No Place to Hide
Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State
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4.2 • 193 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
In this groundbreaking exposé, Glenn Greenwald, the reporter who broke the NSA surveillance scandal, reveals the full extent of government spying and the fight to protect privacy in the digital age.
In May 2013, Greenwald journeyed to Hong Kong to meet an anonymous source claiming to have evidence of pervasive government spying. That source turned out to be the 29-year-old NSA contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden, whose revelations triggered a fierce debate over national security and information privacy. The full impact of Snowden's disclosures is still unfolding.
In No Place to Hide, Greenwald fits all the pieces together, recounting his high-intensity ten-day trip to Hong Kong, examining the broader implications of the NSA's surveillance, and revealing fresh information on the agency's unprecedented abuse of power with never-before-seen documents from Snowden himself.
Going beyond NSA specifics, Greenwald critiques the establishment media's habitual avoidance of adversarial reporting on the government. He asks what it means for democracy when a government so invasively pries into the private lives of its citizens—and what safeguards are needed.
At a landmark moment in history, No Place to Hide is a fearless and essential contribution to the understanding of the U.S. surveillance state. It highlights the urgent need to protect privacy in an era of increasing digital surveillance.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The government's secret spying on just about everyone is laid bare in this exciting if overwrought expos . Journalist Greenwald (With Liberty and Justice for Some) broke the story of the National Security Agency's vast warrantless surveillance operations last year after receiving top-secret documents from NSA contractor Snowden, who is briefly profiled here. Greenwald's breathless narrative is itself a spy story, complete with encrypted messages, cloak-and-dagger in Hong Kong, a possible CIA break-in at his house, the detainment of his partner on trumped-up terrorism suspicions, and furious wrangles with the mainstream press, which he denounces for its chumminess with officialdom. His involved, though sometimes confusing, rundown of NSA surveillance programs, illustrated with the agency's own incriminating graphics, details extraordinary abilities to record billions of emails and phone calls daily, follow who is communicating with whom, track individuals' web searches and page visits, plant devices in servers and routers, and even use private cell phones to eavesdrop on their owners. He also demonstrates through Foucauldian history, the FBI's COINTELPRO program, and current crackdowns on activist groups how mass surveillance attempts to stifle dissent. Greenwald's great reporting highlights the collusion of government, corporations, and media to undermine notions of privacy and democratic participation. Photos.
Customer Reviews
Disturbing & Spellbinding
After reading this book I still don't know how I feel about Snowden. He is portrayed here as a man of uncommon integrity who faced a difficult moral dilemma. Is he a hero or a criminal? I'll leave that to the reader to decide but this is an important subject that everyone should give thoughtful consideration to.
How much privacy are you comfortable seeding to you government? How much confidence do you have that the powerful people of our society will use the vast amount of information that's been and continues to be collected on ordinary citizens responsible?
I warn you, this book is hard to put down and more than a little disturbing but, I think it should be required reading for everyone.
A Must Read!
Every American (in fact, the World) owes a debt of gratitude to Greenwald for his determined pursuit in exposing the frightening transformation of the United States into a National Security State. Without his, Edward Snowden's and others courage, we may have never known the full extent of the U.S. governments pernicious surveillance programs.
You need to read this book and become better informed on what your government is doing without your knowledge or consent. Greenwald also exposes the mainstream media as Imperial scribes doing little more than regurgitating the talking points of the National Security Apparatus that has hijacked America.
Snowden is f'real?
The first part of the book, the personal story with the step-by-step, tenous personal interactions, is worth the price of the book. It is here that Greenwald's writing shines brightest. The rest of the book, the important part, the meat of it, the game-changing revelations of governmental arrogant over-reach, is less personal and less engaging (for my feeble Snowden-obsessed mind). After the book was published, Frontline aired a program that rounded out the back story and may have made it less likely that Greenwald will be prosecuted by the same cold, arrogant, overreaching suits. Truly a bold and heroic tale by our best defender.