Beatrice Edwards, executive director of the organization representing Edward Snowden and four other NSA whistleblowers, argues that we now live in a Corporate Security State, where the government is more interested in protecting the companies that serve it than the citizens who support it. Heavy domestic surveillance, political persecution of dissenters, the threat of indefinite detention codified into law—how did we get here? And is there a way out? Edwards details how intelligence agencies took advantage of 9/11 to illegitimately extend the government’s reach. Corporations, she shows, were only too eager to sell them expensive surveillance technology, as well as share data on customers and employees using the bogus threat of an imminent “cyber war.” This is why the Justice Department isn’t going after the institutions responsible for the financial collapse of 2008—government and business are partners in crime. But Edwards offers a plan to fight back and restore transparency to government, keep private information private, and make democracy a reality once again.
About the Author
Beatrice Edwards is both the executive director and the international program director at the Government Accountability Project, which is currently one of Edward Snowden’s legal representatives. She holds a master’s degree in Latin American studies from the University of Texas and a doctorate in sociology from American University.
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