Class Action Lawsuit vs. Citizenfour???

[dewline]

Now this is a disturbing development found whilst rummaging through techdirt.com tonight.

Snowden, Poitras & Others Sued For 'Billions Of Dollars' Spent By US Government In Response To Leaks
from the not-a-ton-of-crazy-in-the-filing,-but-not-a-ton-of-right,-either dept

Horace B. Edwards, Navy veteran and former Secretary of Transportation for the state of Kansas, is suing Edward Snowden, Laura Poitras and a handful of "Hollywood Defendants" for profiteering from the distribution of "stolen documents." This is supposedly being done on "behalf of the American people" ("John and Jane Does 1-10" listed in the "Plaintiffs" field).

What Edwards is seeking is a court-ordered "constructive trust," financed by the proceeds of Laura Poitras' Snowden documentary "CitizenFour," to offset the financial damage caused by the leaked documents.

More in the techdirt.com article at the other end of the link...so go have a look. Has Mr. Edwards maybe reached a bit too far here? I'm not a lawyer, although I do have an interest in how law works.

Comments

[seawasp]

Given that by whistleblowing the intelligence community Mr. Snowden has been forced out of his chosen occupation and driven from his own country, to which he dares not return unless major changes happen? I think he should be able to make as much money from this as he likes. He did the country a service for which "billions" would be a cheap payment. I doubt he'll make even a hundredth of that.

[dewline.livejournal.com]

It's arguable that he's done much of the human race a service by his actions. That particular argument's being held in several other venues across the Net as we type. For the moment, I'd be interested in your opinion of Mr. Edwards' course of action.

(Looking forward to re-viewing the film itself sooner than later...)

[seawasp]

My opinion is that Mr. Edwards is a prat and he's currently wasting some of that money that he's claiming to sue over.