[gruseom]

The interview he's talking about [1] was posted here [2] and it really is extraordinary. I highly recommend watching all the videos—unfortunately, they carved it into pieces and you have to scroll down the page to get at them. But it's worth it. The transcript doesn't convey how dramatic the discussion was, or capture William Binney's muttered asides ("including content! including content!") or show the meaningful expressions on their faces, or how the others react as each one is talking. I found the whole thing riveting and I'm still surprised that USA Today put it together. Having all four of them around a table created something entirely more compelling than one-on-one interviews.

Edit: also, the transcript is incomplete and leaves out some of the best parts, such as Binney's story of how he called "Tom" (i.e. Drake, whose phone he knew was being tapped) to let the government know that he had evidence of malicious prosecution. Plus the endearing smile on his face as he points out that his prosecution was dropped after that.

USA Today should put up the whole unbroken discussion. Apart from the obviously important content and the obvious authoritativeness of the speakers, it's just a great piece of television—and it's not even television. It puts actual news TV to shame.

1. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/06/16/snowd...

2. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5891101

[mehmehshoe]

Binney's comment on the serial number of the Verizon order was great. I never caught the number when studying the doc. By his logic there were as many as 79 other orders to other companies this year.

It is the second video down on your link and about 4 min in.

[sneak]

Indeed. I think that by congressional logic, that makes him a traitor though, for aiding the enemy by letting them know ALL the phones are tapped.

[rdl]

IMO Binney (and possibly all 3) deserve the next Nobel Peace Prize.

[rdl]

Actually, today I learned Thomas Drake essentially got screwed out of his federal pension from his whistleblowing, and currently works in an Apple retail store in the DC suburbs. He has 4 sons who are approaching college age. Both Binney and Wiebe are retired (and presumably got their full pensions).

So, the ideal thing would be some kind of prize or other financial reward (or higher paying job) for Drake, or scholarships for his children.

[vidarh]

The Nobel Peace Price includes 8 million SEK (ca. $1.2 million).

[samstave]

Give them Obama's

[dfc]

You have to figure they are shoe-ins for EFF Pioneer awards.