(Newswire.net — June 4, 2015) Washington, D.C. –Independent Bethan McKernan is wondering if these new circumstances will affect the Snowden case.
The Whistleblower, Edward Snowden, was declared a traitor and a fugitive, but the question is whether or not he pointed at the NSA wrongdoing which happens to be illegal. This could potentially clear Snowden’s name from the list of the most wanted criminals?
Technically, Snowden and the NSA acted exactly the opposite. The NSA did an immoral but legal act of gathering surveillance data. On the other hand, Snowden did a perfectly moral thing, yet it was illegal. So now, when the Senate proved that the NSA was wrong and stopped the Agency from collecting meta data and calling records, citizens want to know if this will lighten the charges against Snowden.
While most of the Democrats are praising the decision, some Republicans are fuming that the Patriot Act should have actually broadened authority. Republican majority leader Mitch McConnell, who fought to extend the Patriot Act, said it was a blow to those trying to fight terrorists, The Independent reports.
For Snowden, burning his old life to the ground and becoming an “international fugitive” was “worth it,” he told an international assembly in London.
Speaking through a video link from Moscow, Snowden said that it all had been worth the sacrifice because of the information’s importance to the public interest, The Independent reported.
Independent agencies and White House-funded studies have analyzed hundreds of terror cases in the US and come to the conclusion that collecting phone records has no impact on discovering and preventing terror plots.
Snowden, 31, has been living in exile in Russia for two years after exposing the extent of the global surveillance programm by passing on classified records and allowing them to be published outside the US. He is still waiting on asylum decisions from 21 different countries.