No Place to Hide by Glenn Greenwald - A 30-minute Summary

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This is an Instaread Summary of No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State by Glenn Greenwald.


Below is a preview of the earlier sections of the summary:

Chapter 1

Edward Snowden first contacted Glenn Greenwald on December 1, 2012, using the alias name Cincinnatus. Snowden is a former Senior Advisor to the NSA, a former Field Officer with the CIA, and a former lecturer for the United States Defense Intelligence Agency. He had confidential information he wanted to share with Greenwald, but would only do it if he knew their connection was secure.

 

Greenwald is a journalist known for his reporting on the wrongdoings of the National Security Agency (NSA). Snowden wanted Greenwald to use PGP (pretty good privacy) encryption on his computer so that he could safely send him some information that he had gathered. Although Greenwald considered adding these extra security measures to his computer, he was very busy with other things and did not want to take the time to put the complicated software in place. Snowden sent him a guide on how to add the encryption, but Greenwald still took no action. Snowden offered to find someone who could help Greenwald install the system. Without positive proof that the information Snowden had was really newsworthy, Greenwald did not feel motivated to take the steps necessary to install the PGP encryption. However, without a secure form of communication in place, Snowden was unwilling to risk sharing the information he had with Greenwald. This communication between the two took place over several weeks and then came to a standstill.

 

On April 18, Laura Poitras contacted Greenwald. Laura Poitras is a documentary filmmaker who is known for fearlessly taking risks in making her films. She made three films about the conduct of the United States during the war on terror, which made her a target of government officials whenever she entered or left the country. Poitras wanted to talk to Greenwald about something but would only do it in person and in private in a secure location...