US Senate banned from Wikipedia for vandalizing Snowden's page

[inboundpaper]

I chuckled. But even senators are entitled to their opinions about Snowden.

[Xarkan]

You realize he's probably enjoying the highest level of first world comforts now? Probably even more so than you are/ever will. You are definitely showing strong signs of ignorance here.

Just because Russia isn't a first world country, it doesn't mean there aren't areas that have first world comforts. Right now, to a large chunk of the world, this man is a whistle blowing hero. I bet there are plenty of people willing to take him in and offer him the better things in life.

Really that whole first world deal should just die, it is old cold war rhetoric. Of course Russia was "second world" when that is the whole concept, first world capitalist free market, second world pseudoquasifakesocialist planned economy, third world the developing countries. It is meaningless, especially since Russia is not now a pseudoquasifakesocialist planned economy and thus now a first world country (not a developing country)

[TidesOfBlood]

Tell me, does ECHELON bother you? It never really bothered anyone else (who matters). Maybe a few cranks, but no serious person. It's been around for a long time, even mentioned in TV shows. What do you have to worry about? Do you have something to hide? Is there any particular reason you think anything you put on the internet would be of interest to the NSA? I honestly wouldn't care, if there's something I care about remaining private, I don't communicate it via the internet. Perhaps that's because, perhaps unlike yourself, I've grown up with the internet, back when dial-up was still the thing, and it wasn't the government that you had to worry about snooping around in your shit. If it means they can stop plots by people who want to kill me and other innocent people for the simple crime of not sharing their demented ideals, I say go for it - and so do the vast majority of people who haven't blinked at this.

See, most people heard about this whole fiasco and responded, "Yeah, and?" - they weren't surprised to find that the NSA was able to peek into their private data. Only solipsistic retards like you were apparently genuinely outraged by this, because you're naive and have a childish view of the world. You may speak to me once you've grown up.

With respect, have you watched the entire interview with Snowden and not just snippets of it in headline news?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yB3n9fu-rM&t=7m9s

What he says here has profound implications for the general public resulting in many innocent people who may have nothing to do with any wrongdoing and can possibly be linked to an attack and possibly have their credentials lost if they held a position as a teacher, policeman, enlisted soldier, matriculated university student, etc..

Of course this is all just hypothetical but the possibility still stands.

[EnclosedOne]

the people who are okay with being spied on will be singing a different tune when the government starts accusing them of being the next terrorist bomber from an email they sent to their brother about buying a large amount of fertilizer for the garden, because we all know that everyone who buys fertilizer is actually building a bomb in their kitchen right...right?

and what's stopping them from fabricating whatever so called proof they want and just sticking it on some random persons computer so they go down for something a politician did? nothing, nothing at all.

[Doktor Faustus]

Land of the free, home of the brave.

[vawugz]

Not sure if it was mentioned, and this probably means nothing, but you can see what other articles that IP address edited. A few were miscellaneous things like "Five People You Meet In Heaven", but two of the articles that IP address edited was linked to Mccain, one article being about his son's wedding

[Tydrane]

While the comforts in Russia may be lower than in France comparing Russia and Ethiopia might miss the mark

If.. say Russia has a HDI of 0.788 Ethiopia might have one of 0.396 and the US one of 0.937.. making Russia closer to the US than Ethiopia on the HDI scale

[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Development_Index and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...elopment_Index ]

Okay, bad hyperbole, but Russia is definitely closer to the third world than it is first world in terms of CPI (Corruption Perceptions Index) and MPI (Multidimensional Poverty Index). It's also worth noting that inequality-adjusted HDI data for Russia is unavailable. But Russia and how shit it is isn't the subject here, Snowden is. Though, I will say that it's amusing to see how the MMO-Champion community switches from "Russia sucks!" in a thread about the recent law criminalising talking about gay people (to vastly oversimplify), to "Russia is awesome!" because it offered one year of temporary asylum to a wingnut.

You realize he's probably enjoying the highest level of first world comforts now? Probably even more so than you are/ever will. You are definitely showing strong signs of ignorance here.

Just because Russia isn't a first world country, it doesn't mean there aren't areas that have first world comforts. Right now, to a large chunk of the world, this man is a whistle blowing hero. I bet there are plenty of people willing to take him in and offer him the better things in life.

Oh, how the trolls rage! Don't concern yourself with my situation, I'm very comfortable sitting on my bed here in Melbourne, Australia, where it's cold but we've got the heating on, I'm sitting here with my laptop and completely surrounded by my personal possessions, and I have unfettered access to anyone I consider worth spending time with. I can't imagine he had much luggage space to bring all that much with him!

Snowden's not a whistleblower or a hero. He's a silly little child who never grew up, and only other silly little children who refuse to grow up and join the adults in the real world could look up to him.

[Themerlin]

You realize he's probably enjoying the highest level of first world comforts now? Probably even more so than you are/ever will. You are definitely showing strong signs of ignorance here.

Just because Russia isn't a first world country, it doesn't mean there aren't areas that have first world comforts. Right now, to a large chunk of the world, this man is a whistle blowing hero. I bet there are plenty of people willing to take him in and offer him the better things in life.

Go to Moscow (Inahu) and tell me people over there do not enjoy first world comforts. Its one of the most modernized cosmopolitan areas of the world.

At least he can have all the stripper girlfriends he needs over there, while sipping on fine Vodka, and gradually watching the shit fiasco he caused in his Homeland.

Point is, world is getting smaller by the minute, and this accumulation and progression of social media makes us a global community. Snowden is a hero to the rest of the world, but a villain in his own country

[Tydrane]

the people who are okay with being spied on will be singing a different tune when the government starts accusing them of being the next terrorist bomber from an email they sent to their brother about buying a large amount of fertilizer for the garden, because we all know that everyone who buys fertilizer is actually building a bomb in their kitchen right...right?

and what's stopping them from fabricating whatever so called proof they want and just sticking it on some random persons computer so they go down for something a politician did? nothing, nothing at all.

If you make yourself a tinfoil hat, and one for your computer, those dastardly government agents won't be able to get you!

[Drkblade]

Okay, bad hyperbole, but Russia is definitely closer to the third world than it is first world in terms of CPI (Corruption Perceptions Index) and MPI (Multidimensional Poverty Index). It's also worth noting that inequality-adjusted HDI data for Russia is unavailable. But Russia and how shit it is isn't the subject here, Snowden is. Though, I will say that it's amusing to see how the MMO-Champion community switches from "Russia sucks!" in a thread about the recent law criminalising talking about gay people (to vastly oversimplify), to "Russia is awesome!" because it offered one year of temporary asylum to a wingnut.


Oh, how the trolls rage! Don't concern yourself with my situation, I'm very comfortable sitting on my bed here in Melbourne, Australia, where it's cold but we've got the heating on, I'm sitting here with my laptop and completely surrounded by my personal possessions, and I have unfettered access to anyone I consider worth spending time with. I can't imagine he had much luggage space to bring all that much with him!

Snowden's not a whistleblower or a hero. He's a silly little child who never grew up, and only other silly little children who refuse to grow up and join the adults in the real world could look up to him.

I'm not raging, I'm just pointing out your ignorance. You assume he didn't have luggage space, I assume he doesn't need much luggage because all of the free stuff he's getting. YOU don't think he's a whistleblower or a hero, but that's your opinion, and is to be treated as such. I'm not trying to portray it as fact, but a very large portion of the world has the complete opposite opinion as you and will help him in any way possible. For all you know right now he could be skyping with family drinking some of the finest vodka and eating some of the worlds most expensive caviar.

[Celista]

If you make yourself a tinfoil hat, and one for your computer, those dastardly government agents won't be able to get you!

You should read some articles written by people living in countries where their government turned into a police state, a couple I've read stated outright that stuff like what the US government has been doing recently is how things started going bad in their home countries.

That doesn't mean that stuff would actually happen here, but just saying.

[Skyduke]

I am baffled at why some people call Snowden a hero.

The false outrage over all this is just stupid. Each and every country with the required level of technology will have a similar program. And I personally sleep easier for it.
We do not live in fascist regimes where men in black will break in your door at night because you criticized your president, DESPITE the surveillance. Only idiotic conspiracy theorists believe this kind of bullshit.

We live in an age where conflicts have changed. Information is still obviously the key to winning these conflicts. If by a blanket surveillance they manage to prevent even one terrorist attack, then so be it. I do not think the NSA will turn around and sell the information for commercial purposes (they do not need to, people volunteer that kind of info anyway).

Unless you have something to hide. But do not worry, the NSA does not care about you illegally downloading music or having installed RAPElay on the Ipad daddy bought you.

This reminds me of the story where Google Germany had to take houses out of google street view.
Pity anyone walking by can still see it.

[Deleted]

I am baffled at why some people call Snowden a hero.

The false outrage over all this is just stupid. Each and every country with the required level of technology will have a similar program. And I personally sleep easier for it.
We do not live in fascist regimes where men in black will break in your door at night because you criticized your president, DESPITE the surveillance. Only idiotic conspiracy theorists believe this kind of bullshit.

We live in an age where conflicts have changed. Information is still obviously the key to winning these conflicts. If by a blanket surveillance they manage to prevent even one terrorist attack, then so be it. I do not think the NSA will turn around and sell the information for commercial purposes (they do not need to, people volunteer that kind of info anyway).

Unless you have something to hide. But do not worry, the NSA does not care about you illegally downloading music or having installed RAPElay on the Ipad daddy bought you.

This reminds me of the story where Google Germany had to take houses out of google street view.
Pity anyone walking by can still see it.

Now we know that the NSA is collecting private Informations on a scale that would even make the most enthusiastic Stasi Agent blush.

And you still think the outrage is false? To compare the US program with anything else except for maybe China/Russia is comparing Nukes with Handguns.

[Austilias]

Unless you have something to hide.

The Germans of 1940 certainly had something to hide; Jewish refugees whom it was perfectly legal to work to death and kill, via concentration camps. Are you saying the law should have prevailed back then too; simply by virtue of it being the law? The trouble with this silly and infantile strain of thought is that it's very short-sighted; the government may not always be on your side, and it can easily legislate against you, your freedom and indeed, your life, depending on the results of an election.

- - - Updated - - -

With respect to OP's link itself, I find it frankly hilarious. It's important to remember that statesmen are just as fickle and human as everyone else; an observation that was frankly made a long time ago, but which is also frequently forgotten:

[Deleted]

What do you have to worry about? Do you have something to hide? Is there any particular reason you think anything you put on the internet would be of interest to the NSA?

Unless you have something to hide. But do not worry, the NSA does not care about you illegally downloading music or having installed RAPElay on the Ipad daddy bought you.

http://www.wired.com/opinion/2013/06...-surveillance/

We Won’t Always Know When We Have Something To Hide

Estimates of the current size of the body of federal criminal law vary. It has been reported that the Congressional Research Service cannot even count the current number of federal crimes. These laws are scattered in over 50 titles of the United States Code, encompassing roughly 27,000 pages. Worse yet, the statutory code sections often incorporate, by reference, the provisions and sanctions of administrative regulations promulgated by various regulatory agencies under congressional authorization. Estimates of how many such regulations exist are even less well settled, but the ABA thinks there are ”nearly 10,000.”
...........................
For instance, did you know that it is a federal crime to be in possession of a lobster under a certain size? It doesn’t matter if you bought it at a grocery store, if someone else gave it to you, if it’s dead or alive, if you found it after it died of natural causes, or even if you killed it while acting in self defense. You can go to jail because of a lobster.
...........................
f the federal government had access to every email you’ve ever written and every phone call you’ve ever made, it’s almost certain that they could find something you’ve done which violates a provision in the 27,000 pages of federal statues or 10,000 administrative regulations. You probably do have something to hide, you just don’t know it yet.

Police already abuse the immense power they have, but if everyone’s every action were being monitored, and everyone technically violates some obscure law at some time, then punishment becomes purely selective. Those in power will essentially have what they need to punish anyone they’d like, whenever they choose, as if there were no rules at all.

[Wildtree]

The thread title is misleading in my opinion. They've removed an edit from one user who was using an IP address that belongs to the US Senate. It's a government owned business IP, which can be used by a plethora of people. And they even state it on the notification.
So in one sentence...... Neither is the US Senate banned, nor did the US Senate vandalize Snowden's page.
Wiki has apparently it's own internal (limited to their pages) definition of vandalism. But it simply isn't vandalism when one makes an inaccurate statement.
The term traitor is completely a personal opinion, and not an absolute. In that regard one can even contest it for being false altogether or not.
Is he a traitor in my eyes? Hell no. He's a whistleblower, but not a traitor. Yet it doesn't matter, since my opinion isn't absolute here.

The US government produces a lot of shit, as of lately. There is not a single doubt about it. Same goes for our countries as well if we happen not to be US Americans. Don't try to be holier than the pope. You may hurt yourself from falling of that pedestal of innocence. Because it likely doesn't exist or is rather brittle and may just collapse in no time..
Anyhow... the US deserves criticism and even a lot. But throwing shit in it's way by bending the truth is just as bad..

[Deleted]

Semantics are serious business.

[Deleted]

And regarding the traitor/not traitor issue :

Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.
Mark Twain



That's my opinion too .
Else those germans who opossed their government killing the jews were traitors.

[Austilias]

And regarding the traitor/not traitor issue :

Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.
Mark Twain

I've always liked Carl Schurz' take on it.

My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right.

[Zecora]

They changed the word "dissident" to "traitor" on his page. lol

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:156.33.241.5

Serves 'em right. Well, whoever among them did it anyhow.