Permanent Record. Edward Snowden, the man who risked everything to expose the US government’s system of mass surveillance, reveals for the first time the story of his life, including how he helped to build that system and what motivated him to try to bring it down. Edward Snowden, the man who risked everything to expose the US government’s system of mass surveillance, reveals for the first time the. HOME; Contact Us. Spanning the bucolic Beltway suburbs of his childhood and the clandestine CIA and NSA postings of his adulthood, Permanent Record is the extraordinary account of a bright young man who grew up online—a man who became a spy, a whistleblower, and, in exile, the Internet’s conscience. Spanning the bucolic Beltway suburbs of his childhood and the clandestine CIA and NSA postings of his adulthood, Permanent Record is the extraordinary account of a bright young man who grew up online - a man who became a spy, a whistleblower, and, in exile, the internet’s conscience.

On Sept. 29, 2020, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia entered a final judgment and permanent injunction against Edward Snowden, a former employee of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and contractor for the National Security Agency (NSA).

In September 2019, the United States filed a lawsuit against Snowden, who published a book entitled Permanent Record in violation of the non-disclosure agreements he signed with both CIA and NSA. The lawsuit alleged that Snowden published his book without submitting it to the agencies for pre-publication review, in violation of his express obligations under the agreements he signed. Additionally, the lawsuit alleges that Snowden has given public speeches on intelligence-related matters, also in violation of his non-disclosure agreements.

The United States’ lawsuit did not seek to stop or restrict the publication or distribution of Permanent Record. Rather, under well-established Supreme Court precedent, Snepp v. United States, the government sought to recover all proceeds earned by Snowden because of his failure to submit his publication for pre-publication review in violation of his alleged contractual and fiduciary obligations.

In December 2019, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, found in favor of the United States in the suit against Snowden on the issue of liability and held that Snowden breached his contractual and fiduciary obligations to the CIA and NSA by publishing PermanentRecord and giving prepared remarks within the scope of his pre-publication review obligations, but reserved judgment on the scope of these violations or the remedies due to the government. On Tuesday, the court entered judgment in the government’s favor in an amount exceeding $5.2 million and imposed a constructive trust for the benefit of the United States over those sums and any further monies, royalties, or other financial advantages derived by Snowden from Permanent Record and 56 specific speeches.

“Edward Snowden violated his legal obligations to the United States, and therefore, his unlawful financial gains must be relinquished to the government,” said Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen. “As this case demonstrates, the Department of Justice will not overlook the wrongful actions of those who seek to betray the trust reposed in them and to personally profit from their access to classified national security information.”

“Intelligence information should protect our nation, not provide personal profit,” said G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “This judgment will ensure that Edward Snowden receives no monetary benefits from breaching the trust placed in him.”

“We will pursue those who take advantage of sensitive positions in government to profit from the classified information learned during their government service,” said Jeffrey Bossert Clark, Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Division.

This lawsuit is separate from the criminal charges brought against Snowden for his alleged disclosures of classified information. This lawsuit is a civil action, and based solely on Snowden’s failure to comply with the clear pre-publication review obligations included in his signed non-disclosure agreements.

This matter is being handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia and the Department of Justice’s Civil Division.

I recently read Permanent Record by Edward Snowden. In the book, Snowden explains, in his own words, the path that leads him to blow the whistle on a massive, covert, digital spying operation by the National Security Administration (NSA). The book contains three parts.

In Part I, Edward Snowden provides the backstory of his life. He was giving context and setting the stage for the rest of the story. What resonated with me was that he is nearly the same age as I am and had many similar growing-up experiences. This part certainly allowed us as readers to understand his fascination with computing and technology. Here we also learn about why the unfiltered internet of the 1990s shaped his view of what the internet could and should be.

Throughout part II, we go on a journey. This journey takes us through the rapidly moving career of Edward Snowden. In this dizzying part, we learn about all of Snowden’s various positions as both a U.S. government employee and a contractor with the U. S. government. Amazingly, he was able to pivot into new posts rapidly.

Snowden slows down for the reader in multiple areas of the book. Not only does Snowden slow down when talking about his career, but he also slows down when talking about technical topics to ensure that a broad audience can fully understand key concepts. Snowden wants the reader to engage with the work.

Snowden slows down to explain the relationship between a government employee and a private corporation employee working on a contract for the U. S. government. This government employee/contractor line is very well defined. As someone who had no idea how this system worked, the explanation provided was fascinating.

By telling us the story of his career, we can see that he had access to understand the system from various angles, and always with very high access privileges. By explaining his career in this way, the reader can understand how Snowden saw how the internet should be and the problems he had surrounding internet privacy.

Through the lens of understanding the totality of Snowden’s career, the reader can consider Snowden as someone who has seen privacy concerns from multiple perspectives. By understanding his point-of-view, I believe Snowden communicates that he was not a disgruntled employee or contractor, spilling the beans for profit or national humiliation.

In part III, Snowden goes into detail about how he did it. How did he get data outside of very secure locations and later get them into the hands of journalists? Who did Snowden trust to tell the story that he was trying to unfold? Where did he go when he was getting this information out?

From the levels of encryption that he placed on the data to smuggling data out of the secure Tunnel in Hawaii where he worked. This part of the story contains the action, the excitement, and the drama of moving secrets. Snowden is tasked with moving secrets out of a government stronghold, into the hands of journalists, and ultimately the public.

This part ends with a thrilling account of how he became marooned in Russia with few options and ultimately choosing (perhaps not a choice) to live in Russia.

Lastly, this drama closes with diary pages from Snowden’s then-girlfriend, now wife, as she lived directly after the information was published. Her interrogations with the FBI and her legal struggle conclude in their reunion in Russia.

What do I think? I think this work is a vital piece outlining the importance of our data and internet privacy. The work outlines how the idea of privacy, in a digital way, is a fallacy. Even if the government has stopped its NSA spying program, which I’m doubting, large corporations collect any information about you they possibly can.

Over the last few years, I think it is fair to say that there has been some political turmoil in the United States. When asked about it, I have responded with some variation of: “What the big tech companies are doing is WAY more impactful to my life than what anybody is doing in Washington D.C.”

I still believe this sentiment is true, but now I think I should add that it isn’t what we know about the government. It’s what we don’t know that can have the most significant impact on our lives.

Before reading this work, I recognized that we (as users) had given away our privacy to big technology companies in exchange for really cool toys and services. Now, I know that unbeknownst to everyone, the government has backdoors to make sure that they can track everyone online (not just U.S. Citizens and residents). I can only assume other governments have similar backdoors.

Edward Snowden Permanent Record Pdf

What do I now know? There is no privacy digitally or online. It’s over. Our digital lives can and will be used against us by world governments at will. Can this be fixed? It doesn’t appear to be so. End-User License Agreements (EULA) get longer and longer by the day, and government operations are less detectable. This is part of life.

In writing this, I have self-identified myself to extensive government data-collecting platforms. So be it. I’m writing this to let folks know that Snowden’s arguments are sound, and I recommend reading the book for yourself and draw your conclusions.

What can be done? Move into using Tor and encrypting all communications and data. Moving life to more offline, analog activities. Turning smartphones off (actually powered down) when you’re not actively using them.

Edward Snowden Permanent Record Review

Below are some of the original articles that have been written about the information that Snowden provided to journalists, along with an explanation from Edward Snowden himself.