Snowdon is a dummy

I know what you think

Personally I think he's someone who exposed corrupt, and in some cases, criminal activities in the top levels of government.

Who watches the watchmen?

There existed avenues for him or anyone to explain their frustration with the government's way of collecting data on groups, people, governments, etc.

People like Izzy, Bill and a few others keep talking about "a fair trial"...but the last thing in the world they (and Snowden) want...IS A FAIR TRIAL.

A fair trial would start with presumption of innocence, not huilt.

What you guys want is revenge.

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There existed avenues for him or anyone to explain their frustration with the government's way of collecting data on groups, people, governments, etc.

Sure there is and we should just disregard and trust a completely out of control executive branch who intelligent community not only had been found to lied to the congress but even spy on the congress by hacking into congressional computers.

Going public in such a situation seem more then call for.

A "fair trial" will ultimately see Snowden getting jail time while making his supporters very unhappy.

Jury nullification
Jury nullification is a constitutional doctrine which allows juries to acquit criminal defendants who are technically guilty, but who do not deserve punishment. It occurs in a trial when a jury reaches a verdict contrary to the judge's instructions as to the law.

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A "fair trial" will ultimately see Snowden getting jail time while making his supporters very unhappy.

FAIR outcome it would not be under any moral code...

however it might be the legal outcome as fair and legal is not one and the same thing in this case.

That is how the concept of jury nullification came about in the first place to deal with situations like this after all.

Too sum up I am not sure at all that Mr. Snowden will be found guilty as you seems to be even if the government can prove he is indeed guilty of the charges level against him as he and the jury members have a higher duty then to the letter of laws that are being misused.

A "fair trial" will ultimately see Snowden getting jail time

A fair trial would start with presumption of innocence, not guilt

Edward Snowden Charged With Espionage By US Government
from the and-off-we-go dept
This isn't a huge surprise, but the Washington Post is reporting that US federal prosecutors have filed a sealed criminal complaint against Edward Snowden charging him with espionage under the Espionage Act, along with theft and conversion of government property -- and have asked Hong Kong authorities to detain him. Just this morning, we were discussing the Obama administration's war on whistleblowers, prosecuting six different whistleblowers under the Espionage Act, twice the number of all other presidential administrations combined. Now we're up to number seven apparently. Update: The complaint has been unsealed (also embedded below).

Did Snowden break the law? Possibly -- but charging him with espionage is ridiculous, just as it has been ridiculous in many of these cases. Snowden wasn't doing this to "aid the enemy" but to alert the American public to the things that the administration itself had been publicly misleading to downright untruthful about. His actions have kicked off an important discussion and debate over surveillance society and how far it has gone today. That's not espionage. If he was doing espionage, he would have sold those secrets off to a foreign power and lived a nice life somewhere else. To charge him with espionage is insane.

In terms of process, the Washington Post explains:
By filing a criminal complaint, prosecutors have a legal basis to make the request of the authorities in Hong Kong. Prosecutors now have 60 days to file an indictment, probably also under seal, and can then move to have Snowden extradited from Hong Kong for trial in the United States.

Snowden, however, can fight the U.S. effort to have him extradited in the courts in Hong Kong. Any court battle is likely to reach Hong Kong's highest court and could last many months, lawyers in the United States and Hong Kong said.
It also notes that while the US and Hong Kong have an extradition treaty, there is an exception for "political offenses."

While this certainly was not unexpected, it's still a disappointing move from the administration. The crackdown on whistleblowers does not make the US look strong. It makes our government look weak, petty and vindictive in the face of actual transparency. It's shameful.