First let me say that I am not defending what Snowden did, or the way he did it. That being said, do you really think the Chinese did not know we were spying on them? Even if they couldn't figure it out by themselves, I'm sure they found evidence after they hacked into our government computers as they spied on us...
As far the "traitor" claim, give it a rest. He is most certainly guilty of any number of crimes, but treason is not one of them. Treason has a very specific legal definition, and what he did does not qualify. He did not "make war against the United States"; he never took up arms against the country. And as far as giving "aid and comfort to an enemy", there is no evidence he did that. Publicly revealing the existence of a data collection program is far from providing specific battle plans to an enemy in the field, for example. So let's all cool down the hyperbole a bit.
I’ll agree that Snowden is (probably) not guilty of treason. He is quite possibly guilty of espionage, defined as, “the act of obtaining, delivering, transmitting, communicating, or receiving information about the national defense with an intent, or reason to believe, that the information may be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation”. If I was on his jury, the prosecution would have to convince me that the national security damage outweighed the benefit of making this un-American program public, but it’s possible that I could be convinced. In any case, Snowden is a sideshow. The real issue is the NSA, Big Government, and how we put that dreadful genii back in its bottle - the Enumerated Powers, which do not include acting as Big Brother.
Fair enough. I can concede that. Still don’t think he is a hero.