Okay, Now Will People Admit That Ed Snowden Is A Whistleblower?

from the he-clearly-disclosed-abuse dept

Fri, Aug 16th 2013 11:31am — Mike Masnick

Nearly two weeks ago, Michael German, at the ACLU, posted a somewhat prescient article detailing why Ed Snowden was clearly a "whistleblower" under the current definitions in US law:

It is actually not a hard question to answer. The Whistleblower Protection Act protects "any disclosure" that a covered employee reasonably believes evidences "any violation of any law, rule, or regulation," or "gross mismanagement, a gross waste of funds, and abuse of authority, or a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety."

It goes on to give some evidence of how Snowden's leaks fit into those categories:

In the two months since Snowden's alleged disclosures, no fewer than five lawsuits have been filed challenging the legality of the surveillance programs he exposed. The author of the Patriot Act, Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), called the scope of data collection revealed in one of the leaked Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court orders "incredibly troubling," and "an overbroad interpretation of the Act" that "raise[s] questions about whether our constitutional rights are secure."

It doesn't end there. Over a dozen bills have been introduced in Congress to narrow these now public surveillance authorities and increase transparency regarding continuing programs. No one can know what was in Edward Snowden's mind, but clearly he could have had a reasonable belief the documents he leaked to the news media revealed government illegality and abuse of authority.

The disclosures also revealed that U.S. military officers and intelligence community officials have been less than truthful in their public comments and congressional testimony about the government's domestic surveillance practices, both in the scope of the programs and their effectiveness. Such false and misleading testimony threatens more than just Americans' privacy; it threatens democratic control of government.

Of course, even then, some argued that since the revelations did not, in fact, reveal direct "abuses," he still wasn't a "whistleblower." But that's no longer true. As we've been detailing, his leaks have led to the clear evidence of not just a few random abuses, but rather thousands of abuses by the NSA every year.

So can we drop whatever name calling game people are playing and agree that he meets the definition of a whistleblower?

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: abuse, ed snowden, nsa, nsa surveillance, whistleblower

31 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Anonymous Coward, 16 Aug 2013 @ 11:35am

But is he a "covered employee" or is he a not-covered contractor? Expect the government to parse this to the last syllable and comma.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Digger, 16 Aug 2013 @ 11:40am
  
  Re:
  He was hired, contactor or not, he was hired to do a job, had access to the data in question, which means he was covered... Period....
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - crade (profile), 16 Aug 2013 @ 11:43am
    
    Re: Re:
    citation needed!
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 16 Aug 2013 @ 12:21pm
    
    Re: Re:
    That's not how the law works. The whistleblower protection act protects government employees. Snowden worked for Booz Allen.
    
    If he was a government employee, he would be covered. Period.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- crade (profile), 16 Aug 2013 @ 11:42am
  
  Re:
  He actually managed to blow the whistle, so of course he's not covered.. you are only protected if you reveal things to someone who can safely cover it up or ignore it without having to worry about it actually being revealed.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
ebilrawkscientist (profile), 16 Aug 2013 @ 11:39am

NO
A Whistleblower is NOT a Traitor
A Whistleblower is NOT a Terrorist

The United Stasi of America needs to wake up and smell the coffee and get real.
The only real threat to your democracy is paranoia and shizophrenia from your own government.

There is no need for it.

Now leave Snowden alone, he did you all a favour.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 16 Aug 2013 @ 1:00pm
  
  Re: NO
  Now go tell my government that. I would, but I don't want to be labeled a terrorist for speaking my mind.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Digger, 16 Aug 2013 @ 11:39am

Of course he's a whistleblower
The NSA got caught with it's pants down amongst the rams on the sheep farm, and they're bluster is to try and cover up their heinous, illegal, treasonous (and with the sheep involved, rather sick) activities.

The entire NSA should be reconstituted with all current members sent off to Gitmo for life (as long as it takes to chamber the next bullet).
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Zakida Paul (profile), 16 Aug 2013 @ 11:44am

Personally, I call him a patriot.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 16 Aug 2013 @ 11:58am
  
  Re:
  The first American Patriots were traitors...
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - CK20XX, 16 Aug 2013 @ 1:28pm
    
    Re: Re:
    Good grief, I never thought of it that way before. =o Once again we're at a point where we must hang together or we will most assuredly hang separately, as Ben Franklin said.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 16 Aug 2013 @ 11:58am

One of the greatest American Heroes.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it

out_of_the_blue, 16 Aug 2013 @ 12:01pm

Similarly on accurate naming...
Not new, but you probably missed it:

None Dare Call it FASCISM: How the NSA has (already) privatized tyranny

http://dangerousminds.net/comments/none_dare_call_it_fascism_how_the_nsa_has_already_priv atized_tyranny

Let�s just not miss what is arguably an even greater danger, the privatization and outsourcing of tyranny itself to the big mega-corporates."

Boy, Mike, you're really cranking out the fluff today! -- And where are the minions?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- John Fenderson (profile), 16 Aug 2013 @ 12:19pm
  
  Re: Similarly on accurate naming...
  Let�s just not miss what is arguably an even greater danger
  
  Nobody's missed that. It's discussed very frequently here.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Ben (profile), 16 Aug 2013 @ 12:51pm
    
    Re: Re: Similarly on accurate naming...
    You apparently quoted:
    Let�s just not miss what is arguably an even greater danger
    Just what are you quoting? That doesn't appear anywhere else (except now, here) in this article.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Ben (profile), 16 Aug 2013 @ 12:52pm
      
      Re: Re: Re: Similarly on accurate naming...
      Oops -- quoting part of a message which was subsequently hidden (and doesn't even show up in search...)
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Michael, 16 Aug 2013 @ 12:09pm

The flaw in that system is in that the people who decide who is and is not a whistleblower are the ones he has exposed.

Perhaps we should let that decision rest in the hands of someone a bit more fair and impartial that our executive branch - you know, like the Russian government.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Hephaestus (profile), 16 Aug 2013 @ 12:17pm

"any violation of any law, rule, or regulation," or "gross mismanagement, a gross waste of funds, and abuse of authority,"

Three is called a hat trick, what is nailing all six called?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 16 Aug 2013 @ 12:18pm
  
  Re:
  A perfect example.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 16 Aug 2013 @ 1:56pm
  
  Re:
  Treason, apparently.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- rabbit wise (profile), 16 Aug 2013 @ 2:27pm
  
  Re:
  anti-lady byng trophy winner?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Dave Xanatos, 16 Aug 2013 @ 3:01pm
  
  Re:
  I would say he 'knocked it for six', but what he's doing really isn't cricket.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 16 Aug 2013 @ 12:20pm

No... keep the namecalling going on, I had a good one to rename the government too:
Douchebag denialists
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Political Fool, 16 Aug 2013 @ 12:43pm

I created a petition to see if the jokers at the whitehouse would actually acknowledge this. Of course know one can see it because now it needs 150 responses to be seen.

Maybe if some of you will go click on it, it might get seen.

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/recognize-edward-snowden-whistle-blower-and-guara ntee-he-will-not-face-charges-his-acts-courage/m4pCqtjR
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 16 Aug 2013 @ 3:35pm
  
  Re:
  I'm afraid if I sign in, the NSA will target me :~(
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 16 Aug 2013 @ 12:55pm

unfortunately, because of the number of infringements he found, the extent to which he has proven what a lying bunch of arse holes are in charge of the USA and the embarrassment to the Administration caused by him finding and releasing this amount of abuse (no one ever expected anything to be found, let alone this amount, so there was no way to actually deny what was/still is going on) to the American people, of US laws and the Constitution, he can never be classed as 'a whistleblower' because it would hurt the pride of those involved. therefore, he must be apprehended at the first opportunity, punished in keeping with the traditional way of dealing with someone that was disliked by the government. that can only happen if he is classed as anything other than what he really is, whilst hiding the real perpetrators behind multiple, very loud, bullshit claims and excuses!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Paul, 16 Aug 2013 @ 1:37pm

Personally, I call him a "True American Hero" who deserves a medal for exposing the sickening corruption within our government. PLUS - I think O-Blame-O needs to return his undeserved NOBEL award with instructions to give it to to SNOWDEN (who does deserve it).

Snowden is on my list of the 10 most influential people of this century. His actions will hopefully educate & inform "We the People" causing them to rise up to destroy the established unconstitutional TYRANNY and restore our Democratic Society. Hell, I'd vote for Snowden if he ran for President. I trust Snowden. I don't trust the current administration. They need to be sent to Gitmo.......

I want my Democracy back.
I want my Constitution back.
I want my Privacy back.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 16 Aug 2013 @ 2:48pm
  
  Re:
  I would literally pay to watch Obama forced to hand over his Nobel to Snowden.
  Pay-per-view event of a lifetime.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 16 Aug 2013 @ 1:46pm

I call him "sack of shit."
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- crade (profile), 16 Aug 2013 @ 3:36pm
  
  Re:
  well you can't please everyone :)
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
The Groove Tiger (profile), 16 Aug 2013 @ 4:14pm

We've already been through this.

He didn't fill any of the government provided whistleblower forms nor solicit a whistleblower license. He also didn't use the double-secret special whistleblower handshake, so clearly he isn't officially a whistleblower.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]