Wikileaks a Cut-Out for Russian Intelligence

Posted on September 2, 2015 by Alaska

I’ve run into a couple of DC-connected folks who are generally favorable to privacy rights, but when you bring up Snowden or Assange they growl and mutter something about “not what he seems.”

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3 Responses to Wikileaks a Cut-Out for Russian Intelligence

Chris says:

September 2, 2015 at 7:38 am

Well I guess if your shadowy in the know government people are against Snowden, that makes all the NSA stuff acceptable.

Let’s say Snowden is a Russian agent/plant whatever you want to call him, are you ok with FEDGOV cataloging all you your online activities?
Davidwhitewolf says:

September 2, 2015 at 7:54 am

Absolutely not! To clarify, this sort of thing has always come up in the context of conversations about the awfulness of the surveillance state, etc. — but I always found it intriguing that their agreement with me veered off whenever I appreciated Snowden or Assange. I chalked it up to them worrying about friends in the field who might be harmed, etc. — that old saw — but now I expect their annoyance was maybe based on info pointing to outright espionage.

Overall I still think the leaks are a net positive — I was ranting about The Puzzle Palace a decade ago, bemoaning the fact that more people did not understand it all. They know now.
AM says:

September 6, 2015 at 9:57 am

The US Gov can be overstepping its bounds and monitoring stuff it shouldn’t, AND Snowden and Assange can be Russian fellow travelers who leak information to make the US Gov look bad.

The two points are not mutually exclusive.