Edward Snowden, 352 pages
This was a cool experience. I finished reading the book and then watched the movie upon finishing the book. Joseph Gordon-Leavitt did a remarkable job playing Edward Snowden.
If you’ve ever wondered if your computer webcam is spying on you… according to Edward Snowden, the answer is yes. So is your phone camera and microphone. So is your app usage, your photos, and your web activity.
The book freaked me out if I can be open. Snowden talks about a person they were spying on. With their clearance, they could also spy any any acquaintances of the person of interest and any of the acquaintances’ acquaintances. Confused yet?
Anyway… Snowden pulls up the webcam of the person of interest’s son. He can see the son, see what the son is viewing, see the son’s son, and hear their conversation. All of this is done without this person’s knowledge and without their laptop webcam light showing that it was on.
He also talks about how the analysts would brag and show off nude pictures of girls they lifted from phones and compare. It’s not just the iCloud leak you need to worry about. If you’ve got naughty pictures on your phone or laptop… guess what… your boo may not be the only one who saw them.
Snowden gives a detailed autobiography about his upbringing, his jobs, his relationships, and the events leading up to his release of what he knew. He gives an update on where he is at the time of his writing and what his life looks like now.
He left me feeling like he genuinely cared about the privacy of not just Americans, but all internet users across the globe. I didn’t get the feeling that he had some, decade-long plan to infiltrate the government nor does it seem like he’s living a great life as a result.
The evidence he cites, laws he quotes, and policies he mentions seem to check out in that things were passed in the name of protection against terrorism that granted the government full access into anybody’s life.
Highly recommend this book if you are worried about Big Brother. I thoroughly enjoyed it. If you’d rather not know, then I wouldn’t recommend this.
Erik Soderborg 