Has Snowden crossed a red line?

I think that the more Snowden leaks, the harder it becomes to have a productive debate about NSA surveillance. The more he leaks stuff that, while spectacular to gawk at, has no bearing on accountability and kinda oughta maybe remain secret, the easier it will be for those in power to pretend to have this debate, but really, in the end, not have it at all.

When revealing secrets itself becomes the goal, then I worry that the chance for true reform vanishes. It becomes easy, too easy, to personalize arguments. We start debating whether Glenn Greenwald is a good guy or not. We go tribal and find our enemies and harden positions and make it simple to trivialize something that is not worth trivializing.

If Snowden wants to create a pressure wall that explodes the entire SIGINT enterprise, then he will be partly responsible if the laws do not change, if Congress play-acts its oversight role, if we debate the semantics of whistleblower and traitor.