Edward Snowden's NFT Self-Portrait Sells for $5.4 Million in Charity Auction

Gizmodo reports: The latest big name to get in on the NFT craze is former intelligence contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden, who on Friday auctioned off an original NFT art piece for roughly $5.4 million worth of the cryptocurrency Ether. Titled "Stay Free", it's a digital self-portrait made out of pages from a U.S. Court of Appeals decision that ruled the National Security Agency's widespread surveillance of phone records violated the law, a practice Snowden brought to light in 2013 by leaking classified NSA secrets to journalists...

The NFT sold for 2,224 Ether, worth just over $5.4 million at the time of publishing. All proceeds from this sale will go to the Freedom of the Press Foundation, a non-profit that develops open-source tools for whistleblowers and works to shield journalists from state-sponsored hackers and government surveillance. Snowden has led the organization as president since 2017.

NFT

[DontBeAMoran]

Nothing For Trade

Re:

[msauve]

Stop disrespecting P. T. Barnum. Fools _should_ be easily parted from their money. Stupidity should be painful.

Re: NFT

[BAReFO0t]

Correct. But we're more concerned that the ones doing it are *also* morons. ;)
That they will also spend the money non-wisely and harmfully.

Like a Ponzi scheme of morons ripping off morons.

Then again, maybe I'm just bitter because I'm not at the top of that pyramid. ;)

Snowden ain't so smart

[shanen]

That FP was intended as a joke, right?

How about it, moderators? Funny or not funny? I feel fortunate to have no mod points today (along with my lack of bananas), so I don't have to strain my poor wittle brain thinking about it.

But is Snowden being smart or ironic?

Zen leap time? When I saw this story, I was just speculating about whether I was smart or stupid. And before you jump up to shout "Stupid", remember you're on Slashdot, too.

Not smart enough to know myself, but maybe smart enough to know what I don'

Re:

[imidan]

My goodness, the Slashdot mobile interface was terrible before, but with the new dictation system it is much worse. Thank you Google. NOT.

(emphasis added)

Is that what we have to thank for this stream-of-consciousness narrative? Anyway, good luck with your Roku... or not?

Re:

[shanen]

Written like someone who has never tried the mobile interface to Slashdot. Go ahead. Try it. I double dare ya.

In general I'm not satisfied with my writing, but I actually think that one came out in an interesting way, notwithstanding the long battle with the Dicto the Mangler. (Does it sound like a plausible handle for a professional wrestler?) I'm sure it smelled funny, but what sort of funny?

However what bothers me is the possible manipulation to force people to think "the google way" when they are dictat

Re:

[imidan]

what bothers me is the possible manipulation to force people to think "the google way" when they are dictating

I actually appreciate your point. I just had to laugh at the joke / bananas / Snowden / Roku / mobile / dictation train of thought that never quite got to NFT.

Re:

[shanen]

I normally try to remember to close my loops, but by that point in the dictation battle I was ready to start screaming at the smartphone in the hope that it would stop making so many stupid mistakes.

But now I can't even remember my original plan for the return to topic. Snowden isn't trying to personally profit from the NFT games. That's a different kind of timing game than the one that should be worrying him. (Perhaps Putin will decide that the death of Navalny is the time for a topic changer like the retu

Re:

[CharlineTipp]

Hey...Are you sex giant? i wait you here!! Write me!! >> https://urlsi.com/Sl7Gz [urlsi.com]

Good on Edward

[rmdingler]

Doing the right thing has, up to now, been a Pyrrhic victory for the brave whistleblower.

Re:

[Actually, I do RTFA]

It wasn't really a victory (no one's mind seems to have been changed).

We also disagree on calling it "the right thing", but that gets into arguments about how public the information we needed to know was (we already knew the naughty programs existed) vs. the legitimate but embarrassing ones (spying on Angela Merkle.)

Re: Good on Edward

[BAReFO0t]

Stop spreading NSA propaganda.

We got the GDPR out of it.
Something that felt like an unrealistic dream of the Pirate Party and us geeks before the leaks.

People have become way more wary.

It's just: The spying thugs that got the dirty secrets of every person with power or future power, and the means to destroy them, still got all of that. And they are using it.
Why else would Merkel just play along when she factually *knows* the US hacked her phone? Anyone would have ended relationships woth such an open-enemy

Re:

[jellomizer]

I always felt that Snowden did the wrong thing for the right reasons. I am always critical of the guy who makes a big scene and finds a way to show that they are in the center of it all, as some sort of big Hero!

What I always wanted to know, and I couldn't never find out, because people are so polarized, is what is the correct way to report an ethics/legal problem within the NSA or any agency for that matter. Releasing a bunch of information to the public, in which a lot of its context and nuance is going

Re:

[tinkerton]

Sounds like you collect catch 22's
- leakers would be acceptable if they have th right motivation and principles but only the people with the wrong type of personality will leak so
- leakers are acceptable in principle but if they leak they are betraying the system which makes them wrong
- democracy can only work if the responsibles in charge keep everything secret because the public can't be trusted with the information

Snowden tried very hard to do the right thing. He only leaked because his information viola

Re:

[JockTroll]

It's not even a Pyrrhic victory, it has been a catastrophic decisive defeat followed by a rout. The "war for privacy" is lost. The "war for copyright reform" is lost. The internet has been conquered by Big Money and Big Government and there is no turning back, ever. Decentralization has been supplanted by fully centralized services. Censorship rules and becomes stricter and stricter every day. Your own devices are not yours anymore. It's high time for FSF and EFF to disband and for their leadership to take

Re:

[Merk42]

. The "war for copyright reform" is lost. The internet has been conquered by Big Money and Big Government and there is no turning back, ever.

When people refuse to pay for a website through either ads, paywall, or donations, then the only ones that can afford to bleed money to have a website are Big Money and Big Government

Imagination

[Stephen Chadfield]

Imaginary item bought with imaginary currency.

Imagine that.

Re:Imagination

[NoNonAlphaCharsHere]

And the proceeds of the sale go to a non-profit, thus completing the loop.

Re: Imagination

[BAReFO0t]

I just did.
$54.6 billion!

I'm "rich" now!

Crypto hype

[Stephen Chadfield]

After years of cryptocurrency hype they have finally found something to convince sceptics that it really does matter, it really is the future: using it to buy things that don't exist and have no value.

Re:

[fustakrakich]

Yeah, it's silly stuff, but if it can put 5 million bucks into the FPF's pocket, it can't be all bad, could provide a nice end run around the financial blockades put up by the banks against wkileaks and other whistleblowers

Re: Crypto hype

[BAReFO0t]

I feel like you are being sarcastic... ;)

I Finally Understand

[Anonymous Coward]

So "NFT" is just the modern term for "charity donation"? I finally understand why people are buying them.

Re: I Finally Understand

[BAReFO0t]

No, it isn't.

That is optional.

The normal case == rip-off.

I LOVE IT

[inode_buddha]

Man, I just *love* the smell of irony in the morning... along with all the roasting brain cells being spent by the Establishment (TM) on dealing with this.

Here is the art

[north_by_midwest]

https://f8n-ipfs-production.im... [imgix.net]

Saved you $5.4 million