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comment by aeromill
aeromill  ·  3453 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Britain pulls out spies as Russia, China crack Snowden files

This is the downside of the Snowden file release. While I think that it was ultimately a good thing, maybe he shouldn't have released spy information.





user-inactivated  ·  3453 days ago  ·  link  ·  

He pulled so much information, that it's likely he didn't know everything he pulled. James Clapper estimates around 1.5 million documents. Even if I had all year I couldn't read that. You'd have to read over 4100 pages per day every day for a year to get it done.

rrrrr  ·  3453 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Ryan Gallagher says this about the claim that Snowden took 1.5 million documents:

    This 1.7m figure was invented by US officials and since then it has been regurgitated repeatedly and unquestioningly by various media outlets. I've seen the trove of documents; the claim or insinuation that he leaked 1.7m is not true.

Although 1.5 million documents is a slightly different number, I wouldn't rush to believe James Clapper's claim here. Besides, he doesn't have the best track record for honesty.

user-inactivated  ·  3453 days ago  ·  link  ·  

The magnitude is the important thing, not the exact number. Even if it was half that number at 750,000 Snowden wouldn't have time to read them.