In a quick, easy listen, you can take the main principles from Permanent Record!Įdward Snowden's Permanent Record is a testimony of a man for whom privacy is paramount, but who knows that exposing himself is necessary for the world to understand the importance of the information he revealed about the U.S. Short on time? Or maybe you've already read the book, but need a refresh on the most important takeaways. government’s massive surveillance program and continues to fight for the world’s rights to online privacy.*PLEASE NOTE: This concise summary is unofficial and is not authorized, approved, licensed, or endorsed by the original book's publisher or author.* By leaking the documents, Snowden sacrificed his personal safety but in the end, he exposed the U.S. He decided he needed to use his hacking skills to expose the government’s classified documents that allowed them to extract data that tracked our online activity. Snowden had a duty to protect his country and the NSA was violating the citizen’s rights to privacy and were spying on their every move. However, while working for the NSA, Snowden discovered a secret so great that he struggled to keep it a secret.

After 9/11, Snowden felt a call to protect his country and knew his computer skills were the way he was going to do it. It was during this time that Snowden learned the ins and outs of computer coding and language and worked to hack the systems that he disagreed with. Snowden grew up in a time where technology and the internet allowed for anonymity and he was free to be whoever he wanted. Read to find out how Snowden uncovered one of the government’s greatest secrets and was able to master the art of stealing classified documents from one of the most secure organizations in the world. Compelled to protect his country, Snowden believed he had no choice but to expose the horrors of XKEYSCORE, especially in a growing digital world.

Snowden revealed how the NSA collects each person’s digital history including every text message, email, and phone call through a top-secret program called XKEYSCORE which acts as a search engine for the citizens of the world. government’s program that allowed them to spy on its citizens. Edward Snowden is perhaps one of the most famous whistleblowers of all time after he revealed the secrets of the U.S. But what happens when that freedom is violated? Some will go as far as whistleblowing to expose the secrets of organizations that are violating basic human rights. What’s the greatest thing about living in a democracy? Many might say it’s the citizen’s freedom of privacy.

Permanent record audio book