He should stand trial, but he had no whistle-blower protection as Hillary claimed he might have. So he had no choice but to flee to avoid getting caught. Sure he broke the law, but without him breaking the law we would not have known about the NSA domestic spying.

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/oct/...

Reddit sees Snowden as a hero, the Federal government sees him as a traitor. I think he is more of a hacktvist. He did what he did to bring out the truth, even if he did break the law and flee to another nation for protection.

Exactly. A guy working in the US intelligence service who fled with stolen information to China then Russia is not someone that should automatically be granted clemency. He should be investigated and tried. He might be the hero everyone here and on reddit imagines he is, or he might just be another shady character in geopolitics. It's frustrating to see people so blindly picking sides or misinterpreting opinions.

>"fled with stolen information to China then Russia"

Typical misconception, sad to see it on HN.

He did not flee to Russia, he got stuck on his way, because the US revoked his passport. Russia was the only country who could stand up to the US. Few other countries dared to offer him asylum.

Unfortunate it had to be Russia, given their civil liberties record, but he HAD NO INTENTION of going there.

Also he wasn't "with stolen information". He did not keep a copy with him on his way.

I'm glad to know about the stuff he revealed. Interestingly enough, nobody has any doubt that China and Russia already knew about the extent of public surveillance that Snowden revealed. His most heinous crime was informing the public.

> He might be the hero everyone here and on reddit imagines he is, or he might just be another shady character in geopolitics.

This already has been answered by his conduct. Everyone by now has an opinion and no trial is gonna change that.

ps. The people here and on reddit are the ones who actually understand what he is talking about. If this crowd stands beside him, that alone says a great deal about him IMO.