Edward Snowden, an American computer genius and former employee of CIA deliberately leaked thousands of highly classified documents revealing the NSA had information on all phone calls, direct access to Google, Yahoo and Facebook information and the GCHQ had been siphoning off and storing all Internet transactions for a number of days. Basically. Big Brother is watching you, at all times.
So why did Edward Snowden, who describes himself as a patriot, whose roots are strongly embedded in American ideology do something so drastic and radical, hailed as the most significant leak in U.S history? 'The Snowden Files' attempts to shed light on this.
L1 Waterstones played host to the interview and book signing of 'The Snowden Files' by award winning foreign correspondent, Luke Harding. Harding was instrumental in the revelations through The Guardian newspaper of exposing what he says were 'matters of public interest' also known as the mass surveillance scandal which caused global uproar.
Luke captures Snowden’s story from the day he left his girlfriend on the island of Hawaii carrying a hard drive full of secrets, to the weeks he shared those secrets in Hong Kong, and his battle for asylum. Now unable to leave Moscow, a hunted individual, he faces US espionage charges and an possible future in exile.
The proceedings began with an introduction from Mike Morris of Writing on the Wall. Interviewing Luke was Award-winning Journalist and best-selling author, Brian Reade of the Daily Mirror and recipient of the prestigious Cudlipp Award for Journalistic Excellence in recognition of spearheading the twenty year Daily Mirror Hillsborough campaign for justice.
Luke Harding is a relaxed well spoken figure. Which is hard to believe considering the roller coaster of events he has been on over the last two years. He's a fascinating man, talking about his experiences with a laid back ease. I felt decidedly unnerved throughout the event when faced with the sheer magnitude of the surveillance, lies and deceit.
The men were at ease with each other and the interview presented itself as more of a conversation, Brian guided the topics with grace and experience and there was some much needed light relief and banter in their exchanges.
Luke started at the beginning with his involvement in reviewing some 55'000 documents in a dingy room of offline computers and the feeling of the monumental implications of the discovery.
He discussed the negotiations with the British government, their underestimation of the amount of documents 'we know you have 30,40' when the total was 55'000 and their complete unwillingness to compromise including threats of indictment. The Guardian eventually destroyed the computers holding the information because of the increased pressure but as Harding pointed out, other individuals in different parts of the world had copies of the highly classified documentation so it was 'Half violation of press freedom and half pantomime'.
When queried about the lack of coverage by other British newspapers of what was truly a ground breaking and enormous story he referenced a couple of things. Firstly, the other press agencies did not have copies of the original documentation which would make it difficult to write a credible story but he also made reference to the request via memo by those in power to ignore the it.
What was quite poignant was his offering on Snowden's motives. Harding believes the elusive ex spy was not 'anti secret but anti accountability' this was the reason he did not give the information to WikiLeaks but carefully selected who he entered into dialogue with. He says his sole motive for leaking the documents was ‘to inform the public as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them.’
The general consensus from the audience was that the book captured the horror of the 21st century. Concerns were raised about the failure of oversight measures to scrutinise the UK and the importance of them in issues of public security. Harding stated that without them you cannot make sensible decisions.
A discussion was had on the increasing use of smart phones and the dangers of them in matters of public security. Luke's response to an audience members of what we should do was comforting, 'Stay cheerful and positive and love thy neighbour' on the other hand his stories of how your phone can have its microphone turned on unbeknownst to you and record conversations and track your whereabouts did make me want to put mine in a blender. Keeping it in a cocktail shaker was recommended as an anti-spy device.
A question was asked on how decisions were made about which out of those 55'000 documents should be published. Harding responded that they had to see what was in the public interest and what could cause possible harm. For example information on the war or terrorism would not be legitimate information but things like spying on human rights groups would be.
Luke spoke about his time in Russia likening it to a 'badly written spy thriller' in reference to the way he was surveyed. He spoke about his computer being hacked and deleting passage when he was writing the book, so much so he wrote notes for whoever was doing it to find. He mentioned it to a German Newspaper and the deleting ceased. He also stated he didn't find any evidence that Snowden was a Russian spy and the profile he thinks most fits is the one of 'principled exile'.
An audience member asked if Luke thought anything would change and if the Guardian have done what they set out to do. Luke talked about the minor reforms that Obama unveiled in relation to storing information but he sensed that it was 'business as usual'. I struggled with this response and I could see others did to. If a government isn't accountable even when the evidence is irrefutable how can we have faith in the structures that serve us? Which prompted the next question. What do they want with all this information. Luke was sceptical about the reasons they gave and the needle and haystack analogy was used. Harding stated they have so much data they don't can't decipher it, so much so, they missed the invasion on Crimea! Surely that is a piece of information you want on your radar. He stated which I whole heatedly agree with, that it is 'profoundly Un-British that we were all under suspicion.'
The questions turned to Snowden's future. Harding gave his thoughts, stating that Putin loves irritating America so will probably keep Snowden for as long as he can.
This story made The Guardian a global brand. The newspaper had already tried to 'crack' America three times previously but this was the story that finally did it.
The interview closed with a question on Snowden's return to America. Harding believe that public opinion is changing and sometime in the future he may be able to return to his home.
Luke Harding thanked the attentive audience and signed copies of his book. It was an unsettling and riveting evening in equal measure. Another brilliant event from Writing on the Wall.
Buy 'The Snowden Files' from News from Nowhere NOW
By Natalie Denny
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