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4.31 AVERAGE
4.31 AVERAGE
Listened on audio - easy to follow and pretty quick. Might have liked to hear a bit more about any conflicting feelings he had about what he did or responding to criticism.
Remarkably well written, and there's plenty of grey area for reasonable and intelligent people to agree or disagree on various framings and actions that are covered for what is "right/just". Even though his writing can be grandiose in a way that is eye roll-inducing, I still have a very positive impression upon finishing this memoir.
I come away realizing I was rapt by a book where I disagree with much of the thinking in terms of “I work for the constitution, not the government” - encryption, privacy, and security are all essential tools to our modern existence, but leveraging pieces of paper written in the 1700s to be your primary set of principles for navigating challenges posed by ever-changing technology and its impact on society is naïve at best. And yes, his obsession with the Constitution runs so deep that he published this on Constitution Day...
I come away realizing I was rapt by a book where I disagree with much of the thinking in terms of “I work for the constitution, not the government” - encryption, privacy, and security are all essential tools to our modern existence, but leveraging pieces of paper written in the 1700s to be your primary set of principles for navigating challenges posed by ever-changing technology and its impact on society is naïve at best. And yes, his obsession with the Constitution runs so deep that he published this on Constitution Day...
Trough pages we can clearly understand how the world works in terms of this new tech era, but wat amazes the most is that this happened seven years from now, and as this increases exponentially, we may be way far from what we can imagine.
Snowden offers us a great perspective of how USA agencies were achieving to get our information, just in case one day it would be necessary. But now that most people understand the value of data, we surely know what the future would be like.
Snowden offers us a great perspective of how USA agencies were achieving to get our information, just in case one day it would be necessary. But now that most people understand the value of data, we surely know what the future would be like.
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Surveillance is everywhere. It can be visible, like the CCTV cameras in shops, stations and street corners. Or it can be way sneakier - tapped phone calls, hacking into emails and texts, without the one being under surveillance knowing anything about it. It is scary, illegal, and sadly very widespread. Luckily, there are people like Edward Snowden who are willing to risk it all to expose this kind of spying.
Edward Snowden was just another IT guy before 2013, when thousands of documents he had smuggled out of his job at NSA were leaked to the press. That is the starting point of his autobiography, Permanent Record. Snowden details his life from a rather rocky childhood of a divorced family, and how computers fascinated him. After a brief stint in the US Army during the Iraq War - a decision Snowden deeply regrets in hindsight - he found himself a security guard, and later on found himself fascinated by the CIA at a job fair, ultimately accepting a job offer from them.
A computer wizard and a deeply analytical man, Snowden details his life in sometimes rather tiresome, but still ultimately promising ways. While his musings on mononucleosis during high school years might not seem all that interesting, what kept me hooked on this book was the knowledge that this is Edward freaking Snowden, one of the biggest whistleblowers in US history, and I was dying to find out just what happened to him after he revealed himself as the leaker. That's why some of the early parts of Permanent Record felt a bit dragged out for me, but they do build a solid picture of who Snowden is as a person, which helps a great deal in understanding his later actions.
What stood out for me above all in an autobiography that felt quite run-of-the-mill was not necessarily any of the writing, which was okay, but the character of Snowden. He never seemed to me to be a holier-than-thou Messiah of some righteous truth, but he also never seemed to martyrise himself for having done what he did. It was his decision to leak the documents and to put his life in danger for it, and he never describes himself a hero, just a man with principles. He also expresses immense gratitude for the people in his life who have stood by him, never feeling like he was entitled to their support while putting their lives through the ringer, too. There is something noble and sincere about how humble and down-to-earth Snowden is, that really brings home how he is just another employee, who one day decided he'd had enough.
Especially central in this gratitude to the people in his life is Snowden's appreciation for his wife, Lindsay. Snowden never takes for granted the immense sacrifices Lindsay has made, from uprooting her life several times to follow Snowden to wherever his job took him, to ultimately following him to Russia, where he now lives in exile after going public for his leaks. Snowden's life and actions are a love letter to freedom and to his fellow citizens, and at a deeper core of this book is a love letter for Lindsay, and immense gratitude for her. Towards the end of the book, Snowden has included excerpts from Lindsay's diaries from around the time of Snowden's leaks. It is her voice that Snowden wants to amplify as the voice of those around him who have suffered for his actions, making this book less one-sided than your average autobiography, and bringing with it some charm, too.
Overall, Permanent Record is a love letter to freedom by a man who does not think all that highly of himself, even when he's done some amazing things.
Edward Snowden was just another IT guy before 2013, when thousands of documents he had smuggled out of his job at NSA were leaked to the press. That is the starting point of his autobiography, Permanent Record. Snowden details his life from a rather rocky childhood of a divorced family, and how computers fascinated him. After a brief stint in the US Army during the Iraq War - a decision Snowden deeply regrets in hindsight - he found himself a security guard, and later on found himself fascinated by the CIA at a job fair, ultimately accepting a job offer from them.
A computer wizard and a deeply analytical man, Snowden details his life in sometimes rather tiresome, but still ultimately promising ways. While his musings on mononucleosis during high school years might not seem all that interesting, what kept me hooked on this book was the knowledge that this is Edward freaking Snowden, one of the biggest whistleblowers in US history, and I was dying to find out just what happened to him after he revealed himself as the leaker. That's why some of the early parts of Permanent Record felt a bit dragged out for me, but they do build a solid picture of who Snowden is as a person, which helps a great deal in understanding his later actions.
What stood out for me above all in an autobiography that felt quite run-of-the-mill was not necessarily any of the writing, which was okay, but the character of Snowden. He never seemed to me to be a holier-than-thou Messiah of some righteous truth, but he also never seemed to martyrise himself for having done what he did. It was his decision to leak the documents and to put his life in danger for it, and he never describes himself a hero, just a man with principles. He also expresses immense gratitude for the people in his life who have stood by him, never feeling like he was entitled to their support while putting their lives through the ringer, too. There is something noble and sincere about how humble and down-to-earth Snowden is, that really brings home how he is just another employee, who one day decided he'd had enough.
Especially central in this gratitude to the people in his life is Snowden's appreciation for his wife, Lindsay. Snowden never takes for granted the immense sacrifices Lindsay has made, from uprooting her life several times to follow Snowden to wherever his job took him, to ultimately following him to Russia, where he now lives in exile after going public for his leaks. Snowden's life and actions are a love letter to freedom and to his fellow citizens, and at a deeper core of this book is a love letter for Lindsay, and immense gratitude for her. Towards the end of the book, Snowden has included excerpts from Lindsay's diaries from around the time of Snowden's leaks. It is her voice that Snowden wants to amplify as the voice of those around him who have suffered for his actions, making this book less one-sided than your average autobiography, and bringing with it some charm, too.
Overall, Permanent Record is a love letter to freedom by a man who does not think all that highly of himself, even when he's done some amazing things.
informative
A lot of courage is required to whistle blow. Against ubiquitous and magnanimous god father it requires a lot more than courage.
A brief account of what happened with out giving the technical details was good. I hope he stays happy for the rest of his life.
The only way to secure us from online is to encrypt every data that is stored on disk or on cloud.
A brief account of what happened with out giving the technical details was good. I hope he stays happy for the rest of his life.
The only way to secure us from online is to encrypt every data that is stored on disk or on cloud.
Testo meraviglioso, secondo me immancabile per capire i cambiamenti e gli stravolgimenti del concetto di internet dagli anni '80 ad oggi. Snowden racconta per filo e per segno le vicende che lo hanno riguardato e portato - ai giorni odierni - ad essere rifugiato politico in Russia, impossibilitato a tornare in USA per aver rivelato il suo sistema di controllo della privacy illegale. Ma la sua storia è soprattutto la narrazione malinconica di un giovane nerd che ha visto internet nascere, che con essa ha scoperto le sue potenzialità, per poi vederla trasformarsi irrimediabilmente in un grosso mercato che non guarda in faccia a nessuno, pronto a tutto pur di accumulare dati per controllare e vendere di più. Snowden è nato nell'83 come me, per questo ho sentito la sua esperienza molto vicina!
