PositiveThe Times (UK)What Gellman provides us with, in fact, as he trawls through the investigations he undertook into NSA malfeasance in the wake of Snowden’s data drop, is a necessary and deep meditation about how far our online lives can or indeed should remain completely private. Gellman, unlike Snowden, is able to interrogate American spymasters as well as tech companies about where the limits should lie, and he also has a sufficient sense of his responsibilities not to reveal much of the sensitive operational detail that the leaker gave him ... The value of this book is that Gellman eschews the binary \'traitor or hero\' assessment of Snowden. Rather he highlights the dangers of the surveillance state’s vast reach.
Edward Snowden
MixedThe Times (UK)You know that guy from computer support who works in your office? Would you buy his autobiography? ... There’s no doubt that Snowden, whose release of top secret files to journalists in 2013 sparked a global furore, is a very significant figure in the history of intelligence and the development of modern attitudes to privacy. But is he capable of writing an interesting account of his life? ... lacks many revelations or much sense of the wider context of the author’s actions, it will be most satisfying to lovers of technology, less so to the general reader.
