SNOWDEN FORFEITS PROFITS FROM BOOK

U.S. government to collect from whistleblower

Profits earned from Edward Snowden’s new book, Permanent Record, will be taken by the United States government, a judge has ruled, meaning that for anyone purchasing a copy, the money won’t go to the author.

This month, a U.S. Federal Court justice concluded that Snowden, the whistleblower who worked for the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency, signed contracts that meant that were he to write about his activities or speak about them, he would need to submit the text for pre-publication review. Since he didn’t, he forfeits all profits from book sales.

It stems back to a lawsuit filed in September by the U.S. Department of Justice; the government announced it would try to recover all proceeds from the book sales.

“The government seeks to recover all proceeds earned by Snowden because of his failure to submit his publication for pre-publication review in violation of his alleged contractual and fiduciary obligations,” says a department press release.

In a tweet on Dec. 19, Snowden said, “The government may steal a dollar, but it cannot erase the idea that earned it.”

He went on to suggest people gift the book to someone else when they’re done reading it.

Snowden had attempted to argue in court that he wouldn’t get a fair review of his book from the government, that the government is selectively enforcing the contract agreements and the security agreements don’t provide the basis for the government’s claims against him.

But the court sided against him, saying the contracts were unambiguous and clear, and he broke the rules.

Snowden was the man who, back in 2013, swiped classified documents from a government facility in Hawaii and transported them to Hong Kong, where he then handed them over to journalists from The Guardian, a British newspaper. It became an international scandal as journalists revealed the extent to which U.S. security agencies had been spying on cellphones.

Snowden then relocated to Russia and settled — and remains — in Moscow. He faces charges in the United States for alleged breaches of the Espionage Act.

The book, published by Macmillan Publishing Group, details the decisions Snowden made along the way and how he got the documents out.

The Post contacted Macmillan, but did not hear back.

Brett Max Kaufman, Snowden’s lawyer, said in a statement to the Washington Post, “It’s far-fetched to believe that the government would have reviewed Mr. Snowden’s book or anything else he submitted in good faith.

“For that reason, Mr. Snowden preferred to risk his future royalties than to subject his experiences to improper government censorship.”

When it announced the lawsuit, G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. attorney for the eastern district of Virginia, said “intelligence information should protect our nation, not provide personal profit.”

“This lawsuit will ensure that Edward Snowden receives no monetary benefits from breaching the trust placed in him.”