Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak thinks Edward Snowden is a 'total hero'

uk.businessinsider.com

39 points·carlchenet··5 comments

Obama needs to issue Snowden a pardon of some sort and allow this whistleblower to come home without fear of retribution for helping to defend our U.S. Constitution.

Do you really think he could come back to the US without living in fear? Even if Obama pardons him officially, there may be many unhappy americans with weapons at home, who don't like what Snowden has done.

But an official pardon would allow him to settle everywhere, for example in Europe. That would certainly be helpful.

> unhappy americans with weapons at home, who don't like what Snowden has done.

I really doubt this is a big issue.

Legitimately question: Is that even possible if Snowden hasn't been charged with all of the crimes he could have been charged with? What I mean is that Obama's pardon power doesn't pardon an action, but rather specific violations of the law that prosecutors have brought against him. So what would stop people prosecuting him anyway even if he was pardoned but for other similar offenses?

I certainly admire Wozniak as an engineer and a person, but there is something obscene about gushing over the cleanliness and opulent veneer of a repressive dictatorship. Americans have been jailed there for taking pictures of public buildings, making comments on Facebook (while in the US), and other normal activity. This oppression makes the news here because it involves westerners; the constraints on the lives of their own citizens must be far worse.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com