Permanent Record

by Edward Snowden

★ 4.30 (54K) • 2019

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⚡️ 10 Quotes from the book

“I used to work for the government, but now I work for the public.”

“The reason you’re reading this book is that I did a dangerous thing for a man in my position: I decided to tell the truth.”

“This was the beginning of surveillance capitalism, and the end of the Internet as I knew it.”

“That, ultimately, is the critical flaw or design defect intentionally integrated into every system, in both politics and computing: the people who create the rules have no incentive to act against themselves.”

“To hack a system requires getting to know its rules better than the people who created it or are running it, and exploiting all the vulnerable distance between how those people had intended the system to work and how it actually works, or could be made to work. In capitalizing on these unintentional uses, hackers aren’t breaking the rules as much as debunking them.”

“You should always let people underestimate you. Because when people misappraise your intelligence and abilities, they’re merely pointing out their own vulnerabilities—the gaping holes in their judgment that need to stay open if you want to cartwheel through later on a flaming horse, correcting the record with your sword of justice.”

“I was reminded of what is perhaps the fundamental rule of technological progress: if something can be done, it probably will be done, and possibly already has been.”

“America’s fundamental laws exist to make the job of law enforcement not easier but harder. This isn’t a bug, it’s a core feature of democracy.”

“Ultimately, saying that you don’t care about privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different from saying you don’t care about freedom of speech because you have nothing to say.”

“We can’t allow ourselves to be used in this way, to be used against the future. We can’t permit our data to be used to sell us the very things that must not be sold, such as journalism.”

Related videos

16:39

Author chats with Trevor Noah via video about asylum and book

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Sep, 2019

Spoiler: Appearing on The Daily Show via video call, Edward Snowden talks with Trevor Noah about everything from his preferred video games to surreal moments at the NSA, such as colleagues turning their screens toward him to show nudes captured from unknowing American citizens. Speaking from his apartment in Moscow, he says he would go back to the United States if he could get a fair trial (but knows he can’t), and that he feels that what he did has made a difference and was necessary.

73:17

Snowden talks via video with ACLU director about life and book

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Oct, 2019

Spoiler: Chatting with ACLU Director Anthony Romero and addressing an audience in Brooklyn, New York, Edward Snowden reflects on the path that led him to become a whistleblower. He says he was always fascinated by technology but didn't want to be defined by it, and originally wanted to become an English teacher. He speaks about his now-wife, answering the question “What’s the price?” of not being able, for her security, to share everything with the person he loved. He also talks about his epilepsy, his army experience and the eventual whistleblowing.

1:59

Snowden describes his change of attitude toward former work

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Sep, 2019

Spoiler: Warning that “everything we do lasts forever,” Edward Snowden expresses regret about his part in building a global surveillance system. He reflects that at one point he was filled with pride over his work with the CIA and the NSA, that he was delighted to be “on the inside.” That pride soon turned to ethical questions and then serious qualms and ended up in the whistleblowing that caused him to flee the U.S. and that sparked a national and global conversation about privacy.

Related movies

Snowden (Movie 2016)

Available on: IMDB 7.3 Netflix Amazon Prime

Follow the author

Publications

The New York Times: In Edward Snowden’s New Memoir, the Disclosures This Time Are Personal

The Wall Street Journal: ‘Permanent Record’ Review: A Hero in His Own Mind

The Times: Permanent Record by Edward Snowden review — CIA whistleblower tells his story

The Economist: Edward Snowden’s memoir reveals some (but not all)

National Public Radio: In 'Permanent Record,' Edward Snowden Says 'Exile Is An Endless Layover'

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