Who is Eric Snowden?

Before a few days ago...I had never heard of Eric Snowden...And when I first saw his photo in USA TODAY, I thought he was an actor in a new movie...

He may be a hero...He may be a traitor...You have to decide that....What he is right now though is a wanted man!!

Eric Snowden, a 29-year-old contractor with the National Security Agency (NSA), fled to Hong Kong after divulging the agency's secrets to the public. In the wake of these revelations, including of a massive U.S. internet spying program, many are hailing young Snowden as a hero while some are condemning him as a traitor.


A petition was created Sunday to pardon Mr. Snowden.

 "Edward Snowden is a national hero and should be immediately issued a full, free, and absolute pardon for any crimes he has committed or may have committed related to blowing the whistle on secret NSA surveillance programs," the petition says. It had almost 75,000 signatures by Monday afternoon.


Reddit users turned Snowden into a meme and Twitter users as far away as China praised him, according to The Wall Street Journal.
But some say Snowden is a traitor to his country. An editorial in The New Yorker says Snowden sabotaged a program he disagreed with, a dangerous precedent for government employees and contractors to potentially follow.

The editorial also points out that by deciding to flee to Hong Kong, Snowden – and all his secrets – could end up in China, not exactly a bastion of internet freedom.

Other internet privacy activists have faced similar controversies.
Aaron Swartz committed suicide while facing criminal charges for allegedly using MIT’s computer networks to make JSTOR articles public.

The attorney pursuing the charges defended her actions after the suicide.
More recently a 26-year-old man said his home was raided by the FBI because of his part in a hacking operation by the group Anonymous that revealed the Steubenville rape case. The man, Deric Lostutter, faces a longer jail sentence than the convicted Steubenville rapists. Go figure...

Regardless of how you feel about these people and what they may or may not have exposed... Do you really think you have privacy? Really?   You gave that up when you got a credit card or a debit card... What you buy and where you shop and how frequently you make purchases are monitored by credit card companies who sell that information to advertisers so they know how to market products to your demographic( Age, Race,Gender,et al.)

If you're on Facebook,Twitter or any other form of social media...You gave up a lot of information to get there...And most of it can be viewed by more than just your friends and followers.

If you've got a smart phone, if you've got insurance... Even a discount card for a store...Your information has been compromised...The only way you have any real privacy is if you live in a shack in the woods with no phone or cable and own no credit cards....

So let's stop getting bent out of shape because it's just been EXPOSED that Big Brother is watching you...
BIG BROTHER has been watching you for close to 60 years!