emdnuofuoy's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Un must-read pour tous car nous sommes tous concernés par la surveillance de masse terrible décrite par Edward Snowden. Un grand merci et bravo à lui pour tous les sacrifices qu’il a menés pour nous livrer ce récit aujourd’hui, qui en plus a le mérite d’être très clair malgré un jargon informatique. On ressent réellement les dilemmes qu’il a lui-même ressentis, ce même déchirement quand il décide de tout quitter pour révéler la vérité, et ce même sentiment de paix lors de ses retrouvailles avec Lindsay.
bxlbooks91's review against another edition
3.0
Being a bit harsh, but that’s only because it didn’t bring me much I didn’t know already.
Still worth the read.
3,5*
Still worth the read.
3,5*
jamessrenassiance's review against another edition
4.0
tbf this book has made me realise how little I know about the world and my place in it. And ultimately how early I am in my journey as a human being. It feels like 2007. I feel I am in the place I will one day mark as the before times. I feel implored to read into human rights and civil liberties, to have a solid honest no ballshit relationship with myself with clarity on what is personal, what do I share and what is private, and what is true. To build an awareness of my personhood and never sacrifice it ever ever again. To not be a stranger to myself, to think for me, fight and act on what I know to be right and to have the balls to bring meaning to my personal principles by taking big risks and standing up for myself correctly. This guy took on one the biggest and most powerful enemys a human being can make and has made it the other side. I could not do what he did. I lack......moral courage ect i hope to read this book a few years down the line, understand it better and have filled in the gaps in my character and knowledge
wildeaboutoscar's review against another edition
5.0
Incredible insight into what someone will do for the freedom of others. I take back my grumbling about GDPR!
rhyslindmark's review against another edition
3.0
Fun read, especially the last half (and Lindsay's diary).
lamida's review against another edition
5.0
What if all your digital activities that suppose to be private are being collected and stored somewhere by someone? It includes your browsing history, email communication, SMS, Whatsapp, your private photos in the cloud, your non-public social media post, your phone call, and maybe more. That is not an if anymore. Because that has happened for some time which is exposed by Snowden and narrated by himself in this book.
I have been quite an indifference with Snowden's story until recently when I become more interested in information security and privacy. Reading this book will give you more awareness to be more considerate and sharing information in the internet because you can never remove all of your digital traces. It also can make you more cautious when doing online communications.
The book started with his background, how he grew up, and how he ends up working around NSA and CIA (indirectly as a contractor). To some people, they think this background story is boring because those people are having just the same experience. I disagree. His childhood story is fascinating for me because I didn't experience that. How he got introduced to his first computer, how is his school life, how he feel obliged to protect his country after 9/11 by enlisting to the army? That is a necessary background story to provide complete picture why he ends up whistleblowing the global surveillance program.
The second part of the books are telling his stint in NSA/CIA. His move to Geneva and later to Tokyo and later move again to Hawaii. The last part of the book tells how he eventually exposing the surveillance program. The part of how he can sneak out the surveillance documents is thrilling. He uses micros SD card and try to be friendly with security officers. The other part of how he plan which journalists should he share this information, in which country he should meet them is also very interesting. He eventually flew to Hongkong to meet the journalist when at the same time officials started to notice and trying to get him. In Hongkong, he eventually meets the journalist and handed over all the documents. The next plan was he will fly to Ecuador to get an asylum. He tried to get asylum to some more countries but most of them are stepping back preventing him to avoid a blow from uncle Sam. Getting to Ecuador is not as simple flying from Hongkong to Ecuador. He must ensure to fly through countries without any extradition agreement with the USA. The choice was to fly to Moscow then Cuba and Ecuador. The transit in Moscow that supposed to be just couple of hours become years now since his passport was revoked mid-air between Hongkong and Moscow flight. There is one chapter that I want to highlight, which is Lindsay Mills's diary. This is the only chapter in the book taken from another person's perspective, Linday the Snowden's girlfriend. She is avid diary writer. We saw Lindsay's story from the moment Snowden left to Hongkong until some time when she is scrutinized by the official trying to get information about Snowden.
I almost think that the Snowden story will end in a heartbreaking way. But knowing that in the end, he can live quite normal in Russia and even can reunite again with Lindsay is making me feel slightly at ease. I wonder if he ever directly meets with his family again. But my biggest wonder is why he decided to whistleblow at all? I don't see he gets any significant financial benefit. Yes, he is very famous now. But I don't see the fame as a logical goal too. Is it just a conscience or am I missing something from what triggers him to sacrifice?
I have been quite an indifference with Snowden's story until recently when I become more interested in information security and privacy. Reading this book will give you more awareness to be more considerate and sharing information in the internet because you can never remove all of your digital traces. It also can make you more cautious when doing online communications.
The book started with his background, how he grew up, and how he ends up working around NSA and CIA (indirectly as a contractor). To some people, they think this background story is boring because those people are having just the same experience. I disagree. His childhood story is fascinating for me because I didn't experience that. How he got introduced to his first computer, how is his school life, how he feel obliged to protect his country after 9/11 by enlisting to the army? That is a necessary background story to provide complete picture why he ends up whistleblowing the global surveillance program.
The second part of the books are telling his stint in NSA/CIA. His move to Geneva and later to Tokyo and later move again to Hawaii. The last part of the book tells how he eventually exposing the surveillance program. The part of how he can sneak out the surveillance documents is thrilling. He uses micros SD card and try to be friendly with security officers. The other part of how he plan which journalists should he share this information, in which country he should meet them is also very interesting. He eventually flew to Hongkong to meet the journalist when at the same time officials started to notice and trying to get him. In Hongkong, he eventually meets the journalist and handed over all the documents. The next plan was he will fly to Ecuador to get an asylum. He tried to get asylum to some more countries but most of them are stepping back preventing him to avoid a blow from uncle Sam. Getting to Ecuador is not as simple flying from Hongkong to Ecuador. He must ensure to fly through countries without any extradition agreement with the USA. The choice was to fly to Moscow then Cuba and Ecuador. The transit in Moscow that supposed to be just couple of hours become years now since his passport was revoked mid-air between Hongkong and Moscow flight. There is one chapter that I want to highlight, which is Lindsay Mills's diary. This is the only chapter in the book taken from another person's perspective, Linday the Snowden's girlfriend. She is avid diary writer. We saw Lindsay's story from the moment Snowden left to Hongkong until some time when she is scrutinized by the official trying to get information about Snowden.
I almost think that the Snowden story will end in a heartbreaking way. But knowing that in the end, he can live quite normal in Russia and even can reunite again with Lindsay is making me feel slightly at ease. I wonder if he ever directly meets with his family again. But my biggest wonder is why he decided to whistleblow at all? I don't see he gets any significant financial benefit. Yes, he is very famous now. But I don't see the fame as a logical goal too. Is it just a conscience or am I missing something from what triggers him to sacrifice?
gianouts's review against another edition
5.0
I felt some nostalgia at the beginning of the book with discussion of the emergence of personal computers and the Internet of the 1990s.
I found it to be a very engaging story about Edward's life, the emotions and moral dilemnas he confronted, and the Intelligence Community (IC).
I was surprised to read that so much of the IC in the US is outsourced to organisations or contractors.
I was aware that there was and is a significant amount of surveillance capability, but it was interesting to have some of it confirmed and hear about the extent of this capability and importance of metadata over content.
The challenges of releasing the information and being credible whilst maintaining anonymity was an interesting read.
Reading about the power of XKEYSTORE to search nearly everything a user does in the Internet was mind-blowing; thoughts of Big Brother in George Oswell's 1984 came to mind.
I am amazed by Edward's courage to speak up despite knowing that there would be significant consequences to his life.
I found it to be a very engaging story about Edward's life, the emotions and moral dilemnas he confronted, and the Intelligence Community (IC).
I was surprised to read that so much of the IC in the US is outsourced to organisations or contractors.
I was aware that there was and is a significant amount of surveillance capability, but it was interesting to have some of it confirmed and hear about the extent of this capability and importance of metadata over content.
The challenges of releasing the information and being credible whilst maintaining anonymity was an interesting read.
Reading about the power of XKEYSTORE to search nearly everything a user does in the Internet was mind-blowing; thoughts of Big Brother in George Oswell's 1984 came to mind.
I am amazed by Edward's courage to speak up despite knowing that there would be significant consequences to his life.