Key insights from
Permanent Record
Audio available
12 minute read
Published Sep 17, 2019
What you'll learn
What’s your most embarrassing Google query? If you’re not sure, the government can remind you. Basically, any person on the planet who has ever touched a cell phone or computer is in the system, and that information is a matter of permanent record, accessible by the government at any time. In 2013, Snowden blew the whistle on global mass surveillance.
Key insights
- 1 Most people forget the time when internet culture was pretty amicable.
- 2 9/11 took place because intelligence agencies were competing with each other instead of cooperating.
- 3 In a moment of fear, the United States lost its head and okayed government encroachment.
- 4 Snowden eventually realized what he was building: an effective mass surveillance system—the one he’s now running from for the rest of his life.
- 5 It took him a while to come forward to say something because he was hoping the few informed members of Congress would.
- 6 Snowden had a difficult time selecting a country where he could inform reporters without immediate repercussions.
- 7 Snowden chose truth over friends, family, and country—and his life will never be the same.
Similar titles
