rick2's review against another edition
4.0
I’m glad Snowden wrote a book. I work in tech and occasionally get involved in conversations about privacy vs. security. Now when people start spewing nonsense about the NSA and FBI spying on everyone, I can patronizingly recommend this book.
The book itself has some issues. I think Snowden is as honest as he can be. But I think he is blind to the dark realities that the work has. Knowing a few people who worked at the NSA post Snowden, and being plenty familiar with their negative opinions of him, it was very interesting to read his account of what happened. I don’t think any of the information struck me as fundamentally new, but it was nice to hear the overview all in one place.
I think at its core. Edward Snowden was an idealist who was faced with the dark reality of governance at a young age. His life went from “happy fun spy time” to “holy shit” way too fast. The realization of the realities of surveillance shook him to his core. So he did what he thought was best.
I’m not qualified to weigh in on the moral judgements around this, so I won’t. But as a book, I highly recommend it. It’s well written and appears the Mr Snowden does his best to be honest. I’m interested to see what his life looks like over the next few decades
The book itself has some issues. I think Snowden is as honest as he can be. But I think he is blind to the dark realities that the work has. Knowing a few people who worked at the NSA post Snowden, and being plenty familiar with their negative opinions of him, it was very interesting to read his account of what happened. I don’t think any of the information struck me as fundamentally new, but it was nice to hear the overview all in one place.
I think at its core. Edward Snowden was an idealist who was faced with the dark reality of governance at a young age. His life went from “happy fun spy time” to “holy shit” way too fast. The realization of the realities of surveillance shook him to his core. So he did what he thought was best.
I’m not qualified to weigh in on the moral judgements around this, so I won’t. But as a book, I highly recommend it. It’s well written and appears the Mr Snowden does his best to be honest. I’m interested to see what his life looks like over the next few decades
badoit90's review against another edition
4.0
4 Stars // YOU are being tracked and don’t give two shits about it. Well, neither do I unfortunately, and weirdly has there never been much of an ongoing protest when it comes to the mass surveillance that Edward Snowden laid bare in the autumn of 2013. There is a strange unanimous acquiescence amongst humans when it comes to their privacy, where the benefits of using data trackers like smartphones seemingly outweigh their downsides - meaning: the constant stream of metadata these devices collect on you. A big part of the problem in my mind is that most people are unaware of the scale of data collection that’s going on, hence why books like this one are so important.
If you have been around the internet since 2013 the name Edward Snowden should mean something to you. Hailed by many for shining light on an otherwise top-secret NSA operation, he since has to hide somewhere in Russia as he made himself a lot of enemies in top-level US-agencies. In ‘Permanent Record’ Snowden confesses his reasonings behind becoming a Whistleblower, he reveals how the NSA collects your data and what kind of information is actually being saved and could potentially be used against you. Without wanting to spoil it, the book is called ‘Permanent Record’ for a reason.
These juicy parts though make up just he last third of the book - the first two thirds he spends on setting the scene. He talks about how video games shaped his early life, how he eventually got a job at a government agency with top-level clearance and goes in-depth about the days that led up to the famous interview he gave for the Guardian in a hotel room somewhere in Hong Kong. Some readers criticised the book for its slow start, but I thought the built-up was quite important to understand why it only could have been Edward Snowden to ultimately make a move such as this one.
In the end, ‘Permanent Record’ won’t tell you much more than you already know. You know that your phone has a lot of information about you, no matter the brand you’re using. For me though, it invigorated this knowledge and I did make some changes in how I am using my phone since. Furthermore, the book made Edward Snowden more human - it showed me that in the end he was a citizen like you and me, who just happened to be equipped with the right technical knowledge and moral principles to blow the whistle on this scale. ‘Permanent Record’ is humble and sober in its tone, it could have almost gone a bit further in its revelations - I mean, what does he still have to loose? - but I appreciate Snowdens actions nevertheless. The book is no masterpiece by any means but an important read for our modern times, worth 4 stars.
It happened just a few days ago now that Edward Snowden was granted Russian citizenship. Some analysts say that this might bring final closure to this story. Others argue that it might just be the beginning, I guess time will tell.
If you have been around the internet since 2013 the name Edward Snowden should mean something to you. Hailed by many for shining light on an otherwise top-secret NSA operation, he since has to hide somewhere in Russia as he made himself a lot of enemies in top-level US-agencies. In ‘Permanent Record’ Snowden confesses his reasonings behind becoming a Whistleblower, he reveals how the NSA collects your data and what kind of information is actually being saved and could potentially be used against you. Without wanting to spoil it, the book is called ‘Permanent Record’ for a reason.
These juicy parts though make up just he last third of the book - the first two thirds he spends on setting the scene. He talks about how video games shaped his early life, how he eventually got a job at a government agency with top-level clearance and goes in-depth about the days that led up to the famous interview he gave for the Guardian in a hotel room somewhere in Hong Kong. Some readers criticised the book for its slow start, but I thought the built-up was quite important to understand why it only could have been Edward Snowden to ultimately make a move such as this one.
In the end, ‘Permanent Record’ won’t tell you much more than you already know. You know that your phone has a lot of information about you, no matter the brand you’re using. For me though, it invigorated this knowledge and I did make some changes in how I am using my phone since. Furthermore, the book made Edward Snowden more human - it showed me that in the end he was a citizen like you and me, who just happened to be equipped with the right technical knowledge and moral principles to blow the whistle on this scale. ‘Permanent Record’ is humble and sober in its tone, it could have almost gone a bit further in its revelations - I mean, what does he still have to loose? - but I appreciate Snowdens actions nevertheless. The book is no masterpiece by any means but an important read for our modern times, worth 4 stars.
It happened just a few days ago now that Edward Snowden was granted Russian citizenship. Some analysts say that this might bring final closure to this story. Others argue that it might just be the beginning, I guess time will tell.
jorgjuar's review against another edition
3.0
Good... and that's about it. After having read some of the other users' reviews, I noticed most of them refer to Snowden himself or his actions rather than the book. This is a review of the book.
Permanent Record is a sort of autobiographic book combined with the explanation of mass surveillance programs carried out by NSA and other state agencies, as well as the motivations that made Snowden to reveal such programs.
The first part is pretty much the autobiographical one, which, to be honest is somewhat boring. I do understand that E. Snowden, just like many other people, tries to find some sense of his adulthood by retrospectively looking into his childhood, convince himself of that, and then project that idea into the reader, but he could certainly made it way shorter. Anyway, as Chuck Palahniuk once said, "...every person is obsessed with himself.".
The rest of the book is what is mostly interesting (with some other exceptions here and there). E. Snowden explains in greater detail the inner workings and hierarchical tree within CIA as well as how he ended up finding the surveillance programs in question, how he managed to exfiltrate them, divulge them, and finally the response of lawmakers and tech world.
At some point, however, E. Snowden views on other countries depend on what they meant for his situation at the moment. For example, he states that many of the mass surveillance programs ended up in a profound distrust of the government, which, in turn, explains some of the rise of populism in different parts of the world; he's kind of right on this one. But later on the book, he refers to Venezuela, Bolivia, Argentina and Ecuador as countries that "fight the US imperialism" inasmuch as they were potential asylum provider countries, however, he conveniently omits that those countries are also run by populists, bringing the same aftermaths that any other populist, regardless of the wing they belong to.
As a side note, given the jobs descriptions that E. Snowden actually did, it doesn't seem that he was really in charge of complex designs (not to confuse with operation) or blue team activities on a day-to-day basis, which at some point contradicts some of the statements he's given in other forums. It also caught my attention that he incorrectly describes basic tech acronyms (no wonder why in Sec forums such as DEFCON his knowledge is undermined).
In short, Permanent Record is a good book but no more than that. Given the importance of the mass surveillance programs and everything it involved, I'd recommend you to read it although you may want to read really quick the first part.
Permanent Record is a sort of autobiographic book combined with the explanation of mass surveillance programs carried out by NSA and other state agencies, as well as the motivations that made Snowden to reveal such programs.
The first part is pretty much the autobiographical one, which, to be honest is somewhat boring. I do understand that E. Snowden, just like many other people, tries to find some sense of his adulthood by retrospectively looking into his childhood, convince himself of that, and then project that idea into the reader, but he could certainly made it way shorter. Anyway, as Chuck Palahniuk once said, "...every person is obsessed with himself.".
The rest of the book is what is mostly interesting (with some other exceptions here and there). E. Snowden explains in greater detail the inner workings and hierarchical tree within CIA as well as how he ended up finding the surveillance programs in question, how he managed to exfiltrate them, divulge them, and finally the response of lawmakers and tech world.
At some point, however, E. Snowden views on other countries depend on what they meant for his situation at the moment. For example, he states that many of the mass surveillance programs ended up in a profound distrust of the government, which, in turn, explains some of the rise of populism in different parts of the world; he's kind of right on this one. But later on the book, he refers to Venezuela, Bolivia, Argentina and Ecuador as countries that "fight the US imperialism" inasmuch as they were potential asylum provider countries, however, he conveniently omits that those countries are also run by populists, bringing the same aftermaths that any other populist, regardless of the wing they belong to.
As a side note, given the jobs descriptions that E. Snowden actually did, it doesn't seem that he was really in charge of complex designs (not to confuse with operation) or blue team activities on a day-to-day basis, which at some point contradicts some of the statements he's given in other forums. It also caught my attention that he incorrectly describes basic tech acronyms (no wonder why in Sec forums such as DEFCON his knowledge is undermined).
In short, Permanent Record is a good book but no more than that. Given the importance of the mass surveillance programs and everything it involved, I'd recommend you to read it although you may want to read really quick the first part.
israology's review against another edition
5.0
My favorite non-fiction for the year. Smooth writing with even smoother words. Snowden out did himself. For my non-tech people, this is the perfect book to start when it comes to entering the rabbit hole re: dark internet, cybersecurity, and data surveillance. I got soooo much more than I was expecting to get from this book.
Dear Edward Snowden, thank you for your service.
Dear Edward Snowden, thank you for your service.
vernscul's review against another edition
4.0
This was pretty good! Informative and eye opening. Technological concepts were well explained. I disagree with the top community review that you can "safely skip 19 chapters". You can safely skip part 1 (10 chapters) which are about Snowden's upbringing / personal life, but I appreciated the backstory. Part 2 is then information on his career development, government agencies, and information about technology, which I think is very relevant to understanding the rest of the story.
Overall, highly recommend. I'm a bit embarrassed to say that I was one of those people who are like "I have nothing to hide, why should I care if the government can see what I'm doing online?" But this book does a good job of explaining why *everyone* should care about this.
Overall, highly recommend. I'm a bit embarrassed to say that I was one of those people who are like "I have nothing to hide, why should I care if the government can see what I'm doing online?" But this book does a good job of explaining why *everyone* should care about this.
violabaldwin's review against another edition
4.0
Great book, I am so impressed by Edward Snowden and his courage and principles, and his strong character to make such a difficult but important decision all by himself. I hope he gets pardoned very soon and will be protected and able to live a free life.
I loved how he wrote the book so that complicated technical stuff stayed as understandable and comprehensive as possible, loved the personal touch of Lindsey's journal entries and overall, how none of it ever got too boring or technical or too lost in details.
I was very surprised and shocked to read that so many of the agency's employees are Fox News and Breitbart fanboys but less surprised how the surveillance practices fired up the toxic masculinity.
I loved how he wrote the book so that complicated technical stuff stayed as understandable and comprehensive as possible, loved the personal touch of Lindsey's journal entries and overall, how none of it ever got too boring or technical or too lost in details.
I was very surprised and shocked to read that so many of the agency's employees are Fox News and Breitbart fanboys but less surprised how the surveillance practices fired up the toxic masculinity.