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The Snowden Reader
When Edward Snowden began leaking NSA documents in June 2013, his actions sparked impassioned debates about electronic surveillance, national security, and privacy in the digital age. The Snowden Reader looks at Snowden’s disclosures and their aftermath. Critical analyses by experts discuss the historical, political, legal, and ethical issues raised by the disclosures. Over forty key documents related to the case are included, with introductory notes explaining their significance: documents leaked by Snowden; responses from the NSA, the Obama administration, and Congress; statements by foreign leaders, their governments, and international organizations; judicial rulings; findings of review committees; and Snowden’s own statements. This book provides a valuable introduction and overview for anyone who wants to go beyond the headlines to understand this historic episode.
- GenresNonfiction
374 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 24, 2015
6 people are currently reading
70 people want to read
About the author
David P. Fidler
14 books2 followersDavid P. Fidler (B.C.L., University of Oxford, 1991; J.D., Harvard Law School, 1991; M.Phil, Oxford, 1988; B.A., University of Kansas, 1986) is James Louis Calamaras Emeritus Professor of Law in the Maurer School of Law at Indiana University Bloomington, and adjunct senior fellow for cybersecurity and global health at the Council on Foreign Relations.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 26, 2016
“The Snowden Reader” edited by David P. Fidler is essentially an Indiana University (IU) work on the security versus privacy issue as regards the Edward Snowden leaks of National Security Agency (NSA) documents. IU had a panel presentation on the subject at the university in 2013…and followed that up by having five of their distinguished panelists turn their talks into papers for this book. Along with reprinting a number of the actual documents Snowden brought to light, this book represents a ‘reader’ on the subject. Roughly half the book is comprised of the five essays, while the reprinted documents are the remaining half.
The essays were very informative. They describe what the NSA was doing (e.g.-collecting telephone metadata), the issue of ‘balance’ between security and privacy (e.g.-how much privacy are you willing to give up to attain a measure of security), the political choices and ramifications (e.g.-the hypocrisy of calling out China for cyber espionage while doing the same), and the legal foundation used or abused in such activities (e.g.-did the NSA go farther than the Patriot Act allowed). The key laws involved the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act, and Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The editor David P. Fidler is a law professor at IU and as such does a nice job in assembling the essays and providing context, and can speak with authority on legal matters.
On reading the book there are some interesting comparisons to be made…such as libraries to telephones, Edward Snowden to Bradley/Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden to Daniel Ellsberg, and hero to traitor.
When the USA Patriot Act came out the government wanted to routinely access public library circulation records to see what people were reading…this was defeated because there were too many libraries to corral into the program and the libraries began flushing their circulation records each evening. The NSA had fewer entities to force into compliance with collecting telephone metadata – at the beginning only Verizon – and maybe this was why it did not become public knowledge earlier.
Manning released 400,000 classified documents – logs on the Iraq and Afghan wars, and various State Department papers – to Wikileaks without any stated motivation…he was a troubled soul with his gender identity crisis (he received a sentence of 35 years). Snowden violated the same laws but he didn’t do so for personal advantage nor did he do it to foster terrorism…he had the sole stated motivation of bringing the NSA violations of privacy laws to public scrutiny.
Daniel Ellsberg was a military analyst who released classified government documents (later dubbed the Pentagon Papers) regarding the Vietnam War that detailed the lies of the Johnson Administration to the public and Congress. When Ellsberg couldn’t convince elected officials to release the papers, he did so himself through the New York Times. Ellsberg turned himself in and because of government misbehavior all charges were dropped. Snowden did not turn himself in, presumably because he saw no way to win, and ended up seeking asylum. Should Snowden receive amnesty?
Is Snowden a hero for bringing this mess up for public review or is he a traitor for disclosing classified materials? Was Snowden’s act one of appropriate civil disobedience? Would it have made a difference if he had submitted himself to the courts for trial and adjudication? These are facets the reader will have to judge for themselves.
The shortcomings in the book were two-fold for me. First I don’t have any problem with the fact that everything here is written by faculty at a single university, and that the book is somewhat sympathetic to Snowden and his case. But to piggyback on the use of their word…’balance’ might have been improved if they had included at least one essay from the opposing viewpoint. There has to be some specialist or expert at IU who could reasonably represent for the other side. Secondly and this is probably way outside the reach of this reader is that no possible solutions of where do we go from here (other than clemency and amnesty) were offered for Snowden…what does he do now…how does this all end?
It feels a bit creepy when you think about the government snooping in your telephone calls and invading your privacy…but then it also would be tragic if the Snowden leaks hurt anyone more than just embarrassment. You may or may not have conflicting feelings on the Snowden leaks…but reading this book will at least make sure you have most of the facts. This ‘Reader’ was very interesting and is highly recommended.
The essays were very informative. They describe what the NSA was doing (e.g.-collecting telephone metadata), the issue of ‘balance’ between security and privacy (e.g.-how much privacy are you willing to give up to attain a measure of security), the political choices and ramifications (e.g.-the hypocrisy of calling out China for cyber espionage while doing the same), and the legal foundation used or abused in such activities (e.g.-did the NSA go farther than the Patriot Act allowed). The key laws involved the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act, and Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The editor David P. Fidler is a law professor at IU and as such does a nice job in assembling the essays and providing context, and can speak with authority on legal matters.
On reading the book there are some interesting comparisons to be made…such as libraries to telephones, Edward Snowden to Bradley/Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden to Daniel Ellsberg, and hero to traitor.
When the USA Patriot Act came out the government wanted to routinely access public library circulation records to see what people were reading…this was defeated because there were too many libraries to corral into the program and the libraries began flushing their circulation records each evening. The NSA had fewer entities to force into compliance with collecting telephone metadata – at the beginning only Verizon – and maybe this was why it did not become public knowledge earlier.
Manning released 400,000 classified documents – logs on the Iraq and Afghan wars, and various State Department papers – to Wikileaks without any stated motivation…he was a troubled soul with his gender identity crisis (he received a sentence of 35 years). Snowden violated the same laws but he didn’t do so for personal advantage nor did he do it to foster terrorism…he had the sole stated motivation of bringing the NSA violations of privacy laws to public scrutiny.
Daniel Ellsberg was a military analyst who released classified government documents (later dubbed the Pentagon Papers) regarding the Vietnam War that detailed the lies of the Johnson Administration to the public and Congress. When Ellsberg couldn’t convince elected officials to release the papers, he did so himself through the New York Times. Ellsberg turned himself in and because of government misbehavior all charges were dropped. Snowden did not turn himself in, presumably because he saw no way to win, and ended up seeking asylum. Should Snowden receive amnesty?
Is Snowden a hero for bringing this mess up for public review or is he a traitor for disclosing classified materials? Was Snowden’s act one of appropriate civil disobedience? Would it have made a difference if he had submitted himself to the courts for trial and adjudication? These are facets the reader will have to judge for themselves.
The shortcomings in the book were two-fold for me. First I don’t have any problem with the fact that everything here is written by faculty at a single university, and that the book is somewhat sympathetic to Snowden and his case. But to piggyback on the use of their word…’balance’ might have been improved if they had included at least one essay from the opposing viewpoint. There has to be some specialist or expert at IU who could reasonably represent for the other side. Secondly and this is probably way outside the reach of this reader is that no possible solutions of where do we go from here (other than clemency and amnesty) were offered for Snowden…what does he do now…how does this all end?
It feels a bit creepy when you think about the government snooping in your telephone calls and invading your privacy…but then it also would be tragic if the Snowden leaks hurt anyone more than just embarrassment. You may or may not have conflicting feelings on the Snowden leaks…but reading this book will at least make sure you have most of the facts. This ‘Reader’ was very interesting and is highly recommended.
November 18, 2021
Read this for a university class on Cyber Espionage and warfare, so of course this was a prime example in the field. There's good extensive documentation on different angles, namely the intelligence community, various politicians and courts, in the US and abroad. That has all been done very well. If I had one point of criticism, then some of the smallest chapters don't say too much, like the one just presenting Merkels phone selector in one slide that doesn't tell the layman too much. I would absolutely recommend this to others. IT's a fascinating read and some pretty astonishing things are in there, such as the revelations and minor details as well of a report on section 215 for an entire year just being 8 sentences long. Some of the small details like that are still astonishing. It's a good balanced book, and allows room for the government's most vocal critics and defenders.
June 3, 2017
I couldn't get through this book - it's a high level read and very technical (IMO). If you want to learn about Snowden - this may not be the read for you unless you have a background in law, or are just not as slow as I am. I wanted to read it - but much like the little girl who dresses up in her moms fancy clothes, cute but not a good fit.
I'd love to hear about others experiences with this book OR if they can suggest simpler books on Snowden and understanding what the whole thing is about.
I'd love to hear about others experiences with this book OR if they can suggest simpler books on Snowden and understanding what the whole thing is about.
June 10, 2015
It a bit like a text book.... it goes into the Patriot act in great detail. Its scary on a lot of levels when you get into the beuracrat mindset of logging ever call and web search of every individual and business call made eachday. Be at ease about it only stored for 5yrs! Fiddler does a good job in explaining this lunacy
August 14, 2015
A good "one year later" commentary about the Snowden affair, as well as many important primary documents.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews