Snowden: 'If I end up in chains in Guantánamo I can live with that' | Hacker News Reader

Snowden: 'If I end up in chains in Guantánamo I can live with that'

theguardian.com

21 pointsRoonerelli8 comments

He's not going to end up in Guantanomo; he's too well known and his current situation is sufficiently lousy. They'll just make sure anyone who has any connection with him is given a hard time at any opportunity (see, for example, spouse of a journalist travelling through Heathrow kept for 9 hours).

But also it's really easy to say that you would be okay with a situation until you've been through it. Some methods of torture look pretty mild until you've experienced them first hand. "Pouring water over a cloth that is covering your face" seems unpleasant but not the kind of thing that could cause you to break your own arm as you struggle to avoid it.

This was the first video interview of Snowden that I've seen, and I was impressed by his eloquence and confidence in front of the camera, as well as his thoughtful answers.

He also didn't come across to me as the lowly sysadmin that the US government portrays him to be.

Edit: Clarity

Why would you think being a relatively low ranking sysadmin would be incompatible with being thoughtful and eloquent?

I know plenty of people in the IT industry who have well considered views on privacy but who aren't senior in any corporate sense.

Well I didn't actually say that they were incompatible, although putting the two sentences in the same paragraph may had caused to to read that meaning into what I wrote. I've split them to (hopefully) avoid this, and because I agree with your comment. Thanks!

This man is an articulate hero of our generation.

Also I noticed he mentioned using Spideroak instead of Dropbox - they are about to get a hell of a lot more customers...It's great to see business competing over privacy.

I think Snowden is a hero and totally support what he's doing, but he's being selfish and arrogant when he says stuff like this.

If allows himself to be caught, the US government will have a golden opportunity to make an example of him. He will receive a show trial, go to prison, and future whistleblowers will have no one to champion their cause. He has a responsibility to not let this happen.

It's not about Snowden. It's about a single individual standing up against the most powerful government in the world, kicking it in the shins, and getting away with it. Snowden's capture and "trial" would change the narrative to "some loser IT guy broke the law and justice was served".

Snowden is winning. His work is pretty much done. He needs to shut the fuck up and lay low.

Yes, this young man who has given up a very comfortable life to live in exile in Russia is being selfish. /s

To me his comment was meant in the sense that he doesn't regret what he has done even if that means Guantanamo. He's staying in Russia and not volunteering to hand himself in to the USG but if worst comes to worst he has no regrets about what he has done.

'If I end up in chains in Guantánamo I can live with that'

I'm sure the US authorities can too so that feels like agreement at last... ;-)

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