Sure, it sounds like he has your approval, and the approval of people in the privacy movement, who would use the term Hero. I accept that.

As for what the word ‘hero’ means to you, and whether I value those same things, then the answer is yes:

Do I think he did a moral act that aligned with his principles, motivated by compassion for others? Did he forsee what it would cost him and do it anyway because he believed it was the right thing to do, no matter how hard? Yes, and yes.

…I just don’t use the word ‘hero’ to describe this, which is what OP asked.

The word has become a simplified symbol to me, and if anything, feels less powerful than acknowledging the real sacrifice he made in the name of his principles.

Without acknowledging that nuance, ‘Hero’ apparently puts him in the same category as housefire-puppy-rescuers, and what he did was much more deliberate. He wasn’t emotionally impulsive; he was fully cognisant of the risk he was taking and made the decision to do it anyway.

‘Hero’ is a word other people give you, in reverence. He may be a hero of the privacy movement, sure. But the audience at large that he was speaking for does not consider him a hero (and I don’t use the term myself), thus for both I say no. I’m not from the US, so I’m not one of the people he sacrificed for; so I answered with his audience’s response (or lack thereof) in mind.

‘Do you think there are people who consider Snowden a hero’ is not the question I was answering, because the answer to that would always be yes, of any public figure.