Edward Snowden Releases “A Manifesto For The Truth”

in case anyone missed it, here is the five paragraph manifesto in English

In a very short time, the world has learned much about unaccountable secret agencies and about sometimes illegal surveillance programs. Sometimes the agencies even deliberately try to hide their surveillance of high officials or the public. While the NSA and GCHQ seem to be the worst offenders – this is what the currently available documents suggest – we must not forget that mass surveillance is a global problem in need of global solutions.

Such programs are not only a threat to privacy, they also threaten freedom of speech and open societies. The existence of spy technology should not determine policy. We have a moral duty to ensure that our laws and values limit monitoring programs and protect human rights.

Society can only understand and control these problems through an open, respectful and informed debate. At first, some governments feeling embarrassed by the revelations of mass surveillance initiated an unprecedented campaign of persecution to supress this debate. They intimidated journalists and criminalized publishing the truth. At this point, the public was not yet able to evaluate the benefits of the revelations. They relied on their governments to decide correctly.

Today we know that this was a mistake and that such action does not serve the public interest. The debate which they wanted to prevent will now take place in countries around the world. And instead of doing harm, the societal benefits of this new public knowledge is now clear, since reforms are now proposed in the form of increased oversight and new legislation.

Citizens have to fight suppression of information on matters of vital public importance. To tell the truth is not a crime.

by Edward Snowden

NavyNut
I don't mind what Snowden did, but going to Russia is extreme. He could have went to another country but Russia is not good and that why I think he's a traitor.

He didn't have much of a choice. It wasn't his first option as he didn't flee there. He needed protection from the Traitors he gave his life to warn us about. You see how the Noble peace prize winner treats whistle blowers. How they attack reporters who don't repeat what they want them to, how they treat other Political parties they don't like at Tax time & beyond. Plus he probably knows a lot more Scary treatments they are capable of.

He didn't go to Russia to sell secrets so they can get the upper hand on us. He's not a spy. You need to look up what a traitor means? not what they tell you it should mean. and How is not selling out your country by betraying they trust, forcing # on them they don't want by LYING, not spinning, LYING to them. I could write a book on the betrayals the current and last clowns we gave the job to. They pile up by the day with the current idiot I don't call my president because he's never wanted to be.

The traitor is not the guy who left his family, cushy high paying job, & fled to a foreign country so he could tell Americans they were preyed upon by their own government. Who by the way manipulated the law to take away our protection granted to us by a Constitution hundreds of thousands of people died fighting for.

The traitors are the ones who turned on us. They may have the Power WE Invested in them, live in the Big White House & may not be foreign, but they are The Traitors. We are the Cowards who sat back like subjects and let them get away with it, without even a Loud Roar. Then when the Silver Tongue Troll came on t.v & told us he was doing good things, referring to the NSA oversight info. his bronze tongue lackey Biden couldn't restrain from laughing. .. Go to the way back machine and watch the video.

So I know giving up our money, system, self respect, for i-phones, t.v, and a full belly seems worth it. the slow Social Brain washing of how a society thinks & what they value has been applied hard. but think a little and look around before you call anybody other then the people doing this to us Traitors.

If only I could believe it's only for the bad guys but it is too ripe for abuse. "Hey, this guys politics are a threat so let him know that we know, wink wink." If you believe in the untainted benevolent nature of humanity then I have a wonderful pyra... er... investment opportunity for you.

reply to post by Sestias


I wish there was an "opposite-of-star" option, to give your post. "I'm not doing anything wrong, so I don't care if they tap my phone or read my emails"... This attitude ensures that with the length of rope you give them, they will hang you eventually by making something you DO do, illegal. Like visiting certain sites, gathering in groups, or growing your own food.
Say what you typed in that post, to the Founding Fathers. To anyone who fought for Civil Rights. To people wrongfully imprisoned. To citizens in China. If you don't know what you've got till it's gone, what about whn it's beginning to slip away?

Breaking News

(Edward Snowden) has revealed evidence of what
appears to be crimes against the Constitution of the
United States. - Al Gore

What an interesting turn of events - Big surprise that Al Gore, one of the most progressive liberals in America comes out against the treacherous democrats and literally does a "one eighty." This is occurring because he sees and is beginning to understand the worthiness of persons such as Edward Snowden. Now I suppose all you guardians of the Obama administration are going to come out screeching up the thread with accusations of - Traitor, Traitor - against Al Gores awakening to reality via the Snowden disclosures..............Bravo AG.

Gore Blasts NSA's 'Crimes Against the Constitution'
By John Johnson, Newser Staff Posted Nov 6, 2013 11:37 AM CST

He predicts NSA will be forced to rein in 'absurd' surveillance practices

(Newser) – Al Gore is definitely not among those buying the line that US surveillance practices are above-aboard and business as usual. Among the words he used to describe the methods unveiled by Edward Snowden in a speech last night in Canada: "absurd," outrageous," "crimes against the Constitution," and "completely unacceptable," reports the Canadian Press via O Canada.com. And “I say that as someone who was a member of the National Security Council working in the White House and getting daily briefings from the CIA."

But the former VP thinks things will change given the national and international outrage that has ensued: “I think they will have to pull this back,” he said at Montreal's McGill University. “I think you will see a reining in.” Gore also repeated a phrase he has previously used to describe how modern businesses pry into the lives of customers and potential customers: "We have a stalker economy," he said.

Inventor of world wide web criticises NSA over privacy breaches
Sir Tim Berners-Lee says NSA has weakened online security

Sir Tim Berners-Lee attributes the NEW revelations (things even he wasn't aware of) made by Mr Snowden as his primary reason for coming forward and speaking out so strongly against the actions of the NSA throughout the world. As I have always stated that not only are Snowdens disclosures NEW they are responsible for another www phenomenon - the greatest "World Wide Wake-up call - aka major game-changer - in the past hundred years - if not more.

"Any democratic country has to take the high road; it has to live by its principles. I'm very sympathetic to attempts to increase security against organised crime, but you have to distinguish yourself from the criminal."
While he had expected some of the surveillance activities that were revealed by whistleblower Edward Snowden were taking place, he told the paper he was surprised by the scale of the NSA's reach.
Mr Snowden's disclosures illustrated a "dysfunctional and unaccountable" failure at the heart of US and UK governments and proved that whistleblowers must be protected from prosecution.

boncho
I'd like to read it and all, but "der spiegel" is trying to der spiegel 10MB of storage on my disk drive. And since the chancellor went to scold the US for spying on her, and came back saying, "OMG so happy they tapped my phone they was protecting us" I am not going to trust anything coming out of Germany.

Hey there, folks. First of all, I'd like to say hello and thanks for putting together and maintaining such a cool community. I've been interested in the sort of topics you all post about here for as long as I can remember, but I haven't found any sites or forums that are as insistent on approaching these topics with such care and caution so as to not willfully leap into the realm of sensationalism and reckless mis/disinformation for the sake of reinforcing beliefs rather than discovering truths... Did that make sense?

In other words, I like the way you all conduct yourselves here. I think it's the right way to go about looking at these sort of subjects. I seek to learn truths, even if it means the reality is simple and boring compared to what it seems in a different context. Like the dumbfounding discovery of a primitive stone house on Mars that turned out to be a 32cm rock... so be it. It was exciting to postulate what it might have been, but I'm happier to know what it actually is.

ANYWAY... kinda going on and on here. Sorry.

What I wanted to share was this Alternate Link To Snowden's Paper

It's on a different site, in plain text, and does not require signing up or downloading anything.

~ Cheers