American whistleblower Edward Snowden is living a life of exile in Russia because he shared thousands of top-secret government documents with journalists. But six years after he exposed how the US government surveils the digital lives of everyday Americans, Snowden is not just worried about the powers of government agencies like the National Security Agency (NSA), hes concerned about big technology companies, too.

In an upcoming interview with Recodes Kara Swisher on the Recode Decode podcast, Snowden said he thinks its a mistake to see the NSA as a bigger threat to privacy than tech companies.

Facebooks internal purpose, whether they state it publicly or not, is to compile perfect records of private lives to the maximum extent of their capability, and then exploit that for their own corporate enrichment. And damn the consequences, Snowden told Swisher. This is actually precisely the same as what the NSA does. Google ... has a very similar model. They go, Oh, were connecting people. They go, Oh, were organizing data. Although, Snowden said, these companies still dont know as much as the government, which can gather information from all of the many tech platforms.

Snowden was talking to Swisher about the publication of his new book, Permanent Record, in which he details his journey from an idealistic young national security contractor, eager to help protect the US from foreign threats in the aftermath of 9/11, to a disillusioned whistleblower. The massive government surveillance effort he revealed in 2013 wouldnt be possible without the data-gathering that tech companies do in the first place, Snowden said.

The more Google knows about you, the more Facebook knows about you, the more they are able ... to create permanent records of private lives, the more influence and power they have over us, Snowden told Swisher. There is no good reason why Google should be able to read your email. There is no good reason why Google should know the messages that youre sending to your friend. Facebook shouldnt be able to see what youre saying when youre writing to your mother.

Snowden also pointed out that the Fourth Amendment which protects citizens from searches unless law enforcement has a warrant or probable cause only applies to government, not to companies. So while the FBI might need a warrant to probe your inbox, theres no constitutional barrier to a company like Facebook searching and retrieving peoples private information without a judges approval.

The former NSA systems engineer said to better protect people from being exploited by the data collection of major tech companies, the US should have software liability laws. These would be similar to consumer product liability regulations that can hold companies and executives responsible for selling physical goods that harm people.

We have serious liability laws in every other sector, said Snowden. If you produce medicine and put it on the shelves and your baby aspirin kills babies, you get sued. You go to jail, right? If you build a car and it catches on fire and kills people, you get sued, your company might get shut down, you might go to jail. We have no software liability laws in the United States.

Recently, companies such as Facebook, Google, and Amazon have come under fire by regulators for their perceived negative effects on society from alleged monopolistic practices to data breaches.

When you look at technologists as a class, were at a fork in the road, said Snowden. There is a class led by Mark Zuckerberg that is moving toward the maximization of technological power and influence that can be applied to society because they believe they can profit by it or, rightly or wrongly, they can better use the influence that their systems provide to direct the world into a better direction. ... And then you have this other fork in the road where there are people ... [who] go, The advance of technology is inevitable and technology can do very good things for the world, but we need to understand that there must be limits on how that technological power and influence can be applied.

Snowden also pushed back on the idea that people dont care about their data privacy because they still use services like Facebook that have notoriously failed to steward user data.

People actually care. They care very much. But they feel powerless to change it, said Snowden, so they adopt a position of laissez-faire, I dont care, as a psychological coping mechanism, because otherwise you are being victimized, and thats a difficult thing to deal with.

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Edward Snowden says Facebook is just as untrustworthy as the NSA - Vox.com

New Delhi: You have heard the name Pegasus by now. The spyware, developed by Israel-based security company, NSO Group Technologies, was used to hack and snoop on journalists, lawyers and activists in India, presumably by the government. What does Pegasus do? How does it work?

According to the spywares product details, uploaded to document cloud by Claudio Guarnieri, Head of Security Lab at Amnesty International, Pegasus is meant to infiltrate smartphones silently and work on three things -- collect historic data on device, continuously monitor activity and transmit this data to a third party.

Other than Android and iOS systems, Pegasus can also penetrate Symbian and BlackBerry-based devices. The malware can infect devices via phishing text messages that trick users into clicking a particular link, using the over-the-air update system and more. In WhatsApps case, it used a vulnerability in the app that allowed infection through missed video calls. This security gap was plugged by WhatsApp back in May this year.

The same was confirmed by WhatsApps Global Head, Will Cathcart, through an op-ed in the Washington Post.

In all forms of installations, the spyware completes the process in the background, completely out of the users notice. This, combined with the fact that Pegasus doesnt require the users attention is one of the reasons why the spyware is so dangerous and popular amongst security contractors.

The iOS version of this spyware was found first (in 2016), while it was revealed to be on Android too, by security firm Lookout, at the Security Analysts Summit, 2017. Chrysaor, is the name assigned to the Android version of Pegasus by Google.

Lookouts technical analysis of Pegasus and the product document shared by Guarnieri, both clarify one thing -- that WhatsApp isnt the only sufferer. Its reach spreads much beyond that. As for surveillance, lets be clear: Were talking total surveillance," wrote security firm Kaspersky in a blog post.

Once on your phone, Pegasus has access to data thats already on your phone, including photos, videos, text messages, email apps, browsing history, contact list, location, files, other messaging apps (like Viber, Skype, Messenger) etc. It can also listen to you and sounds around you through the phones microphones, record incoming and outgoing calls, capture screenshots and use the phones camera to take photos.

Further, Pegasus doesnt transmit data when a smartphone is on roaming unless its on WiFi. This is of course done to hide its tracks, since users might notice high data usage bills while roaming. Instead, the spyware collects and stores data on your phone in an encrypted buffer, waiting to transmit it once youre out of roaming. It does the same when the phone doesnt have an active Internet connection or is at under 5% battery.

To ensure you never find out, Pegasus is designed to never use more than 5% of the free space on your phone. So, if you have 10GB of free space the malware will use only about 500MB at a time, something thats near impossible to detect on a smartphone, even if youre checking. Pegasus removes data on a first in first out basis if it hasnt been able to transmit to its servers for a while.

NSO has created an intuitive" front-end for users of Pegasus to parse through the data they gather. This allows operators of the programme to easily sift through the tonnes of data they might be getting through Pegasus.

Interestingly, theres no real way to avoid a Pegasus attack other than the regular best practices. Security experts have repeatedly advised against downloading suspicious files, clicking on unknown links etc. and those remain the best way to fight this malware.

Here are some of the famous surveillance programs:

RCSAndroid: An Android surveillance tool designed by Milan-based company, Hacking Team. It is a data collection tool sold to law enforcement and government agencies. It was disguised as a news app on the Play Store and somehow escaped Googles security scans.

DROPOUTJEEP: A program which was revealed to have been the go to tool for the US National Security Agency (NSA), allowing it to compromise Apples iPhones. It could access files on the device, read SMS texts, voicemail messages and more.

XKeyscore: The NSA, in its training material, called this its widest reaching" system for gathering intelligence off the Internet. XKeyscore was amongst the programs revealed by whistleblower Edward Snowden.

Livestrong: An exploit used by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to compromise devices running on Android 4.4 KitKat, revealed by WikiLeaks as part of the famous Vault7 data dump.

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What is Pegasus, the chosen tool for total surveillance? - Livemint

Comedian and podcaster Joe Rogan is for his mix of libertarian and conservative views combined with enthusiasm for subjects like UFOs and Bigfoot. Hes not my cup of tea, but his latest episode an interview with whistle-blower Edward Snowden has an interesting part on smartphone surveillance.

Neither Android nor the iPhone are especially good at protecting your privacy, Snowden says to Rogan. Snowden drives home the message that all phones are transmitting, even when the screen is off and theyre doing nothing. All phones are constantly connected to their nearest tower, he adds.

Its worth being reminded that the IMEI (international mobile station equipment identity) and the IMSI (international mobile subscriber identity) are unique identifiers that can track your phone anywhere in the world and the IMEI is burned into the phone so it exists regardless of sim swapping.

Whenever the phone is turned on theres a record of your presence at that place that is being made and created by companies. It does not need to be kept for ever, and in fact theres no good argument for it to be kept for ever but these companies see that as valuable information.

Thats how bulk collection which is the governments euphemism for mass surveillance works, he says. Just another thing to keep you awake at night.

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Edward Snowden reveals how your phone keeps tabs on you - The Irish Times

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey on Wednesday announced that the social media site would no longer have paid political advertisements, a move sure to shake up the digital landscape that earned him praise from progressives.

"Wow," tweeted activist Edward Snowden. "Big move by@jack, and a bigger contrast to@Facebook's increasingly problematic policy positions."

In a series of tweets, Dorsey laid out the reasons for the decision and made clear that the policy would only apply to paid advertisements.

"This isn't about free expression," said Dorsey. "This is about paying for reach."

"They're drawing a clear line between paid reach and earned, organic reach," said NBC journalist Ben Collins.

Under the new rules, as indicated by Dorsey, a campaign presumably could post an advertisement video or photo to its own accountjust not pay to promote it. The final policy will be announced on November 15 and implemented on November 22.

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"A political message earns reach when people decide to follow an account or retweet," Dorsey explained. "Paying for reach removes that decision, forcing highly optimized and targeted political messages on people. We believe this decision should not be compromised by money."

Dorsey appeared to take a subtle shot at competitor Facebook, whose CEO Mark Zuckerberg told Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in a recent hearing that political advertisements on that platform did not need to be truthful. In response, activists bought an ad that shows members of the Republican Party supporting the congresswoman's Green New Deal; Facebook approved the ad.

"It's not credible for us to say: 'We're working hard to stop people from gaming our systems to spread misleading info, buuut if someone pays us to target and force people to see their political adwell...they can say whatever they want!'" said Dorsey.

Reaction from progressives was hesitantly positive.

"I don't really know their reasons or [if] it is good or bad ultimately," tweeted blogger Atrios, "but at least knock a dent in the ridiculous Facebook 'free speech requires we privilege people who give us money' argument.

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'Whoa': Twitter to End Paid Political Advertising on Platform, CEO Says - Common Dreams

This cover image released by Metropolitan Books shows "Permanent Record," a memoir by Edward Snowden. The former CIA and National Security Agency systems engineer is now a digital privacy activist living in exile in Russia, charged with Espionage Act violations for which he says his conscience offered no other option. (Metropolitan Books via AP)

This cover image released by Metropolitan Books shows "Permanent Record," a memoir by Edward Snowden. The former CIA and National Security Agency systems engineer is now a digital privacy activist living in exile in Russia, charged with Espionage Act violations for which he says his conscience offered no other option. (Metropolitan Books via AP)

Permanent Record, Metropolitan Books, by Edward Snowden

Edward Snowden is mostly self-invented, the fruit of his own ingenuity. If hacking, purely defined, consists of devising the simplest, most elegant way of getting what you want, then Snowden excelled at it, beginning when he set back every clock in the house at age 6 so he could stay up past bedtime.

Snowden would later hack his way through adolescence. He calculated the minimum amount of work needed for passing grades in high school. The scheme worked until Honest Ed explained it to a teacher.

Such stories enliven the new memoir, Permanent Record, from the computer whiz who exposed secret U.S. government mass domestic surveillance six years ago.

The former CIA and National Security Agency systems engineer is now a digital privacy activist living in exile in Russia, charged with Espionage Act violations for which he says his conscience offered no other option.

Born in 1983, Snowden grew up on the early internet, intoxicated by its seemingly limitless potential for good. Before innocence was lost, it represented for him Americas true values. Patriotism was ingrained in Snowdens upbringing. His parents quietly exercised it clocking in daily at work. Dad was a Coast Guard techie. Mom held various government jobs.

Coming-of-age memoirs like Snowdens typically recount journeys of moral discovery. That is the books strength. Others, most notably journalist Glenn Greenwald and filmmaker Laura Poitras, have already better chronicled the white-knuckled drama of how the most famous whistleblower since Daniel Ellsberg persuaded them to meet him in Hong Kong in 2013 so he could lift the lid on the NSAs mass surveillance of U.S. citizens.

What Snowden does well is define the promise and dangers of digital technology and the wacky alchemy that grants system architects and administrators like him extraordinary power over peoples lives. His clear-cut explanations of complicated yet vital phenomena like the TOR privacy browser and encryption are especially instructive.

Snowden most regrets his atavistic reaction to 9/11, how the 18-year-old Ed became a willing vehicle of vengeance. He enlists in the Army only to break his leg in basic training. Then he watches from the inside as U.S. agents kidnap and torture foreigners.

Engrossing is Snowdens description of how he used his programming skills to create a repository of classified in-house jots on the NSAs global snooping and built a backup system for agency data. Reading through the repository, Snowden begins to understand the extent of his governments stomping on civil liberties. He becomes sullen, cursed with the knowledge that all of us had been reduced to something like children, whod been forced to live the rest of their lives under omniscient parental supervision.

As he was deciding to blow the whistle, Snowden also came to realize that it wasnt just the government that was amassing and categorizing our data. The eureka moment came when he met his first internet-equipped smart fridge.

Here he was, getting all exercised about U.S. government snooping while surveillance capitalists were collecting incredible dossiers on acquiescent consumers.

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Snowden memoir: The spy who came out and told - Associated Press

Do aliens exist? Thats a question that people have been asking for a long time. They serve as the basis for all kinds of sci-fi stories and weve even got official video proof of UFOs that even the Navy cant seem to explain.

There are some strange things happening out in space and at one point Edward Snowden wanted to find out for himself if the government was covering up anything on alines, so he decided to look through the CIA Networks to see if he could find anything.

Just in case you dont know who Snowden is, hes the source of the biggest U.S. intelligence leak in history. So did he find anything on his search!? Unfortunately, no. While a guest on theJoe Rogan Experiencepodcast, he said:

"I know, Joe, I know you want there to be aliens. I know Neil deGrasse Tyson badly wants there to be aliens. And there probably are, right?

But the idea that we're hiding them -- if we are hiding them -- I had ridiculous access to the networks of the NSA, the CIA, the military, all these groups. I couldn't find anything. So if it's hidden, and it could be hidden, it's hidden really damn well, even from people who are on the inside."

Sonwden previously said, "as far as I could tell, aliens have never contacted Earth, or at least they haven't contacted US intelligence."

Thats kind of a buzzkill! But, Im sure it wont phase UFO and alien conspiracy theorists. After all, this is all just part of the big cover-up, right!? Look, Ive seen some crazy weird shit in my life, stuff I cant explain. Is there other life out in the universe? I have no idea, but if there is, Im just glad thay havent destroyed us yet.

What do you all think about this?

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Edward Snowden Said He Searched For Proof of Aliens on The CIA Networks and Didn't Find Anything - GeekTyrant

You are constantly being watched.

Its a given in this technologically connected day and age, a reality we treat as an inevitable byproduct of living in the information era, but your information is not private. Not even close.

We joke about being on watchlists, or our FBI agent, as if a specific person is assigned to each of us to keep tabs on our emails, messages and search history.

But thats ridiculous. Obviously, the FBI isnt devoting people 24/7 to watch your online history. Thatd be next to impossible and highly inefficient. Relax, you can breathe a little easier.

Instead, theyre delegating the task to a multi-billion dollar, international, highly sophisticated data collection program that monitors the internet and online traffic of every single American citizen. Its always on, and its always listening.

Feel better? You shouldnt. The program is called PRISM, and its run by the National Security Agency. Weve got a similar program, called ECHELON, running in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., New Zealand and Australia, that does essentially the same thing.

Many countries have some sort of data collection system in place, supposedly to preserve national security. However, the scope of the programs that the U.S. runs every single day is historically unrivaled, making PRISM and ECHELON, without exaggeration, the largest single data collection efforts of all time, processing millions of phone calls, emails and texts per day.

The only reason were aware of all this is because of one person CIA employee Edward Snowden, who was one of the NSAs top analysts in the field of cybersecurity and data mining. In 2013, Snowden fled the country to Hong Kong and leaked a massive amount of information to multiple news sources about the NSAs data collection programs, many of which he had helped build.

Since 2013, Snowden has been in political exile, seeking asylum in Russia. Hes considered by the U.S. government to be a traitor to the nation, wanted on multiple counts of treason, all because he made the choice to stand up and do the right thing. Snowden risked his life and his freedom to hold the government accountable for blatant abuse of power.

I believe he did the right thing, said Charlie Hanacek, president of the WSU Linux Users Group, and senior computer science major. I wish there had been more effective channels of accomplishing what he wanted to do but overall, I believe it was more beneficial than not.

Snowdens release of thousands of classified documents helped alert people to what was truly going on behind the scenes at the NSA. The fact that there was tech surveillance existed was known to an extent in computer and legal circles, given the NSAs long history of wiretapping and surveillance. However, Snowdens information gave the American people the true scope of what was going on.

I think a lot of the tech surveillance was already kind of an open secret, and its good for the public to be aware of, said Kelly Marshall, a third-year political science student.

Awareness of government misdeeds is one thing, but the fact that Snowden has had his passport revoked, his citizenship scrapped and been made a fugitive from his own country is simply abominable. The grounds for prosecution the government has brought against him are based on century-old rules that have no application under the circumstances, especially the counts of treason, based on legislation from before World War I.

Succinctly put, the government has little legal precedent or justification to call for Snowdens arrest, and multiple examples and reasons as to why he should be accepted back into the country as a legal citizen with charges dropped.

Arguments have been made that Snowden should have gone through the proper legal channels to bring suit against the NSA, rather than dumping thousands of documents, but in his particular case, the information was too highly classified, and his job too secretive for an open-court trial to have been effective or allowed.

Im absolutely for making sure you exhaust your other channels of whistleblowing before you go as big as possible with it, Hanacek said, referring to Snowdens method of releasing information to journalists.

Regardless of means or method, Snowden changed the world of large-scale surveillance, information technology and more importantly, our fundamental understanding of how the government keeps tabs on its citizens.

This does not mean, however, that the NSA has reversed its practices, or that its the only player we should be worried about in the information collecting game.

Any kind of change needs to happen from a top-down level, in terms of legislation, Hanacek said, with regards to government data collection. Also, dont work at unethical companies They cant write the code if they dont have the developers.

Snowdens leaks have helped damage the veil of secrecy that hid a significant amount of NSA projects and surveillance, and for that, everyone who communicates via technology should thank him. He played a key role in unlocking the vast vault of unethical government secrets, and he should be praised for it, not condemned.

Its time to honor a national hero and drop charges against Edward Snowden. Its time for him to come home.

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OPINION: Edward Snowden should be allowed to return to United States - The Daily Evergreen

Despite hundreds of films, science fiction and fantasy novels as well as thousands of conspiracy theories, humans have never found proof of aliens existing or ever contacting Earthlings.

In fact, Area 51, one of the most secretive military bases in the United States, is actively believed by thousands of people to be the site of alien experiments conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). However, CIA employee turned whistle blower Edward Snowden recently debunked one of the biggest conspiracy theories prevalent in the US - that aliens managed to contact the US government and/or its security agencies and that the government actively hides this bit of information from the world.

In his recently released memoir "Permanent Records", however, Snowden revealed that during his time at the CIA, he had searched the CIA databases and resources find out if the US or any of its agencies had ever been in contact with extraterrestrial creatures. However, Snowden found no evidence of any official (or unofficial) contact with aliens. "For the record, as far as I could tell, aliens have never contacted Earth, or at least they haven't contacted US intelligence," Snowden writes in his recent memoir," Snowden wrote.

He also confirmed that the moon landing, another famously disbelieved moon landing - a favourite with conspiracy theorists in US - did indeed happen.

"In case you were wondering: Yes, man really did land on the moon. Climate change is real. Chemtrails are not a thing," he wrote.

Snowden repeated the same on a recently aired podcast episode on an episode of The Joe Rogan Experience podcast where he said, "I had ridiculous access to the networks of the NSA (National Security Agency), the CIA, the military, all these groups. I couldn't find anything".

However, he did not completely dismiss the idea of aliens existing. "If we are hiding them (aliens)...it's hidden really damn well, even from people who are on the inside".

Theories of alien invasion, alien abductions, weird experiments and UFO sightings have been part of American pop culture for over a century. The "Black Knight" satellite theory, for example, states that an alien satellite that exists in Earth's orbit and could some day attack Earth.

However, it looks like Snowden just rained on the conspiracy parade.

Get the best of News18 delivered to your inbox - subscribe to News18 Daybreak. Follow News18.com on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Telegram, TikTok and on YouTube, and stay in the know with what's happening in the world around you in real time.

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Edward Snowden Confirms Aliens Never Contacted the CIA and Moon Landing Did Happen - News18

Russia has extended Edward Snowden's asylum to remain in Russia until 2020.He sought and received asylum in Russia in June 2013 after leaking volumes of information on American intelligence and surveillance operations to the media. USA TODAY

Edward Snowden, who in 2013 leaked information on how the NSA conducted surveillance on the public, said in an interview Mondaythat former-Vice President Joe Biden warned foreign countries that there would be "consequences" if they granted him asylum.

During a segment on "The 11th Hour with BrianWilliams" on MSNBC, Snowden said both Biden and then-Secretaryof State John Kerry blocked him from getting asylum.

Edward Snowden speaks from Russia to the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France, in 2015.(Photo: Frederick Florin, AFP/Getty Images)

Biden's campaign team didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

The former vice president did ask Ecuador to turn down an asylum request from Snowden in 2013, the Associated Press reported.Rafael Correa, the former president of Ecuador,said he had a "friendly and very cordial" conversation withBiden about the matter.

PUBLIC SURVEILLANCE:NSA improperly collected US phone call data after saying problem was fixed

White House officials said in 2013 that they had warned foreign governments that Snowden was facing felony charges and urged them not to aid his international flight.

Snowden, who is currently in Russia, said he has applied for asylum in 27 different countries, including France, Germany and Norway, but without luck.

"Every time one of these governments got close to opening their doors, the phone would ring in their foreign ministries," Snowden said in the interview with Williams. "And on the other end of the line would be a very senior American official. It was one of two people: then-Secretary of State John Kerry or then-Vice President Joe Biden."

MASSIVE BREACH:Ex-NSA contractor pleads guilty to hoarding national defense information

"They would say: 'Look, we don't care what the law is. We don't care if you can do this or not. We understand that protecting whistleblowers and granting asylum is a matter of human rights, and you could do this if you want to. But if you protect this man, if you let this guy out of Russia, there will be consequences.'"

When MSNBC's Williams asked if Snowden would vote for Biden in 2020, the former NSA contractor laughed but said he isn't taking a position on the upcoming presidential election.

In this Feb. 14, 2015, file photo, Edward Snowden appears on a live video feed broadcast from Moscow at an event sponsored by ACLU Hawaii in Honolulu.(Photo: Marco Garcia, AP File Photo)

"Look, it's a difficult position being in the executive branch," he said. "It's a difficult position being in power, and you have to make unpopular decisions. I would like to think, having seen now in 2019 that all the allegations against me did not come true, national security was not harmed as a result of these disclosures ... I'd like to think these people would reevaluate their position."

There are more details about Snowden's life and quest for asylum in his newautobiography "Permanent Record," which on Tuesday was releasedin more than 20 countries including the U.S. and Britain.

The book details his dash out of the country six years ago after Snowden hailed as a hero, trashed as traitor leaked information from the NSA. He thought his stop in Russia was a layover on a flight from Hong Kong to Latin America, but his passport was canceled and he has lived in Putin-approvedexile ever since.

PERMANENT RECORD:Edward Snowden releases book in Russia, wants a fair trial in U.S.

LAWSUIT FILED:Feds sue Edward Snowden over 'Permanent Record'

Edward Snowden(Photo: The Guardian, AFP/Getty Images)

He claims he rejected overtures from Russian agents to aid their cause. And he claims he was a whistleblower, while the Justice Department of President Barack Obama charged him with espionage. Snowden is conducting a de facto book tour this week, via satellite from Moscow. He says he does not regret his actions and that he wants to return to the U.S.

"I'm not asking for a parade. I'm not asking for a pardon," he toldCBS News. "I'm not asking for a pass. What I'm asking for is a fair trial. And this is the bottom line that any American should require."

USA Today's John Bacon contributed reporting. Jessica Bies finds the news of the moment and brings it to you with local context and perspective. What have you heard people talking about? Call (302) 324-2881 oremailjbies@delawareonline.com with story ideas.

Read or Share this story: https://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/2019/09/17/snowden-biden-blocked-former-nsa-contractor-getting-asylum/2350070001/

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Edward Snowden: Joe Biden told countries there'd be ...

A riveting account... Reads like a literary thriller... Snowden pushes the reader to reflect more seriously on what every American should be asking already. What does it mean to have the data of our lives collected and stored on file, ready to be accessednot just now, by whatever administration happens to be in office at the moment, but potentially forever?... When it comes to privacy and speech and the Constitution, his story clarifies the stakes.The New York TimesGripping... Snowden demonstrates a knack for explaining in lucid and compelling language the inner workings of [CIA and NSA] systems and the menace he came to believe they posed.The Washington PostSnowden eventually decided his loyalties lay not with the agencies he was working for, but the public they were set up to protect. He felt ordinary citizens were being betrayed, and he had a duty to explain how.... His account of the experiences that led him to take momentous decisions, along with the details he gives of his family background, serve as a robust defense against accusations that he is a traitor. It also offers a reminder that his disclosures of mass surveillance and bulk collection of personal information are as relevant now as they were in 2013. The Guardian

Even for those of us whove followed the Snowden revelations closely, Permanent Record is full of surprises.... A deeply reluctant whistleblower, Snowden also emerges as a peculiarly American patriot, with roots that go back to Plymouth Rock.... As his memoir makes clear, all the techniques he exposed in 2013 remain in place. For that renewed warningand for finally speaking for himselfhe deserves our thanks.The NationWell-written... Snowdens descriptions of the real impact of the various surveillance systems he disclosedstripped of abstract concepts and technical jargonare some of the most disturbing parts of the book.... Offers a useful reminder of the god-like omniscience that digital data can bestow on those with the power to collect it all.The Economist

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Permanent Record: Edward Snowden: 9781250237231: Amazon ...