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Comment by cpncrunch | Hacker News Reader

Calling it "morally irresponsible" is a bit harsh. If you're living in a country where the government monitors its population to oppress dissidents, that's a bug in your government that you should fix. If people in those countries really gave a crap about democracy and freedom, they could easily do something about it (look at Hong Kong right now for some ideas, or the Velvet Revolution). The fact that China, Russia, Zimbabwe (and many other countries) are oppressing their own citizens is only happening because those citizens don't really give a crap about freedom - perhaps because they've never had it.

And before anyone whines about the NSA and downvotes me, I think you really need to compare the freedom you have in the USA to some of those other countries I mentioned.

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Oh, and I also find it a little ironic that Snowden's living in a country where you really need to protect yourself from the government. I'd prefer to live in a safe and free country and not have any encryption, rather than live in the likes of Russia and have to have everything encrypted.

Why in every Edward Snowden discussion someone talks about him living in Russia? Do you not know he was only traveling though Russia when his passport was invoked by the US? He has no choice but to live in Russia!

It also seems like the argument that the US stranded him in Russia always comes up in response as well. His passport was revoked while he was still in Hong Kong[1]. He traveled to Russia using an invalid travel document issued by the same Ecuadorian embassy that Julian Assange is living in[2]. Assange later said in an interview with Rolling Stone that he advised Snowden to go to Russia because it would be safer for him, and stated that the travel document was explicitly to assist him in leaving Hong Kong[3]. It was a little fishy that he was reported to have stayed at the Russian consulate in Hong Kong for several days prior to hopping on the flight as well[4].

Snowden didn't get stuck in Russia because the US stranded him there. The US tried to keep him in a country that had an extradition treaty and Snowden fled, ending up in Russia.

[1] http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ap-source-nsa-leaker-snowdens...

[2] http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/02/ecuador-rafael-...

[3] http://www.businessinsider.com/wikileaks-told-snowden-to-sta...

[4] http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/report-snowden-stayed-at...

The US revoked his passport but they didn't stand him? Snowden had limited options and he ended up in Russia. He wasn't going to Russia and he didn't want to live in Russia. This was my point...

technically speaking he's living there (Russia?) to protect himself from "our" government (USA), the one with the NSA and CIA, the latter of which our own Senate has now showed was torturing human beings not convicted of any crime.

As I pointed out in my comment quite clearly, I'm perfectly aware of that, but the Russian government is a lot worse than the US government - which I also pointed out quite clearly.

Strange reason to downvote me twice (whoever did it) because they didn't understand my comment, but I've come to expect that from HN so nothing surprises me.

You were down-voted because your comment is irrelevant if you read my comment above...

I understand very well why he's living in Russia. Where exactly did I say he was living in Russia out of choice? Anyway it doesn't detract from the point of my comment, which is that you only need encryption to protect from oppressive governments. He is living in a highly oppressive country, whose government makes the NSA look like Sunday school teachers.

There is nothing ironic about Snowden living in Russia. He's not living there because he believes that general civil liberties are more strongly protected there than in the US. He's living there because the US government poses an obvious and specific threat to him individually.

No, I meant his comments are ironic because of where he lives.

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