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My statement is entirely irrelevant to this topic but I sacrifice Karma because I think it is important that this person not be able to get away from his statements on Snowden. He entirely ignores policy discussions that may have lead to Snowden, placing all blame on Snowden for the potential impact of the NSA's actions on the wider IT industry. Please feel free to down vote me, it would be the logical conclusion.

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Without expressing a position on Marc A's views on Snowden, I look at it a bit like Hollywood celebrities' views on politics. I may (arguably) care what a celeb says about a topic where he/she has demonstrated expertise, such as the craft of acting, but I would not expect them to have special expertise on vaccination, firearm policy, foreign policy, climatography, intelligence agencies, etc.

Similarly, I care quite a bit what Marc A. thinks about VCs and startups and cash burn rates: he's a smart guy with lots of experience who is willing to speak his mind, a rare character trait nowadays. You can appreciate and even applaud that without endorsing his views on the possible legal fate of an ex-government contractor.

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