Permanent Record Hardcover – September 17, 2019

This is a Great book as both Republicans and Democrats Hate it .Having been in the whistleblower position myself. It does not surprise me that some people give this a one star. If you live a simple life without any challenges, and you failed to challenge the system itself you will never see the dark side exists. Furthermore most people do not realize that whistleblowing does not have its rewards. Most the time it destroys a life for a very minimal disrupts for years to come.I was born and raised in what is now known as Silicone Valley, I saw the rise of technology that most elsewhere in the United States was unknown at the time. Wafers and punch cards were a sign of things to come. My mom worked on Skylab to help develop chips ever used. Most people do not realize how early on in our technological growth we were using advanced technology . This book makes clear what I've always known throughout my life that there was much more going on in the technological areas and was known to the public. Living in the San Francisco Bay area one is subjected to technology and military influences. Well into the 1990s this technology walked hand-in-hand with our Armed Forces. I probably had more access than Edward Snowden did technology as it was right at my front door. I could ride my bike no more than a half a mile or so and be at the closest electronic firm where we would dumpster dive and learn from what was being tossed out. Back then everyone throughout everything and nobody cared what they were throwing away.Edward Snowden is example of the most extreme whistleblowing. He is also paying a heavy price which I do not think most people realize who are reading this book and give it a low score. I understand his perspective very much so having seen very similar activities in my own personal life. And looking beyond those who knew me ever clueless as to what life really has in store. His perspective is you an idea that he is what we might call a very common individual, that had some interesting highlights in his life and sharing them to give you a perspective. Feminist perspective also helps us understand he is not simply a spy that was infiltrating the United States in espionage and technological gathering. More so it appears he was a person that battle with his own employment in future and doing the right thing. I know exactly what that feels like because I personally have been in that position and still dealing with the repercussions of my own actions being a whistleblower.The book, is written very well. He tells it as if he was narrating a movie, but he's actually telling us how he came to be where he was. I am happy that he did not disclose any information that would discredit the United States in this book. I think many are expecting to see the secrets that are hidden behind his acts. Unless you are living under a lock most of us understand that operating systems all have access, that everything that we use has access. Going back to the very first operating systems that existed there've always been ways to gather and reverse engineer that information making it possible to gather with the user and was doing all unknown to the individual. This is nothing new however we all look of line I did not realize the level that exists. Edward Snowden, has lost all his existing life. Many of us look for adjustments in our lives when things happen but reading this book you can tell that there is a separation of who he is now in who he once was so fast is that chasm, that even when he's writing this book you can tell he's not even sure who he is at this particular point. Not trying to do a psychological evaluation, but I do not think most people understand what losses on this level. Many of us lose loved ones, or have lost a valuable job, or have been forced to move thousands of miles away to another job. All these things are disruption to ourselves in the list of what is disruptive is amazing. But very few people likely in this world know what it's like to lose their country. Not just the country changing under them. The losing the country completely. Edward Snowden is no longer a citizen of the United States. Most of us reading this if you are in United States live under that comfort and blanket that we have knowingly our citizens here and we have the right to cherish that remarkable blanket that we have. The writer of this book has no such identity. It appears by reading the book that he still after all these years sees himself as a temporary permanent guest of Russia.If you want a book, it gives you the perspective and analogy of an individual that commits the act of whistleblowing on a international scale of consequences. This is a good book to read. If you're looking for top-secret information, I'm feeling espionage and cloak and dagger you will not see it here . This is actually one of the few books I have read with the individual tells about his own life story that I found interesting. Most people are too scared to get the information that I see in this book they don't want to reveal themselves, and they want for themselves in a better light than they are. Edward Snowden does not pull any punches in this book, and he makes it very clear about his position is. And that he does love the country that he left. I don't doubt that his intentions were done for good reasons that he saw. But it was careless on my own opinion for him to think that what he knew, and what he would reveal would not be adjusted and covered back up within a very short amount of time. One thing people should know about our government and most people do they just don't talk about it. Is we are very good about redirection in this country. It's what we do really well on all aspects and levels. It's not a negative type thing it's a poor sort of way our country solves the initial problem they are having.In closing I normally do not give to you like this, usually it's very statistic, and analogically placed. This one I had to give a personal point of view myself so what I was thinking. Edward Snowden is one of those people that would be great to sit across the table have a cup of coffee with them and just really talk about what's going on. Because this book does do a good job about that but I still have a couple of questions after reading it. And the questions have nothing to do with national security a more likely have to do with the fact that he had to of known that even revealing the information, that information would be short-lived if it was exposed. I think many of his superiors are looking at this also and wondering what he thought would change. Nothing would change in a very short amount of time this exposure would allow our nation to go even deeper keeping this information more readily available to its employees.Why did I say: This is a Great book as both Republicans and Democrats Hate it ? Because, when this was first revealed, both sides of the aisle wanted to take credit, and blame the other side with this security breach that allowed the information to be exposed. I found it interesting on the automatic misdirection, and redirection is done by our politicians immediately after this taken place. Meaning both sides hated the fact of what he did and knew that major damage control at the time would have to be enacted. And both sides wanted to be the hero.Definitely a five-star book and worth reading.

I'm just about half-way through this book. VERY interesting, and well-written,despite some reviews here - maybe written by English majors who are disappointedby anybody not Marcel Proust?I'm just coming on what so disturbed and motivated Snowden to make public theillegal activities of the NSA and the intelligence community (IC) at large. In short,they can see, and have been able to see since shortly after the towers came down on9/11, everything you've ever done on an internet-connected device or telephone.And, if it hadn't been attained by 2013, when Snowden made his revelations, it probablyhas been by now; they'reable to store it indefinitely. Thus, Permanent Record.They get around the constitutionally-proscribed illegality of this by redefiningthe words 'acquire' and 'obtain.' In common, dictionary usage, they acquire andobtain EVERYTHING. They redefine those words to refer to when the NSA and otherIC agencies actually look into their databases to find information about peopleand agencies - none of which requires a warrant, by the way.YOUR RIGHT TO PRIVACY NO LONGER EXISTS. If you ever give them a reason tohurt you, they can destroy you, and get away with it.From the book:"At any time, the government could dig through the past communications of anyoneit wanted to victimize in search of a crime (and everybody's communicationscontain evidence of something)"Just watched part of the movie about Valerie Plame Wilson and her husband, Fair Game.Her husband wrote about the Bush subterfuge to motivate the American public to supportthe Iraq war - even though it was known that Iraq had nothing to do with the towerscoming down. They wanted to go after Saddam Hussein, and lied about 9/11 to do it.It's illegal for anyone, including government officials and employees,to knowingly out a CIA operative. The Bush administration did exactly that toValerie Plame, to punish them for blowing the whistle about the yellow cakeuranium, and offered up Scooter Libby to take the fall. Then Bush pardonedhim. Valerie and her husband's lives were ruined by the disclosure, and a numberof CIA assets were killed as a result. That would be a small example of what thegovernment can do when it chooses. Breaking laws isn't a problem, so long as apresident sanctions it. We've all heard Trump offer to pardon anyone who breaksthe law if it gets him his purely politically motivated wall.This is an important book.EDIT: I've finished it. I read it all in about 30 hours; it's that interesting, and it has that much relevance to our lives. Smart TVs, Alexa, your phone even when it's turned off, are all ways they spy on us, AND EVERYBODY IN THE WORLD, pretty much. Meta-data, which I first thought was not a big deal at all, is HUGE. They know where you are pretty much all the time, what you buy, when you buy it, who you spend time with,when you go to bed, when you get up, who you or your SO is having an affair with. After the revelations the US government made some important changes to rectify the extent of IC spying on US citizens - or so they told us. They knew about all this well before Snowden made it public, so that very much strikes me as damage control, and window dressing. They simply aren't worthy of our trust. Obama, asked if he thought Snowden is a patriot, said no. I voted for that @#$%!!! Basically, our government completely flouted the 4th Amendment. If you read the book, you get a much clearer picture of the depth of what they know about you. Really it's shocking, and doesn't match up with anybody's idea of the freedom we keep telling each other that US citizens enjoy.Snowden is a hero. He sacrificed everything to tell us things we very much needed to know, and would be very glad we did, once we do. Buy the book, read it 3 times, lend it to your friends and family. THIS IS THE ONLY WAY WE WERE EVER GOING TO FIND OUT ABOUT THIS, BECAUSE OUR GOVERNMENT WAS NEVER GOING TO TELL US THE EXTENT TO WHICH THEY WERE - AND MOST LIKELY STILL DO, BREAKING THE LAW THEY'RE SWORN TO UPHOLD.BTW, when I first tried to enter this review, Amazon put up a notice about "unusualactivity" in these reviews, and are limiting reviews to people with verified purchases.How interesting.