By The ACLU
The Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against Edward Snowden over his new book, Permanent Record. The lawsuit alleges that Snowden published his book without submitting it to the agencies for pre-publication review, a process that prohibits millions of former intelligence agency employees and military personnel from writing or speaking about topics related to their government service without first obtaining government approval.
“This book contains no government secrets that have not been previously published by respected news organizations,” says Ben Wizner, director of the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project and attorney for Snowden.
“Had Mr. Snowden believed that the government would review his book in good faith, he would have submitted it for review. But the government continues to insist that facts that are known and discussed throughout the world are still somehow classified.
“Mr. Snowden wrote this book to continue a global conversation about mass surveillance and free societies that his actions helped inspire. He hopes that [the] lawsuit by the United States government will bring the book to the attention of more readers throughout the world.”
The constitutionality of the pre-publication review system is currently being challenged in court by the ACLU and the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. The organizations argue the system gives officials far too much power to suppress speech the public has a right to hear and to make unexplained censorship decisions influenced by individuals’ viewpoints and access to power.
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See also:
* Wired: Excerpt: Why I Became A Whistleblower.
* The Intercept: Excerpt: Why I Decided Not To Delete My Old Internet Posts.
* The Nation: Excerpt: My First Adventures In Cyberspace.
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And:
.@Snowden breaks down how he ended up in Russia, and what his life has been like there since his exile from the U.S.
Full interview: https://t.co/cv7TgMrPI1 pic.twitter.com/K2vHU3OaYF
— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) September 20, 2019
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I just signed this petition to the US Gov’t: “Drop your lawsuit against @Snowden, but thanks for reminding me that I should totally read this book.” https://t.co/hnuDeAyQep
— Michael Salamone (@MichaelSalamone) September 20, 2019
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This week when my new book, Permanent Record, became available, the US government sued my publisher for failing to grant the CIA and NSA an opportunity to remove evidence of their crimes from the manuscript. Not even joking. This is my publisher’s response:
(via @minipetite) pic.twitter.com/miPKXnn6F7— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) September 20, 2019
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“Some people have a misconception that [I] set out to burn down the NSA,” Edward Snowden told @nprfreshair. “But that’s not what this was about. In many ways, 2013 wasn’t about surveillance at all. What it was about was a violation of the Constitution.”https://t.co/OYeLfM3tZR
— NPR (@NPR) September 19, 2019
Posted on September 23, 2019