Snowden is being given asylum by the EU

The European Parliament just voted to grant Edward Snowden asylum, but it doesn't actually do anything - Business Insider

That's all I could find about this.

Yeah, free to die of natural causes in a parked car, hotel room etc.

Yeah, autopsy "inconclusive".

Asylum so the FBI can kidnap him.

"He was fine before the LA Times reporter came to see him."

He never existed. Nobody you know has ever met him, you never met him, he is a clever CGI animation from a sound stage.

In 25 years the same nutters who deny the moon landing will be saying that...

Why? He hasn't committed any crime against Europe, so how can another country go to another country and kidnap or murder a wanted man?

Exactly.

If it's not a government sanctioned hit, it will be someone from one of the three lettered agencies going for revenge.... You do not betray the NSA or CIA on this level and walk away like nothing happened.

He should have stayed in the USA and faced his charges like the whistleblowers before him. All of which are alive and well and free.

He's an idiot and will be on the run and always looking over his shoulder for the rest of his life.

Why doesn't he want to stay in Russia since they have the best healthcare, education and the highest quality of life in the world??

That's funny.... the other whistleblowers don't sound like they agree...

"When a National Security Agency contractor revealed top-secret details this month on the government's collection of Americans' phone and Internet records, one select group of intelligence veterans breathed a sigh of relief.

Thomas Drake, William Binney and J. Kirk Wiebe belong to a select fraternity: the NSA officials who paved the way.

For years, the three whistle-blowers had told anyone who would listen that the NSA collects huge swaths of communications data from U.S. citizens. They had spent decades in the top ranks of the agency, designing and managing the very data-collection systems they say have been turned against Americans. When they became convinced that fundamental constitutional rights were being violated, they complained first to their superiors, then to federal investigators, congressional oversight committees and, finally, to the news media.

To the intelligence community, the trio are villains who compromised what the government classifies as some of its most secret, crucial and successful initiatives. They have been investigated as criminals and forced to give up careers, reputations and friendships built over a lifetime.

Today, they feel vindicated.

They say the documents leaked by Edward Snowden, the 29-year-old former NSA contractor who worked as a systems administrator, proves their claims of sweeping government surveillance of millions of Americans not suspected of any wrongdoing. They say those revelations only hint at the programs' reach.

On Friday, USA TODAY brought Drake, Binney and Wiebe together for the first time since the story broke to discuss the NSA revelations. With their lawyer, Jesselyn Radack of the Government Accountability Project, they weighed their implications and their repercussions. They disputed the administration's claim of the impact of the disclosures on national security ? and President Obama's argument that Congress and the courts are providing effective oversight.

And they have warnings for Snowden on what he should expect next.

Three former NSA whistleblowers discuss what they were able to learn from the leaked document in the Edward Snowden case.

Q: Did Edward Snowden do the right thing in going public?

William Binney: We tried to stay for the better part of seven years inside the government trying to get the government to recognize the unconstitutional, illegal activity that they were doing and openly admit that and devise certain ways that would be constitutionally and legally acceptable to achieve the ends they were really after. And that just failed totally because no one in Congress or ? we couldn't get anybody in the courts, and certainly the Department of Justice and inspector general's office didn't pay any attention to it. And all of the efforts we made just produced no change whatsoever. All it did was continue to get worse and expand.

Q: So Snowden did the right thing?

Binney: Yes, I think he did.

Q: You three wouldn't criticize him for going public from the start?

J. Kirk Wiebe: Correct.

Binney: In fact, I think he saw and read about what our experience was, and that was part of his decision-making.

Wiebe: We failed, yes.

Jesselyn Radack: Not only did they go through multiple and all the proper internal channels and they failed, but more than that, it was turned against them. ... The inspector general was the one who gave their names to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution under the Espionage Act. And they were all targets of a federal criminal investigation, and Tom ended up being prosecuted ? and it was for blowing the whistle."







.

You do realize your talking about the US right??

Don't forget superb lighting in all grocery stores :D

If it's true, it's great news.

You can't apply for asylum to the EU. You have to apply for asylum to a nation-state in the EU. This is just symbolic? Or, an ''EU Parliamentary'' adopted motion to allow asylum in some 'unspecified' EU nation? Pure politic and an empty offer.

That's funny because they all appear alive and well and free in that interview you just c&p'ed, just like I said they all are. And Theyve won pleny of awards and accolades as well.

Wrong.

Thomas Drake for instance:
He is the 2011 recipient of the Ridenhour Prize for Truth-Telling and co-recipient of the Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence (SAAII) award.

Alive, well, and free. Exactly like I stated. All of them are.

And they all acknowledge that ABSOLUTELY NOTHING happened because of their efforts and that it achieved NOTHING, and that no one in the US public even heard about what was going on, let alone talked about it....





.

Which has nothing to do with the fact they are alive well and free living in the USA, not in Russia looking over their shoulder.

total control of the person = freedom ?
such people as Snowden made American freedom,

that man deserves a medal

(or at least his freedom)

^^^ This ^^^





.

Yes he does. 1000%

Here's another brave peace soldier who should have been thanked by a grateful nation but instead was summarily ignored... https://www.google.co.nz/?gws_rd=cr,...iel%20ellsberg

Talk about synchronicity... just saw this after going through the search I post above.

Announcing Our New Freedom of the Press Foundation Board Member, Edward Snowden

my friend was in cubscouts with snowden and said he was a quiet little shut in bitch ass nigga

true story

pbbc for life we out chea

How many people on GFY have friends that know Snowden irl?

That's pbbc shit for real, what you know about that.

Pbbc is the illest to ever grace the mic.

Noone actually cares

if he hadn't of pussed out and ran to China and Russia, history proves he'd have both.

but he did puss out. he stole a bunch of documents and ran to the enemies for safe harbor. it's his fault he doesn't have freedom and accolades. not AMerica's.

Sure you can debate it any way you like but public opinion stands with Snowden because:

Snowden was a traitor to his country (for the people)
Government was a traitor to his country (against the people)

Who's wrong was bigger? It's a no brainer but this is a matter of serious public interest that was brought to light.

Well 30 yrs from now, I hope he's comfy back in the US of A after a presidential pardon and over time the climate has changed, and after the book deal, the movie career, his own talk show and he might be running for President himself. Who knows?

There's an expression: "Only in America"

i'd be interested in hearing about any revelation Snowden made that 1) anyone didn't already know, 2) what big reveal did he make at all? and 3) wtf difference has it made?

oh i know

1. none
2. none
3. none

Maybe you're a know it all but I'll bet most people don't know that the NSA & GCHQ are trolling message boards, blogs, comments sections of news sites to alter the perception of people's idea of what the consensus opinion is on any given subject matter:



Freak show of a freak show behavior. Even if they do know, there is so much material on this (enough leaks and analysis to fill entire books) and it doesn't all get to public ears but it is very serious shit because people currently have the idea that they have privacy and they have not yet been told that they don't. In Europe privacy is a fundamental freedom enshrined in human rights law, like the most important one.

it doesn't take a know-it-all to know that a snooping outfit like NSA snoops and to take anything on the internet with a grain of salt and some critical thought. and btw, your comment re: europe privacy is out of place, the video you linked is indirectly re: Tempest, that's a British program that shared info with NSA.

that opinion you pretty much have exclusively - at least over here - because the vast amount of espionage the NSA does over here was definitely not public knowledge before

did it make a difference that we know now?

that we will see in the long run.

but the debate how to handle this is still ongoing

To me snowden is a hero - he risked everything to give information to the american people. As Lincoln said, ""government of the people, by the people, for the people". That can't happen with the NSA saying, you don't need to know about this. Fuck secrecy, I'd rather be strong with гла́сность than strong with secrecy. Excessive control doesn't bring strength, it is a result of fear and it brings ossification, paralysis and weakness.

The USA needs to respond with courage and be open about everything with its citizens. That generates respect, and great strength.

But unfortunately, the special interests sacrifice all that for shot term gain, like Michael Dell killed his own customer base for HB1s and cheap labor. That is how stupid people have always worked, and that is how they'll continue to work.

i wouldn't disagree that perhaps the biggest revelation to come from this is that the USA government spies on its allies. i'd suspect every government capable of doing so does so though. they just didn't get caught doing it. not trying to justify it but if we're all trying to learn from what Snowden revealed it's that it's that snooping is pervasive and ubiquitus and obviously not going to change. hell, the NSA's reply to the Snowden revelations was simply, "yes, we do all of that."

nothing changed.