Snowden's Box: Trust in the Age of Surveillance
By: Jessica Bruder, Dale Maharidge / Narrated By: Chloe Cannon, Jonathan Todd Ross
Length: 3 hrs and 37 mins
Good enough that I might tackle other Snowden accounts…?
P’raps I should state here, up front, that I’ve kinda sorta been on the fence about the whole Edward Snowden, leaking of NSA documents thing.
While I applauded Daniel Ellsberg for his efforts with the Pentagon Papers, my review of Most Dangerous had me averring I know not all what. Ellsberg? Brave and patriotic. Snowden? I’ll be honest, I’d kinda been thinking he’d misused a position of trust and was going for the glory, yeh, despite the consequences he’s currently living through.
But then I got to this li’l dab o’ audiobook (Not possible for the mind to wander when it’s only 3 1/2 hours long), Snowden’s Box. While it’s the story of the parts, however humble, they (Bruder and Maharidge) played in the biggest whistleblowing incident, quite possibly, in history, it’s just as much a song about our lost privacy, our loss of faith in a government protecting us. Noooo, with this, you’ll be eyeing EVERYthing with suspicion; you’ll wonder about normal day-to-day stuff like using an app; you’ll worry about law enforcement’s ability to use cameras on ya. And you’ll be giving Big Government the squid’s eye.
From the get-go, we learn of the MAJOR player in this, crafter of documentaries, Laura Poitras and her increasingly “subversive” behavior/choices. It’s subversive to the Government at any rate. From being chucked onto the Watch List whenst trying to travel, to meeting where there’s enough dissonant noise to drown out her speaking with others, to taking the battery out of her cell phone and putting the phone in the fridge, Poitras is MOST aware of all the ways we are vulnerable.
At first Poitras questions the feelers Snowden sent out, wondering if it’s a trap. As she learns that he’s dead earnest, she begins arranging ways of meeting (Think: Hong Kong), or of accepting info.
Snowden sends a box of information, a big brown box, through the US Postal Service. The first person on its stop? Jessica Bruder, who marvels that it was NOT stolen as it sat outside her apartment for hours. This outing of classified information is done in a pretty old-fashioned way as NOTHING, no form of digital communication can truly be trusted.
This is a bit of the day-to-day of that box’s journey, of Snowden’s saga, and it’s the dawning of awareness for both Bruder and Maharidge of just how defenseless we all are in the face of Big Brother. The presidential administrations of both GOP and Democrats are to blame, no party, no president, gets a pass.
While George W. Bush’s administration utilized the 9/11 attacks to institute nefarious spying on the public, ol’ More-Transparency Barack Obama reeeeaally had a heyday on increased spying.
As things progress, both Bruder and Maharidge find themselves truly thinking, truly assessing their privacy and start wondering about how minor actions, itty bitty choices, can have an impact on how they move through the world. It ain’t Paranoia if it’s Real…
Chloe Cannon and Jonathan Todd Ross do perfectly honorable narration jobs; I’ve not a quibble or complaint, but I’ve also not a grand and mighty Huzzah for them either. They neither make nor break the final result, guiding us through this stint of horror without adding or detracting much. Sooo… a tiny: Decently Done, Y’all to them.
While there’s enough history here to keep me happy as in: This is who did what to whom in any given year, there’s also enough of a Look Over Your Shoulder Cuz You Feel Someone Watching You feel that’s captivating.
And hey!
Maaaaybe I’m still on the fence re: Snowden, due to his questionable motives, but I must admit that this little audiobook, the journey of Box Full O’ Secrets, was eye-opening and had me not doubting in the least the man’s courage. Hanging Offense, Firing Squad, whatever.
Living away from your own country sounds pretty godawful indeed…
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