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Being hacked while writing The Snowden Files.

posted by LaminatorX on Friday February 21 2014, @10:30AM   Printer-friendly
from the Nations-Spying-on-Authors dept.

fleg writes:

"The Guardian is reporting that while the author of The Snowden Files was writing it, paragraphs started self-deleting."

From the article:

By September the book was going well - 30,000 words done. A Christmas deadline loomed. I was writing a chapter on the NSA's close, and largely hidden, relationship with Silicon Valley. I wrote that Snowden's revelations had damaged US tech companies and their bottom line. Something odd happened. The paragraph I had just written began to self-delete. The cursor moved rapidly from the left, gobbling text. I watched my words vanish. When I tried to close my OpenOffice file the keyboard began flashing and bleeping.

[ED Note: Some of author's claims are of course unverifiable, but his insiders view of the early days of the story are interesting even so.]

 
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  • (Score: 5, Informative) by girlwhowaspluggedout on Friday February 21 2014, @10:58AM

    by girlwhowaspluggedout (1223) on Friday February 21 2014, @10:58AM (#4216)
    In an interview with the Financial Times [ft.com], Greenwald said the following about Luke Harding and his new book:

    Greenwald's more abrasive side surfaces when the subject turns to a Guardian book, The Snowden Files, by Luke Harding, published in early February. "It is a bullshit book," he says. "They are purporting to tell the inside story of Edward Snowden but it is written by someone who has never met or even spoken to Edward Snowden. Luke came here and talked to me for half a day without [my] realising that he was trying to get me to write his book for him. I cut the interview off when I realised what he was up to."

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  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by combatserver on Friday February 21 2014, @11:25AM

    by combatserver (38) on Friday February 21 2014, @11:25AM (#4238)

    I'm a little confused why this was mentioned in the article you linked to...

    "It is after 3pm on a Friday when I walk into Bar do Beto, an old-fashioned Ipanema restaurant, but the place is full of diners enjoying a long, languid lunch..."

    For an opening line, it seemed a little meandering, but then I saw this one...

    "...Shawn came to Rio to put on a performance for him. "Incredibly riveting and thought-provoking," Greenwald says of the play, which was performed in a theatre rented for the occasion. Afterwards, Greenwald brought cast and crew to Bar do Beto to thank them."

    By now, I'm thinking to myself, "What the fuck is he going on about?". Then I get to the bottom of the article...

    "Bar do Beto
    51 Rua Farme de Amoedo, Ipanema, Rio de Janeiro
    Bread and cover charge R$26.90
    Squid rings and prawn x2 R$93.80
    Guarana Zero x4 R$22.00
    Diet Coke R$5.50
    Coffee R$5.00
    Total (including service) R$171.58 (£43.00)"

    You're welcome.

    (Did I really just see a restaurant advert disguised as an Edward Snowden news article? Was it just me, or do I need help?)

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    • (Score: 1) by bucc5062 on Friday February 21 2014, @12:04PM

      by bucc5062 (699) on Friday February 21 2014, @12:04PM (#4253)
      $93 for squid and prawns? for two people...disgusting. $5.50 for a diet Coke? If that is an advertisement it works against them (at least for the unwashed masses yearning to read). These people live in some kind of dream world, going to hotels that charge $26 for bread and talking spy talk. If the FT picked up the tab, no wonder newspapers are going out of business.
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      • (Score: 3, Informative) by girlwhowaspluggedout on Friday February 21 2014, @12:13PM

        by girlwhowaspluggedout (1223) on Friday February 21 2014, @12:13PM (#4258)
        The prices are in R$, i.e. Brazilian reals. At the moment, 1BRL = 0.42USD. Whether that's still excessive for a Brazilian restaurant is another question :)
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        • (Score: 1) by bucc5062 on Friday February 21 2014, @12:28PM

          by bucc5062 (699) on Friday February 21 2014, @12:28PM (#4263)

          d'oh! Wondered what the R meant. That was my American showing. Thanks for the info and it does make it seem less elite.

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          • (Score: 2, Informative) by cesarb on Friday February 21 2014, @01:09PM

            by cesarb (1224) on Friday February 21 2014, @01:09PM (#4273) Journal

            Well, that restaurant is near the Ipanema beach (you can find it on OpenStreetMap [openstreetmap.org]), so it would make sense for it to be somewhat expensive.

            That beverage does seem to be on the expensive side. Beverages tend to be more expensive on restaurants, but look at its price on a supermarket [paodeacucar.com.br]: R$ 2,19 for the Guaraná Zero.