There are a lot of decent people in the world. Doing a good deed anonymously is doing a good deed. I prefer discretion myself, but sometimes it isn't an option. I've always emphasized discretion and anonymity. However, sometimes the only choices are either to keep quiet or get another job. Snowden knew that he'd be tracked down as the source of the leak before too long and leaked the info anyway, which was one monumental sacrifice and act of courage! At any rate, his life is over. He knew what he was doing, because it troubled him enough to do it. God bless him! I just hope that it's not a waste of a life.

Complete surveillance of Americans isn't a power or control that should be allowed to government. It's not about keeping us "safe," but rather complete control. The way America is headed in our not too distant dystopian future is that a cop sitting in his/her squad car (or helicopter) will be able to pull up any citizen's records, traffic, criminal, medical, financial, educational, etc. from some massive data base. What pisses off the rest of the world is not only the US being privy to state secrets, but also industrial espionage.