EDWARD SNOWDEN'S BIGGEST MISTAKE

HE THOUGHT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WOULD CARE, WOULD WANT TO KNOW HOW CLOSELY THEIR OWN GOVERNMENT WAS SPYING ON THEM.

HE THOUGHT AMERICANS WOULD GIVE A DAMN.

THAT WAS HIS BIGGEST MISTAKE.

SNOWDEN THOUGHT AMERICANS WOULD CARE THAT VERIZON AND PROBABLY ALL OTHER CELL PHONE PROVIDERS ARE SPOON-FEEDING THE "NATIONAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION" (NSA) EVERY POSSIBLE PIECE OF INFORMATION ABOUT ALL OF US THAT A PHONE COMPANY CAN HAVE.
PRIVATE TEXTS, VOICE, EVEN THE INFORMATION IN OUR BANKING APPS, EVERYTHING WE DO OR SAY ON CELLPHONES NOW BELONGS TO THE DAMNED NSA.
SOME OF US CARE.
MOST DON'T GIVE A HORSE'S ASS.

SNOWDEN THOUGHT AMERICANS JUST MIGHT CARE THAT GOOGLE, FACEBOOK, MICROSOFT, APPLE, ET AL, WERE ALSO NOW BOUND BY LAW TO HAND OVER ANY/ALL INFORMATION THE NSA WANTS ABOUT US FROM THOSE SITES.
WHILE SOME OF US GOT THE HELL OFF FACEBOOK AFTER THAT REVELATION, MOST ARE DELIGHTED TO HAVE EVERYTHING THEY POST ON SOCIAL MEDIA AND ALL THEIR EMAILS LOOKED OVER DAILY BY THE NSA.
NO, MOST AMERICANS JUST DON'T CARE.

SNOWDEN THOUGHT AMERICANS AND THE REST OF THE WORLD OUGHT TO KNOW AND JUST MIGHT CARE THAT BRITAIN'S 'GOVERNMENT COMMUNICATIONS HEADQUARTERS' (GCHQ) TAPPED INTO FIBER OPTIC CABLES ALL OVER THE ENTIRE PLANET TO TAP INTO OUR INTERNET ACTIVITIES, FEEDING THAT TO THE NSA AS IT PLEASES TO BE FED.
HE THOUGHT WE ALSO MIGHT CARE ABOUT THE NSA'S XKEYSCORE PROGRAM THAT TRAPS VIRTUALLY EVERY KEYSTROKE WE MAKE ON THE INTERNET.
THEY WATCH WHERE WE CHOOSE TO 'GO' ON THE WEB.
THEIR PROGRAMS CRACK EVERY KNOWN ENCRYPTION CODE THERE IS BY FORCING "BACK DOORS" TO BE CREATED THAT NSA CAN EASILY HACK..
NO, MOST PEOPLE JUST SHRUG AND GO ON WITH THE DAILY DRAG.
WHO CARES ABOUT THAT?
I DAMN WELL CARED PLENTY!
SOME TECHNOLOGISTS CARED.

"Even as the NSA demands more powers to invade our privacy in the name of cybersecurity, it is making the Internet less secure and exposing us to criminal hacking, foreign espionage, and unlawful surveillance. The NSA's efforts to secretly defeat encryption are recklessly shortsighted and will further erode not only the United States' reputation as a global champion of civil liberties and privacy but the economic competitiveness of its largest companies." 

SNOWDEN THOUGHT IT MIGHT BE IMPORTANT FOR PEOPLE TO KNOW THAT THE NSA IS CURRENTLY SPYING ON, SERIOUSLY, DEEPLY SPYING ON AT LEAST 122 WORLD LEADERS, PRESIDENTS, CHANCELLORS, PRIME MINISTERS.
NO...THE MAJORITY OF THE WORLD COULD HARDLY CARE LESS.
WELL, WE DON'T KNOW WHAT THE "PAYBACK" FROM THOSE NATIONS MAY BE...YET.
SOME PEOPLE MAY CARE AFTER ALL, ONCE WE FIND OUT.

SNOWDEN WANTED TO LET AMERICANS KNOW ABOUT THE NSA'S TAO (TAILORED ACCESS OPERATIONS).

"The NSA has at its disposal an elite hacker team codenamed "Tailored Access Operations" (TAO) that hacks into computers worldwide, infects them with malware and does the dirty job when other surveillance tactics fail.

Der Spiegel, which detailed TAO's secrets, labelled it as "a squad of plumbers that can be called in when normal access to a target is blocked." But they can probably be best described as the NSA's black bag operations team."

AMERICANS, MOST, JUST DO NOT CARE ABOUT THAT.
 SOME MAY WONDER WHY THEIR COMPUTERS ARE A LITTLE SLOW, BUT OTHERWISE...NAAAAH, NO WORRIES.

WOULD AMERICANS LIKE TO KNOW THEIR TEXTS ARE DAILY COLLECTED BY A NSA PROGRAM CALLED "DISHFIRE"?
IT 'ONLY' COLLECTS ABOUT 200 MILLION TEXTS A DAY, SO, NO, NO, AMERICANS DIDN'T FRET.

NSA'S PROGRAM "MYSTIC' INTERCEPTS EVERY SINGLE PHONE CALL MADE (NOT JUST CELLULAR!) FROM THE BAHAMAS, KENYA, MEXICO,THE PHILIPPINES  AND AFGHANISTAN.
WHO CARES, RIGHT?

"According to Snowden, his “breaking point” was “seeing Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, directly lie under oath to Congress” with his denial of the existence of a domestic spying programs in March 2013.

Snowden continued, “The public had a right to know about these programs. The public had a right to know that which the government is doing in its name, and that which the government is doing against the public.”

[SEE THE VIDEO THERE] 

THERE'S A JOKE ABOUT A GUY TRAPPED ON A CAR ROOF AFTER A TERRIBLE HURRICANE, FLOODING, NO WAY OFF THAT ROOF.
HE PRAYS, ASKS FOR 'GOD' TO SAVE HIM BEFORE THE CAR AND HIMSELF ARE SWEPT AWAY.
A BOAT COMES BY, THE GUY WAVES IT OFF, WAITING FOR GOD TO APPEAR AND SAVE HIM.
A HELICOPTER TRIES TO DROP HIM A LIFELINE, BUT NO, THE GUY IS WAITING ON HIS 'MIRACULOUS' SAVE.
THE CAR WITH HIM ON IT GETS SWEPT AWAY, HE DROWNS, ARRIVES AT THE 'PEARLY GATES', IMMEDIATELY STARTS RANTING ABOUT NOT BEING SAVED FROM THE FLOOD, ABOUT GOD FAILING HIM.
"SAINT PETER" SAYS, "LOOK, WE SENT A BOAT AND A HELICOPTER, STUPID! YOU SHOULD HAVE USED ONE!"

WELL, WE'VE HAD WIKILEAKS AND SNOWDEN...AMERICA MIGHT HAVE BEEN SAVED BY WHAT WE LEARNED FROM BOTH ABOUT OUR GOVERNMENT.
WE PASSED ON BOTH "SAVES".
HOW DUMB IS THAT?

SO, YEAH, SNOWDEN'S BIGGEST BLUNDER WAS PUTTING HIS LIFE ON THE LINE THINKING AMERICANS WOULD WANT TO KNOW THESE THINGS.

HE SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER.