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1- Those you do it because they want a better world.
2- Those who do it for personal reasons.
Falciani, the Swiss banker who unveiled the secret accounts of many international millionaires who hide their money in Switzerland, and the team of journalist investigators who unveiled Fonseca's Panama Papers are good examples of the first group. They harm nobody, they just put the spotlight on the bad guys.
History is full of similar examples, people who fought mafia sindicates, drug lords, human trafficking rings.
Meanwhile, Assange and Snowden belong to the second group.
The trail of victims they leave behind is big. They dont care if they send someone to jail for life, like that young transexual officer. They dont care if the info they produce is gonna cost the lives of agents out there, or harm the diplomatic services, or the very system.
And what for? So the public can know international gossip? What comments this president made about that other president? Who's shagging who?
Snowden is right now living in Russia as a refugee. I wonder if he is likely to come up with some juicy info about the Russian secret services? (cows will fly sonner than that)
I think they are just overated hackers who pretend to be heros, and the reasons behind their actions are just egomaia and narcissim.
I can't agree with you regarding Snowden. A careful and objective review of his actions show that he basically risked everything when it would have been far easier and safer to keep his yap shut. One can debate whether his idealism was misplaced, but I believe he is an idealist far more than an attention hound. Also, what Snowden exposed and the dialog this exposure started, was overdue in my view.
I don't think Snowden's motives are 110% pure (nobody's really could be) but I think they are somewhere north of 85%.
Assange I'm not so sure about. One of the big reasons is that he no longer redacts anything he releases, at all, and seems to be timing the release of (for instance) the DNC emails to manipulate political outcomes. And in fact, Snowden (and Greenwald) have criticized Assange for no longer doing redactions to protect people's personal information and to protect the identity of covert operatives who might be harmed, up to and including dying (Snowdon's trove of leaks are still not fully released for this reason -- limited funding / staffing being a major factor). Another problem with Assange for me is the allegations of sexual assault against him, although I'm more willing than I would otherwise be to reserve judgment, since there are so many actors with such intense motivation to take him down any possible way that they can.
That said, Assange and his organization are fighting while backed into a corner ... and beware the man with nothing to lose. Information IS power. And I can respect the sober manner in which he argues his case, whether or not I entirely agree with it.
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