Permanent Record

by Edward Snowden

Paperback, 339 pages

Published Sept. 17, 2019 by Picador.

(113 reviews)

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.

In 2013, twenty-nine-year-old Edward Snowden shocked the world when he broke with the American intelligence establishment and revealed that the United States government was secretly pursuing the means to collect every single phone call, text message, and email. The result would be an unprecedented system of mass surveillance with the ability to pry into the private lives of every person on earth. Six years later, Snowden reveals for the very first time how he helped to build this system and why he was moved to expose it.

Spanning the bucolic Beltway suburbs of his childhood and the clandestine CIA and NSA postings of his adulthood, Permanent …

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. Written with wit, grace, passion, and an unflinching candor, Permanent Record is a crucial memoir of our digital age and destined to be a classic.

12 editions

Zéro Janvier reviewed Permanent Record by Edward Snowden

Review of 'Permanent Record' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Un témoignage passionnant du lanceur d’alerte Edward Snowden, qui a révélé au monde entier le programme illégal et anticonstitutionnel de surveillance de masse de la NSA cautionné par le gouvernement américain.

Les premiers chapitres m’ont fait penser à Aaron Schwartz, avec cette passion pour l’informatique et cette découverte enthousiasmante de l’Internet des années 1990, quand cet outil laissait espérer une utopie technologique au service du savoir et du partage.

La suite est évidemment plus sombre, avec cette plongée dans les coulisses de la CIA et de la NSA et leurs contingents de sous-traitants, faisant du renseignement américain un terrain de jeu géant et une poule aux œufs d’or pour des compagnies privées.

L’exil d’Edward Snowden à Hong Kong puis à Moscou, après avoir révélé au public les agissements de la NSA et du gouvernement américain, clôture ce récit qui serait incroyable et semblerait tiré d’un roman d’espionnage si nous ne …

Marcus Österberg reviewed Permanent Record by Edward Snowden

Review of 'Permanent Record' on 'Goodreads'

No rating

Bra om man vill förstå hans drivkrafter och få hans berättelse om hur det gick till. Knepigast i berättelsen är vad FBI utsatte hans flickvän för. Det är som att dessa myndigheter har friheten att trakassera folk och göra lite vad de känner för utan att det får konsekvenser.
Hoppas inte Sverige fortsätter på samma bana!

tronicdude reviewed Permanent record by Edward Snowden

Review of 'Permanent record' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Given his IT background I was surprised at how articulate and how well written his account was. The flow is incredibly smooth, the story gripping and interesting. I naturally finished it in one sitting, I couldn’t look away. Obviously an extremely intelligent, principled man who was unashamed to take an objective look at his past. He left out none of the embarrassing details, even leaving in his porn preferences at a younger age. He gave clear explanation for non-techie readers, but none of it was boring for the technically inclined either. This is an essential book for any citizen of America, or any other nation exhibiting totalitarian tendencies.