WASHINGTON, D.C. June 10 (DPI) — Boards are flooded today with comments on the Booz Allen security leak, which predictably spurred a debate over government surveillance vs. personal privacy.

Readers are grappling with this: Is 29-year-old Edward Snowden a hero or a traitor for leaking classified national security material, information that largely confirms that the nation’s security apparatus routinely reviews the data of major telecommunications companies?

The young tech consultant disclosed that surveillance by the US on Verizon and other phone networks is widespread; but before doing so he fled the country to Hong Kong, where until today he was holed up in a luxury hotel.

If he is apprehended and extradited, Snowden is likely to be tried and convicted of crimes stemming from the security breach, whatever the sentiment of many posters today.  Here is the highest recommended post, as of noon today, on NYTimes.com:

(680 Recommendations) Our government is supposed to be by the people and for the people. It appears to be rapidly accelerating away from having anything to do with the people other than lying to and controlling us.
Give Snowden a medal….he may have preserved our remaining liberties for another year or two.

(293 recommendations) This man is a hero and a patriot. Anyone who would accuse him of treason doesn’t understand what America stands for.

 

Of course sentiment of Snowden’s heroism was not unanimous:

(598 Recommendations) Snowden did not cite a specific example of an illegal act taken by anyone, except himself.

He did say he that as an employee, he had the technical ability to wiretap any personal e-mail address anywhere (Yahoo!, Google, Microsoft, etc.?), but he never said that he saw anyone do that, or that he saw anyone do that illegally, either.

He said the cumulative weight of the frightening things he saw (that he was not cleared to see), eventually overwhelmed him. With the new informational power he had acquired, the privileged life of ease that he was living became dissatisfying and empty. The only way to restore his sense of goodness was to blow the whistle and impact change on institutions that he alone determined were in need of it. He is the textbook example of a self-radicalized, suicide bomber– he’s the judge, jury, and executioner. Only one person determined that the lid needed to be blown off. That person is, coincidentally, the “hero” of the day, Snowden.

I do not believe the rhetoric that our spies tell themselves about what they’re doing. Snowden is believing his own rhetoric too, and his actions are illegal by his own admissions.

 

(233) To whatever extent Snowden thought that what he was expected to do was wrong, he had the option of resigning. But instead, he chose treason as his manner of self-expression. The many comments here that express admiration for this treason are alarming.

In working for a private company, whistle-blowing is to be admired. However, when a person chooses to work with governmentally classified information, there is a legal and ethical obligation to maintain confidentiality that transcends that person’s personal politics. If that person doesn’t like what he/she learns, he/she is free to resign — but the obligation to maintain confidentiality remains forever.