Tuesday 10 June 2014

Edward Snowden: Hero or Traitor?

I go for the latter.

Two recent articles do too.  They are distinguished by being of the Left, when criticism of Snowden is generally from the Right...

"Eyes everywhere" by Michael Kinsley in the New York Times, which takes Snowden (the leaker) and journalist/author Glenn Greenberg (the leakee) to task for hypocritically selecting just which laws they chose to obey.

"We Need More Secrecy", by David Frum in The Atlantic. A thoughtful critique of the effects of Snowden's indiscriminate leaking of government secrets. Eg:
This is the truly arresting idea embedded in Alexander Hamilton’s defense of executive power. Energetic and effective government is not the enemy of rights. In a world of predators, energetic and effective government is the vindicator of rights. Freedom unprotected by power is no freedom at all. Power unguided by information is no power at all. And the information most needed for national defense is not obtained by asking nicely for it.