Last night at the Democratic presidential debate, leftist favorite Bernie Sanders clarified his feelings about National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden.

"I think Snowden played a very important role in educating the American public ... he did break the law, and I think there should be a penalty to that," Sanders said. He went on to say that the role Snowden played in educating the public about violations of their civil liberties should be considered before he is sentenced, and that as president he would "absolutely" end the NSA spying programs in question.

To read between the lines: Bernie thinks Edward Snowden did the right thing, but hey, laws are laws. If elected, though, it sounds like he'll make sure Snowden gets a really nice jail cell.

Bernie was quick to point out that what Snowden did was illegal, and that he should face the consequences for it. Instead of calling for stronger legal protections for whistleblowers, or offering to pardon Snowden if elected, he called for the former NSA contractor to come home and face trial in a country with a dodgy record of imprisoning and prosecuting whistleblowers, dissidents, activists and journalists.

But notably absent from his law abiding approach was a call for criminal charges against NSA officials or his colleagues in Congress who repeatedly authorized the illegal mass surveillance programs he claims he would end as president. Programs that we would still know nothing about without Edward Snowden's "illegal" actions, which Bernie thinks he should face jail time for.

Where is Bernie's call for criminal sanctions against the web companies that betrayed their users' trust, violated their own privacy policies, and enabled the most sweeping violation of the Fourth Amendment in history?

Where is his apology to the rest of the world for the United States' decades of human rights abuses, economic espionage, and illegal torture programs?

I've learned over the years to no longer be shocked by politicians' ability to speak out of both sides of their mouths, but I can't help feeling that this quote from Sanders underscores a huge flaw in his thinking and the thinking of his supporters.

Sanders has based his campaign on the premise that the United States' political and economic systems are so flawed that we need a "revolution," but when a thorny question like Snowden comes up it becomes clear that what he's really calling for is a changing of the guard.

Civil disobedience, the idea that we have a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws, should not be a foreign concept to a longtime activist like Sanders. As of right now, there is no Federal law that protects me from being fired from my job or denied housing as a transgender person. Not terribly long ago child labor was perfectly legal while women were denied the right to vote.

As those who #FeelTheBern were quick to point out (and then point out again, and again, and again) after Sanders was brilliantly trolled by Black Lives Matter protesters, Bernie marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr in 1963. He was even arrested for protesting school segregation.

So when did Bernie become such a stickler for law and order over justice and freedom? Probably when he decided he wanted to be president of the "Free World."

As someone who cares deeply about economic injustice and many of the other things that Sanders has made cornerstones of his campaign, I want to like him. I want to feel the same hope and inspiration that his starry-eyed supporters are spreading across social media.

But when I look at the major political progress we've made in recent years, it hasn't come from elected officials, no matter how well spoken. It's come primarily from brave, dedicated, people and movements, many of whom broke the law to achieve their goals. Wikileaks, protesters in Ferguson, the Arab Spring, and yes, whistleblowers like Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden.

I agree with Bernie Sanders that mass surveillance programs are dangerous. But what's more dangerous is the type of thinking behind them. Thinking that says that laws, rules, and following authority matter more than what's right and wrong. It's an ideology that breeds conformity and strangles democracy.

Until Bernie's revolution recognizes and embraces the real struggle we have between us and a free and just society, and honors those who have taken risks to bring us closer to that day, I think I'll be writing in Edward Snowden on election day.

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Sanders' Snowden Response Proves He Doesn't Want a "Revolution"

Listen up, internet: This is how to respectfully debate someone you disagree with.

On Sunday (March 20), the NSA contractor-turned-whistleblower Edward Snowden and David Simon, the creator of the acclaimed HBO show The Wire, engaged in a thoughtful, polite debate about government surveillance. It started when Snowden, prompted by a New York Times article (paywall) about the arrest of a suspect in Novembers Paris attacks, jokingly suggested that The Wire had helped the terrorists.

The Times article revealed that the attackers had frequently used disposable burner cell phones to avoid detectionjust as the street-level drug dealers in Simons acclaimed show used such phones to thwart police (video) who were trying to listen in.

(The joke was probably partly self-referential: Authorities in the aftermath of the Paris attacks directly and indirectly blamed Snowdens revelations for teaching the terrorists how to avoid phone surveillance.)

Before making The Wire, Simon was a police reporter for the Baltimore Sun for 13 years. Many of the investigative techniques prominent in the show, including wiretapping and tracking public pay phones, were based on Simons experience observing how Baltimore police surveilled the drug kingpins and their low-level corner boys.

Snowden now lives in Russia, where he has asylum from US attempts to charge him with various crimes. He signed up for Twitter in September.

After catching wind of Snowdens tweet, Simon responded:

(The Greek refers to a character in The Wire who leads a crime syndicate that supplies heroin to drug dealers and deals in human trafficking.)

The discussion eventually evolved into a broader look at the United States National Security Agencys surveillance program, and Snowdens decision to blow the whistle on it.

(August 1914 likely refers to the beginning of World War I.)

Smith v. Maryland was a 1979 US Supreme Court case that determined that pen registers were not protected by the Fourth Amendment against illegal searches and seizures, and thus could be obtained without a warrantan argument that has been applied to phone metadata in 2016 (to the dismay of Snowden and others who say the government has overstepped).

While the conversationbetween two men from very different worlds, both well-versed in the jargon of and arguments around surveillanceis not always easy to follow, it offers a powerful illustration of how Twitter can enable interesting and important public discourse between high-profile people.

The exchange coincidentally happened just a day before Twitters 10th anniversary. The platform has come a long way since its first tweet.

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Edward Snowden and The Wire creator David Simon had a ...

+++ Alle, die fr ihre Freiheit eintreten wollen, bitte einen Moment innehalten und diesen Post lesen! +++

Danke. Leider ist das Interesse fr die Whistleblower, Edward Snowden, Manning und Assenge so gut wie nicht mehr vorhanden. Wir organisieren in Berlin und auch im Rest der Welt eine Kunstaktion, die auf eure tatkrftige Mithilfe angewiesen ist.

Worum geht es? Es geht darum im Zeitraum vom 1. bis zum 2. Mai ein Symbol fr die Freiheit zu schaffen. In Berlin werden drei S...tatuen von den genannten Whistleblowern aus Bronze gegossen auf drei Sthlen stehen, als Zeichen dafr, dass sie aufgestanden sind und sich aus der Masse erhoben haben. Das Motto der Aktion ist ebenso "Mut ist ansteckend"- und das soll es auch sein. Denn der vierte Stuhl ist leer und dient frei fr jeden dazu sich neben die Whistleblower zu stellen und seine Worte zu Freiheit, NSA, Persnlichkeitsrechte, Pressefreiheit etc. loszuwerden oder aber auch nur um kurz die Welt aus einer anderen Perspektive zu sehen. Genauere Informationen werden in den zwei Veranstaltungsgruppen verffentlicht werden. Die eine dient fr alle Orte auer Berlin, die andere fr Berlin, da nur dort die drei Statuen stehen. Wir wollen die Aktion la #WaitingForEd auf andere Lnder und Stdte der Welt ausweiten.

Nun muss ich um eure Hilfe bitten. Ihr knnt mithelfen, indem ihr selber in einer der vielen mglichen Varianten teilnehmt, oder aber mithelfen, die Aktion auf jeder erdenklichen Art und Weise zu verbreiten.

Freiheit ist ein wertvolles Gut und wir mssen zeigen, dass es uns was wert ist. Danke fr deine Zeit.

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Edward Snowden - facebook.com

Fugitive whistleblower Edward Snowden has perfectly summed up David Cameron's attitude to the Panama Papers revelations.

Yesterday, the Prime Minister wouldn't answer questions over his family's use of tax havens

Mr Cameron's father, Ian, paid no UK duty for 30 years on a firm run from the Bahamas.

When asked if any Cameron cash was hidden in offshore accounts, Downing St replied: Thats a private matter.

But last night, Mr Snowden, who has heavily criticised the UK's push for mass government snooping on emails and browsing histories , pointed out the PM's hypocrisy.

He tweeted, simply: "Oh, now he's interested in privacy."

Mr Cameron's father, who died in 2010, was a director of Blairmore Holdings Inc. The investment fund hired a bishop to allegedly help it avoid paying UK tax .

Furious anti-tax avoidance campaigners and critics last night demanded the PM come clean about his familys riches.

Labour MP Jess Phillips said: If hes not sure then he should find out and rectify it as soon as possible. While tax affairs for ordinary people are a private matter, he is a Prime Minister who has committed to stamping out tax avoidance.

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Edward Snowden summed up David Cameron's attitude to the ...

David Cameron has been called out for hypocrisy by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden after the PM, who has presided over a raft of new surveillance powers, claimed his late-fathers tax affairs are a private matter.

In response, Snowden, who exposed the extent of GCHQ and NSA mass surveillance, tweeted: Oh, now hes interested in privacy.

Leaks suggest Ian Cameron did not pay British taxes on his estate for 30 years.

David Cameron insists he has no shares, no offshore trusts, no offshore funds in the wake of the Panama Leaks, but declined to answer questions about his late fathers business with disgraced law firm Mossack Fonseca.

On Monday evening, campaigners demanded Cameron come clean about his familys assets.

Labour MP Jess Phillips said: If hes not sure then he should find out and rectify it as soon as possible. While tax affairs for ordinary people are a private matter, he is a prime minister who has committed to stamping out tax avoidance.

Whistleblower Snowden also called on other world leaders to take control of their financial assets, tweeting:

With scandals in Russia, China, UK, Iceland, Ukraine, and more, perhaps a new rule: if you're in charge of a country, keep your money in it.

Snowden currently lives in Russia, where he has been granted asylum. He is a critic of the UK governments planned Investigatory Powers Bill, which plans to legalise the mass surveillance of British citizens in the name of national security.

In November 2015 he voiced his opposition to the bill, saying ministers are taking notes on how to defend the indefensible and that the powers would give access to the activity log of your life.

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Here are the basics of what the Panama Papers leak is all about. Video by Jasper Colt, USA TODAY

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron speaks during a question and answer session on the forthcoming European Union referendum with staff of PricewaterhouseCoopers in Birmingham, England, on April 5, 2016.(Photo: Christopher Furlong, AFP/Getty Images)

Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency whistle-blower, has been quite vocal on social media about the Panama Papers leak and theinternational fallout from the millions of documents released.

He's commented on global leaders involved withthe documents, mockingBritish Prime Minister David Cameron andIcelandPrime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, who stepped aside amid the fallout.

"If you're in charge of a country, keep your money in it,"Snowden tweeted Tuesday,

Cameronwas dragged into the scandal about offshoretax havens this weekover his late father's connections to an investment fund thatavoided paying tax in theUnited Kingdomby having its directors hold board meetings in Switzerland and the Bahamas rather than in London.

Ian Cameron, a stock brokerwho died in 2010, was named inthe documents stolen from the Panamalaw firmMossack Fonseca.The company set up for Ian Cameron was calledBlairmore.

USA TODAY

'Panama Papers' law firm says it is a hacking 'victim'

Downing Streetinitiallycalled the discovery a "private matter."

On Monday, Snowden tweeted a snarkyresponse after DavidCameron's spokeswoman calledfamily investments private.

Downing Street laterconfirmed the prime minister does not hold any shares in the company. Cameron released another statement, saying,"In terms of my own financial affairs, I own no shares. I have a salary as prime minister and I have some savings, which I get interest from and I have a house, which we used to live in, which we now let out while we are living in Downing Street and that's all I have."

USA TODAY

Panama Papers vs NSA: How big is the latest leak?

Cameron added: "I have no shares, no offshore trusts, no offshore funds, nothing like that. And, so that, I think, is a very clear description." His office added that Cameron, his wife and children do not benefit from any offshore funds.

Former National Security Agency systems analyst Edward Snowden(Photo: Uncredited, AP)

On Tuesday, Snowden tweeted that the "resignation of Iceland's PMmay explain why the U.K. PM is so insistent public has no right to know a PM's 'private'finances."

According to German newspaperSuddeutsche Zeitung, whichfirst shared newsof the Panama Papers, theleak consisted of 11.5 million documents, including 4.8 million emails.

That compares to about1.7 million documents leaked by Snowden, aformerNSA contractor, in 2013 aboutthe agency's surveillance efforts. The NSA release amounted to just15% of the number of documents with the Panama Papers investigation.

USA TODAY

The story behind the massive Panama Papers leak

Snowden noted on Twitter that the Panama Papers represent "the biggest leak in the history of data journalism."

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Edward Snowden has called on the British people to rise up and demand that David Cameron resign.

The fugitive whistleblower urged voters to attend a protest outside Downing Street to force the Prime Minister from office.

In a series of tweets, Mr Snowden , said the next 24 hours "could change Britain."

He suggested the outrage at Mr Cameron's admission that he trousered thousands in profits from his father's offshore fund could spark the same kind of protests that yesterday forced Icelandic PM Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson to quit.

An estimated 10% of Icelandic voters took to the streets on Tuesday night, furious at the revelation that Mr Gunnlaugsson had hidden millions in an offshore fund.

Mr Snowden tweeted: "It's up to the British people, not us. In Iceland, 10% of all voters were in the streets within 24 hours, and for less."

Responding to people on Twitter saying they "hope Cameron resigns," he said: "With respect, hope is not a strategy."

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Read more: David Cameron should 'resign immediately' over offshore revelations

He pointed his 2 million followers towards the Facebook page of a protest planned for midday on Saturday outside Downing Street.

Earlier this week, Mr Snowden took issue with David Cameron 's insistence that his family's tax affairs were a "private matter."

Mr Snowden, who has heavily criticised the UK's push for mass government snooping on emails and browsing histories , pointed out the PM's hypocrisy.

He tweeted, simply: "Oh, now he's interested in privacy."

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The GuardianEdward Snowden talking to Jean-Michel Jarre via video link.

In 2016, he's releasing a dance track.

The 32-year-old whistleblower is teaming up with legendary electronic artist Jean-Michel Jarre to produce a "techno" song for the musician's upcoming album, after newspaper The Guardian put them in touch at Jarre's request.

The song, called "Exit," will appear on "Electronica Volume II: The Heart of Noise," due out on May 6.

I've always appreciated electronic music," Snowden, who currently lives at an undisclosed location in Russia, says in a video produced by The Guardian. "The melodies I remember with the most fondness are from video games where they generate 8-bit music, and those kind of chip tunes have really made a resurgence in modern musical culture today, and I thinkpeople like Jean-Michel are the ones that really popularised that, made it possible for us to appreciate it as more than just background but as actual culture."

Jarre is a pioneering French electronic music producer. 67 years old, he has released more than two dozen album and racked up more than 80 million album sales. He says he is inspired by Snowden's decision to speak out against US government surveillance, and is dedicating the new entire album to him. "The first time I heart about Edward Snowden, I thought about my Mum," the artist says. "She was a great figure about the French Resistance and she went into the Resistance [at] more or less the same age."

The song itself which you can listen to a preview of in the video below is a "speedy techno track evoking the constant and hectic production of data, this obsessive quest for more information on everything and everybody," Jarre says.

It also includes vocal samples of Snowden talking about rights and privacy.

Snowden signs off the Guardian's video with an ode to the power of music. "Music works across language, Music works across borders. Music works across culture. Music, as with all arts, is one of the only ways that we can create bonds and bridges between human hearts that are beyond semantic understanding and that is reason more than anything else why we need music."

Rave on, Ed.

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Whistleblower Edward Snowden and artist Jean-Michel Jarre ...

French composer Jean Michel Jarre and whistleblower Edward Snowden, two enigmatic figures for starkly contrasting reasons, have collaborated on "Exit," a track off the electronic music pioneer's upcoming new LP Electronica 2: The Heart of Noise. For the pulse-racing cut, the composer travelled to Russia to work with the former NSA analyst, who remains in exile after leaking classified documents detailing how the United States and other countries are spying on their citizens.

In this exclusive video to Rolling Stone, Snowden discusses his love of electronic music, Jarre's influence on the genre and why he collaborated with the Oxygne composer.

"I've always appreciated electronic music. The melodies that I remember with most fondness are actually from video games where they generate 8-bit music, and those kinds of chiptunes have really made a resurgence in modern musical culture today," Snowden says in the video. "And I think people like Jean Michel are the ones who really popularized that and made that possible for us to appreciate it as more than just sounds, as more than just background, but as actual culture."

Speaking to Rolling Stone, Jarre says he reached out to a journalist and mutual acquaintance he sharedwith Snowden who eventually put them in contact. "We connected quite easily through a trusted friend of Edwards," Jarre said. "I think that Edward was surprised to receive my invitation to collaborate on a musical composition, to voice his message via another media."

For Jarre, Snowden's refusal to turn a blind eye toward the U.S.' spying program reminded the composer of his mother France Pejot, a key figure in the French Resistance during World War II. "I thought a lot about what she told me when I was a kid, saying that when society is generically something that you can not accept, you have to stand up against it," Jarre said. "Edward Snowden became a modern hero, not by saying 'stop,' but to be careful regarding the (ab)use of technology."

Over the course of a few videoconference conversations, Jarre and Snowden laid the foundation for their collaborative track, including its frenzied, anxious tone and Snowden's message within the song."Obviously the spectre of surveillance heavily looms as soon as you find yourself in direct contact with Edward," Jarre told Rolling Stone. The collaborators eventually met up in Russia, where Snowden has been seeking asylum, to complete work on "Exit.""I was surprised, " Snowden admits in the video. "It was certainly not something I was expecting, as a engineer [and] someone who's not really cool."

Jarre added that itwas Snowden who gave "Exit" its name."You have a choice and 'Exit,' whether it's used as a noun or a verb, is something which we pursue," Snowden said of the track. "It's something where we direct ourselves. Its about an action which may change everything from where we are to another direction, a departure to somewhere else."

On the musical side, Jarre said of composing "Exit" at his Paris studio, "I wrote a speedy techno track evoking the constant and hectic production of data and the obsessive quest for more information. I then linked the music with this mad hunt and chase in order to get hold of people like Edward Snowden. One of the recurrent themes of Electronica 1 & 2 is the ambiguous relationship we have with technology. On one side we have the world in our pocket and on the other side, the world is spying on us constantly."

The double-edged sword that technology presents is a centraltheme and the "core message" throughout"Exit.""Technology can actually increase privacy," Snowden, with his voice subtly and eerily modulated, sayson "Exit." "The question is: Why are our private details that are transmitted online, or why are private details that are stored on our personal devices, any different than the details and the private record of our lives that are stored in our private journals."

Later on the track, Snowden warns over an icy drone, "Saying that you don't care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different that saying you don't care about freedom of speech because you have nothing to say. It's a deeply antisocial principle because rights are not justindividual, they're collective. What may not have value to you today may have value to an entire population... If you don't stand up for it, then who will?" After alayered, frantic interlude by Jarre, Snowden concludes by again asking, "If you don't stand up for it, then who will?"

Snowden is one of a "dream team" of collaborators and guests that Jarre assembled for Electronica 2: The Heart of Noise: Primal Scream, Gary Numan, Hans Zimmer, Cyndi Lauper, the Orb, the Pet Shop Boys, Peaches, Julia Holter and more contribute to the album, the follow-up to 2015's similarly all-starElectronica 1: The Time Machine. (When Electronica 2's track list was first announced, a mysterious "E.S." was listed as the guest on "Exit.")

Electronica 2: The Heart of Noise is out May 6th. Thosewho pre-orderthe album will receive an instant download of "Exit" as well as the Peaches-featuring "What You Want" and opening track "The Heart of Noise, Part 1" with Rone. After a summer performing at a handful of European music festivals, Jarre will embark on an international tour starting October 4th in Cardiff, Wales.

"Music works across language, music works across borders, music works across all cultures," Snowden says in the video. "Music, as with all art, is one of the only ways that we can create bonds and bridges between human hearts that are beyond semantic understanding, and that is reason, more than anything else, why we need music."

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Edward Snowden's New Job: Electronic Music Vocalist | Rolling ...

Edward Snowden, the former defense contractor charged by U.S. authorities for leaking classified documents to the media, is seeking assurance that Norway wont extradite him if he accepts a free-speech prize in person.

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"If other places in the world dont understand how the U.S. government works and thinks that its OK for the U.S. government to put backdoors in American information technology products then you dont have a business model that survives in a global economy where most of your revenue comes from overseas, said Scott Charney, corporate vice president for Microsofts...

Former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden joined Twitter, and quickly earned a big following. Can you hear me now? he tweeted.

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Edward Snowdens bean-spilling has taught some of the nastiest people on the planet how to avoid being caught.

The former National Security contractor knows a thing or two about how people can maximize their privacy in the digital world.

How extensive will the fallout be from the release of the so-called "Panama papers" data leak that revealed where some of the world's richest and most powerful people hide their money?

An unauthorized bust of the controversial figure was on display for several hours Monday at a Brooklyn monument to Revolutionary War prisoners.

A day after the documentary "Citizen Four" about his leaking of government documents won the Academy Award in the documentary feature category, Edward Snowden andwered questions in an "ask me anything" session on Reddit.

A documentary offers a glowing portrait of Edward Snowden, who leaked huge numbers of classified documents.

An attempt by Germanys opposition to force the government to let former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden travel to Berlin to testify on the agencys activities was thrown out by the countrys constitutional court.

In the year since goateed ex-National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden catapulted to fame, he has been portrayed in street art, installations, songs and advertisements.

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