Edward Snowden on surveillance: what the evidence says · JRE #1368
FACT CHECK // JRE #1368 // EXHIBIT LOG
EPISODE AIRED OCT 1, 2019 · THE JOE ROGAN EXPERIENCE
CLAIM CMRCORQSSTATUS: PUBLISHED
SUBJECT: SURVEILLANCE
SUBJECT: SURVEILLANCE
RulingNeeds Context
Not a true/false call. Every claim is logged with its sources; read the exhibits below.
AT&T keeps those records going back to 2008 under a program called Hemisphere. If you search for Hemisphere and AT&T, you'll get a story in the Daily Beast about it. AT&T keeps your phone records going back to 1983.
Edward Snowden@ 1:34:10
►Watch on YouTubeJUMP TO 1:34:10What the evidence says 01 / RECORD
Snowden first says Hemisphere's call records go back "to 2008," then says AT&T's phone records go back to 1983. Neither figure matches the public record: the 2013 New York Times investigation and the Guardian's contemporaneous report describe Hemisphere as a DEA-funded program giving law enforcement access to an AT&T call-detail-record database dating to 1987, not 2008 or 1983. Notably, immediately after this quote (not included in it), Snowden corrects himself mid-sentence and lands on 1987, the figure the reporting actually supports, so the segment as a whole is muddled rather than simply wrong.