On Wednesday, September 2, 2020, 06:08:19 AM PDT, John Young
   <jya@pipeline.com> wrote:

   [snip]
   >It might be worth pondering Snowden's quite limited "gift to the
   public" as another active measure to bamboozle in the WikiLeaks
   manner, indeed media-born leaks as a principal tool to meddle with
   information and data, not that any digital method can compete with
   the internet itself for that role.
   Yes.   I realize that there are doubts about what Snowden did, and how
   and why he did it.     But, the public won't generally see this obscure
   dispute.    Perhaps (for "public relations" purposes) we
   ("Cypherpunks", and people who are sympathetic to our goals) would be
   better off if that public viewed the exposure of NSA's Internet and
   phone-call recording system as being a "good thing".   As if it were a
   'loss' for the US Federal government, for purposes of maintaining
   morale 'on our side'.
   I think we'd rather have THAT, than have Snowden (and/or Assange)
   brought back in chains, which would be a rather massive deterrent to
   future leakers.   And yes, there will be future leakers!
   To steal from a  old song, "If you can't be with the leaker you love,
   love the leaker you're with".  (at least, publicly).
   [1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY4HI_vqf0c
   Crosby, Stills, and Nash.   "Love the one you're with".
                 Jim Bell

References

   1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY4HI_vqf0c