Nobody is going to change their mind about Snowden.

[MineralMan]

95. It's hardly that simple.

You can believe that the government has trespassed on your privacy rights and also believe that Snowden was wrong to do what he did and broke laws that were designed to protect classified information.

You can disbelieve that the government has actually trespassed on your privacy rights and support leaks of classified information by individuals who you believe are legitimate whistleblowers.

You can also believe that Edward Snowden broke a law and did not use existing pathways to disclose classified information but not believe that he is a "traitor."

I believe, or actually know, that the government has the capability to trespass on my privacy rights. It has had that capability for a long time, and that information has been publicly disclosed a number of times. I also believe that it is impractical in the extreme to actually do that unless there is a compelling reason to do so. So, I'm not concerned that my particular privacy has been violated. Yours either, frankly.

Having been in a similar situation to Snowden and Manning, and disagreeing with some of the things that were being done by organizations I worked for when in the military, I decided not to work for those organizations once my USAF enlistment was over. I had agreed not to disclose classified information and had been briefed on the penalties for doing so. I chose not to. Frankly, the work I did had nothing to do with anything I disagreed with, but I knew of other stuff that did. Hence my decision to separate from the organization, despite a very attractive job offer.

To have accessed and revealed information about other activities would have been very difficult, except in general terms, and I chose not to do that. Indeed, I wasn't even sure of the extent or actual illegality of such activities. I chose to bail.

Others have made other choices. Each had agreed not to release classified information and understood the penalties for doing so. I have an enormous amount of respect for civil disobedience, but also believe that civil disobedience must include the willingness to stand behind what you do and use any prosecution as a platform for your position as far as is possible. Daniel Ellsberg is an excellent example of that, as are many others. Even PFC Manning is standing by his actions and is now on trial. That is what people who exercise civil disobedience do, and they have my respect, whether or not I agree with them.