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Edward Snowden is asking the US president to pardon him based on the morality of his action.
Well, here is a completely opposite view from the other side, so to speak:
http://observer.com/2016/09/were-losing-the-war-against-terrorism/
"Since 9/11, NSA has been the backbone of the Western intelligence alliance against terrorism. Its signals intelligence is responsible for the strong majority of successful counterterrorism operations in the West. More than three-quarters of the time, NSA or one of its close partner Anglosphere spy partners like Britain's GCHQ, develops a lead on a terror cell which is passed to the FBI and others for action which crushes that cell before it kills. If NSA loses the ability to do this, innocent people in many countries will die.
Unfortunately, there's mounting evidence that NSA's edge over the terrorists is waning. It's impossible not to notice that jihadist emphasis on communications security and encryption, which is now gaining ground, began in 2013. That, of course, is when Edward Snowden, an NSA IT contractor, stole something like 1.7 million classified documents from his employer, shared them with outsiders, then defected to Moscow."
"However, our precious edge in the SpyWar is waning fast. We are no longer winning. We're about to hear a great deal of unwarranted praise of Ed Snowden thanks to the hagiographic movie about him by Oliver Stone that's to be released this week. Don't be fooled. Snowden is no hero. In truth, he and his journalist helpers have aided terrorists in important ways. Snowden and his co-conspirators have blood on their hands—and perhaps much more blood soon thanks to their aid to the genocidal maniacs of ISIS."
(Score: 2) by moondrake on Thursday September 15 2016, @08:55AM
because its a fallacy.
Do you want to read your wife's mail?
Do you want to be present during your daughter's first date?
Do you want to know exactly what your employees are thinking when they do their job?
Apart from the fact that "legal" often means no more than not explicitly forbidden by law, gather knowledge about peoples or groups of peoples doing is not per definition a good thing. It damages trust, and is a never ending race for who can know and control the most. It is a freakishly addictive behavior that seems to make you more powerful. But the more you know, the more it requires you to judge.
It puts you in a place where everybody dislikes you, and starts to plot against you, making it even more important to continue your spying. Your statement is what makes me dislike your country. You better start your (legal) surveillance of me before I do indeed plan to hurt you.