Petition to pardon Snowden at whitehouse.gov

Mark Frauenfelder 9:47 am Tue Jun 25, 2013

Tim O'Reilly says:

I just signed this White House petition, along with 110,000 other people (so far). Whistleblowers who alert the American people to possible crimes by their own government should not be prosecuted as criminals.

I know this is a complex issue, and some people worry that Snowden has compromised our national security, but I really don't think so. He's embarrassed people in power, and ignited a national debate about whether our penchant for snooping has gone too far.

We should be having that debate, not keeping it secret. Government depends on trust between the people and its representatives. Unnecessary secrecy breaks that trust. Government spying on its own people breaks that trust.

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