The first thing you think about when you hear the name Edward Snowden is probably not "America Author". However, he is American and he has written a book, it's an autobiography and it's called Permanent Record.

Before we begin, I'm not sure if I need a spoiler alert for an autobiography about an 'infamous' and controversial whistleblower, but just in case you don't know what an autobiography is, you've been warned.

Sure there are parts of the story you may not be familiar with, but basically like any autobiography, this is a book Snowden wrote about himself, his thoughts and his life to date. And yup, he is proud of himself and what he did, so if you don't want to read about that, this book probably isn't for you.

And if you are worried about getting a permanent record from reading this book, don't worry, you're on the internet, on a blockchain social network that rewards cryptocurrency, so smile you're making this easy whether you want to or not. So, you may as well make your permanent record remarkable.

Edward Snowden

Before I get into the autobiography, perhaps Google Edward Snowden to read up on the basics of who is (Google and Wikipedia call him an America Author, lol). Anyway, he was a computer systems administrator who worked for the US federal government in the CIA and NSA, until he lost his job due to what's best described as "a disagreement with upper management" and moved to Russia to essentially "avoid endless bureaucracy".

Book Cover, fair use (source)

Permanent Record - The Summary

Permanent Record begins around 1983 when Edward Snowden was born. He described his family history and his immediate family. He comes from a long line of proud Americans, many of them had government and military jobs. He describes his family and himself as patriots. One thing he makes clear is his definition of a patriot and why he believes he is patriotic and a good person.

Early on before he even says what he did, he mentions he was never against America or the American people and he loves his country. He is against abuses against his country, Americans and everyone else for that matter. It doesn't matter if the enemy is the government, the invasions of privacy were an overreach and abuse of power. Later on, he gets into why it happened and how the system was created.

Edward Snowden grew up on the early Internet like many children from that era with parents obsessed with IT. He got into early web forums and communities. He eventually dropped out of school, then got a GED and later a certificate in System Administration. He does talk quite a lot about this, but the only thing important to know is it made him proficient with computers, the Internet, subcultures and hacking.

He is clear, you don't need to be a computer scientist or genius to be a spy or systems administrator for the CIA, especially in the early 2000s when most Internet people were under 30. I think this is important because he is often attacked or discredited for being just a lowly system administrator, a typical nerd and not some super genius spy. He is not being modest, he is deferring attacks from his adversaries.

Apart from his relationship with his wife and his family values (he was very worried about the impact coming out would have on his mother and girlfriend/future wife), the rest of the book focuses on what he did, how he did it and why he did it.

Essentially, he found a job at the CIA and then the NSA and slowly crawled up the chain of power until he realized he had a lot of it. He explained it was easy because system administrators have special system-wide access, and no one is too worried about them because they work in ultra-secure facilities.

Later, when he realized what he was helping to build, he eventually decided the world had to know about it. He spent a few months planning how to make his leak and the rest is history.

The last part of his story is what happened after he leaked the data, his eventual exile in Russia and his life since then. He saves himself and the rest of us some time by suggesting some further reading, etc.

Finally, the book ends with some journals from his wife about how she was feeling after he outed himself as a whistleblower.

The book ends with some brief updates of how the refugees in Hong Kong who helped him have now all moved to Canada.

Snowden's Character

Edward Snowden's Wikipedia Page is a good place to get a diverse and reasonable opinion about him.

I think this paragraph sums it up nicely:

A subject of controversy, Snowden has been variously called a traitor, a hero, a whistleblower, a dissident, a coward, and a patriot. U.S. officials condemned his actions as having done "grave damage" to the U.S. intelligence capabilities. Snowden has defended his leaks as an effort "to inform the public as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them." His disclosures have fueled debates over mass surveillance, government secrecy, and the balance between national security and information privacy.

I'll focus on the first sentence.

A Traitor?

I don't think so and neither does he. He made a point that he leaked the information to the people and not to a foreign government or enemy of the United States. The information embarrassed the government and didn't put anyone specific directly at risk.

Hero?

I don't think so and I didn't get the impression that he does either. He doesn't really have typical hero qualities and he didn't really save anyone - does raising awareness make you a hero? I don't want to go there.

Maybe he could be described as an antihero? That involves self-interest or unconventional ethics. It was certainly not out of self-interest - woohoo going from a high-paying job in Hawaii to a life of exile in Moscow. It also wasn't unconventional - he told a secret truth.

Whisleblower?

Yeah, definitely. He is a poster child and in the Wiki.

Dissident?

I think this is a reasonably fair description, he did strongly disagree with what the state was doing. However, I'm not sure if he satisfies all aspects. America isn't an authoritarian state. He wasn't fighting any leader or anyone in particular. He doesn't hate America, he isn't against the government. He is just against some aspects of the CIA and NSA in particular. He mentioned you cannot pin down what happened on a single individual. He also mentions that every powerful state spies on everybody, citizens or not, and increasingly so.

Coward?

I think this is a deeply unfair description of what he is and mostly unfair propaganda and spin. I think what he did takes a lot of bravery (ie. fucking over the CIA) and to say otherwise discourages dissidents and whistleblowers.

The reason I often hear he is a coward is that he won't return to face justice. Although to me that is just common sense because the state has a monopoly on justice and for him, that means the rest of his life in prison.

He even mentioned what happened to Chelsea Manning as a big reason why he was being very careful about whistleblowing and Wikileaks. He knew what he was doing and what he was up against because of CIA and NSA work.

Patriot?

I think he is a patriot and so does he. He didn't turn his back on the American people and did what he thinks is right to serve and protect the public from government tyranny and overreach. He turned his back on an American government institution that is very controversial and has a long history of abuse of power. He didn't sell the information, he wasn't compromised by a foreign enemy, and doing what he and many others think is important and right made his life hell.

Anyway, a lot has been said on this topic, but he said he still loves America. Also, he made it clear that he didn't tell the Russian government anything and he would return to America if he was given amnesty.

Lesson Learned

The world changed a lot because of 9-11 and the excuse for government over-reach is to protect us from terrorism. Web 2.0 made us put everything online. At first, people didn't take encryption or passwords seriously enough and it made things too easy for the government and actual bad actors to snoop on people and steal their data. Snowden mentioned he wanted to help improve the situation and make things harder.

Without getting too much into the legality, the government really has no business or right to collect all your data, so there is no point in making it easy. It will also make things harder for people who want to harm you.

Snowden mentioned a few examples in his book of really bad things the CIA did and how they vet potential workers and spies. Basically, no one is clean or infallible (he without sin cast the first stone). All 'they' need to do is determine how to compromise you or make you cave in. Big data and AI make that so easy.

Would you make a good spy? Are you a threat and can you be trusted? That depends on how easily the government thinks they can use your data against you. They know your secrets. The government doesn't own your data, but do not suffer from the illusion that you have any privacy and that things can be deleted. Everyone needs to be safer online unless they want to make it easier for the state to collect their permanent record.

Beware and be aware.

My Thoughts

The book is good if you want to hear about Snowden from Snowden. There is a lot about him written by journalists and other people, but I think it's best to get his personal insight and he had a lot of time to think it over.

Regarding what he did, I guess if you got this far, I think he did the right thing in the right way and I admire and respect him for what he did. Governments spying on their citizens and foreigners is not acceptable but it is the reality we live in. My government is one of the 5-eyes and has definitely helped the CIA and NSA.

I'm not naive enough to think they are doing it for our own protection. They are doing it because every government is doing it and not doing it will put them, and ultimately all of us at a disadvantage. It's an unstoppable race to become all-knowing.

I'm glad this was exposed. Eventually, someone else would have done it, but it's great to have someone who was involved with the earlier development (computers and the Internet weren't powerful enough or used enough previously). I hope one day Snowden can be forgiven by the United States and move back to America. I doubt any president is going to pardon him though.