September 19, 2019

Anna Murray 

Edward Snowden, the man who risked his life in 2013 to expose the mass surveillance system in the US government, published on September 17  a hardcover book: “Permanent Record”, which revealed the story of how he helped to establish that system to collect phone calls, text messages, and emails, and what motivated him to disclose it to the world. Snowden worked for the CIA between 2006 and 2009 and worked as a contractor for the National Security Agency (NSA) through 2013.

Since Snowden leaked out highly classified information from the NSA, leaving the US in embarrassment, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has been chasing viciously after him around the world. The DOJ has already filed charges against Snowden of 2 counts of infringing the Espionage Act of 1917 and theft of government property. Snowden was forced to flee the US later exiled to Moscow and was granted the right of asylum in Russia.

When Permanent Record was released for sales for the first day, the DOJ filed a civil lawsuit against Snowden for writing about intelligence secrets of PRISM surveillance system in his new book without NSA’s consent, which was suing him for the alleged violation of non-disclosure agreement. The DOJ also sued the book’s publisher Henry Holt to ensure no sales receipts including Bitcoin would be transferred to Snowden.

Photo:Webshot.