic, Mike Hayden (ex USAF General, ex NSA director, ex CIA director) said: [1]
it takes a special kind of arrogance for this
young man to believe his moral judgment
on the dilemma suddenly trumps that of two
(incredibly different) presidents, both houses
of the U.S. Congress, both political parties,
the U.S. court system and more than 30,000 of
his co-workers.
I expect more of HN than I do a typical forum. I dismiss the "not like the old days" cynics. Please don't prove them right.
1 - http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/19/opinion/hayden-snowden-impact/