[why_at]

Does anybody understand the ad that is just a long string of numbers? They give a translation but it still doesn't make sense to me.

>9781529035698

>1

>12*

>*We placed this ad here for you to start practicing private communication in a public setting. This could be good to know if the European Commission's chat control law becomes reality.

What's even weirder is the numbers in the translation are different from the original.

[MitchellCash]

It's the ISBN of Edward Snowden's book "Permanent Record: A Memoir of a Reluctant Whistleblower". The numbers in the poster differ because it's the ISBN of the Swedish translated copy of the book.

[p1peridine]

Unrelated to his book, but anyone else find Ed's last name mildly amusing?

English is not my first language so when we say "Snowden", unless we really try to do an American English accent, it can sometimes sound like "Snowedii-n".

His last name means:

> English: habitational name from any of the many minor places called from hills where the snow lay long (Old English snāw ‘snow’ + dūn ‘hill’). [0]

"To be snowed in": when you can't exit the property/house because of fallen snow. Keep that same thought but remove the snow element (still "stuck") and replace property with country.

Now take "Snowden", but make the E longer and make it sound more like an I.

Edward Snowed-in. One could say that he is snowed in, in another country.

Similary, another NSA leakers name: Reality Winner.

Not poking fun at their names, just pointing out the irony because of the situation they are/was in.

[0]: https://www.familysearch.org/en/surname?surname=snowden

[why_at]

Nice. I guess I should have tried googling it but I was convinced it was some kind of code.