Reply #112: Alright, I'll try one more time

[Azathoth]

Drake is not some anti-government surveillance activist being persecuted by a police state. He was a career NSA officer who was a big supporter of government surveillance. He leaked to the newspapers because be believed the Trailblazer project was a bureaucratic boondoggle that was wasting taxpayer dollars and not properly respecting FISA laws. He did NOT leak because he wanted to dismantle the NSA's surveillance capabilities; he leaked because he wanted more efficient surveillance with some (apparently easily-removable) privacy safeguards.

In short: he is a legitimate whistle-blower calling attention to government waste and fraud, but he is not a symbol of anti-Big Brother surveillance activism.