Hello Everyone,
Some would say that laws are in place to project the "Greater Good" or that they are put in place to maintain a sense of order. Others would disagree with this saying that laws are made by people, who are not infallible, so the laws are not infallible. As for Edward Snowden, he knew what he was doing when he took secrets from the NSA with the intention of leaking them. He was not hiding the fact that he took, and subsequently uploaded government documents to WikiLeaks. He even admitted he left breadcrumbs for investigators, so it looked like whistleblowing rather than espionage. Snowden believed he was disclosing this information for society's greater good and that everyone had the right to know the information contained in these documents. These documents exposed the fact that the NSA was illegally spying on US citizens without warrants. Edward Snowden believed he was doing the right thing exposing illegal activity being conducted covertly against the American people.
Resources
Bamford, J. (2014, August 22). Edward Snowden: The untold story. Wired. Retrieved from https://www.wired.com/2014/08/edward-snowden/.