How Laura Poitras Finds the Truth

"Pasted on the wall next to the locked steel door that seals Laura Poitras's studio from visitors and intruders is a black poster depicting a PGP key that the filmmaker has used in the past to receive encrypted messages. It makes sense that this key-a sort of invitation to send her a secret message-is the only identifiable sign that Poitras edits her movies in this building;"

"Milling about in the hallway outside Poitras's Soho studio, which shares a floor with a jewelry company and a luxury real estate firm, I can't help but think of how oddly commonplace the pasted PGP key is. Two decades ago, no one thought about their privacy with much rigor, but it is now something that we try to guard daily from incursions. Poitras has a lot to do with these developments."

"After the release of her 2006 documentary, My Country, My Country -which followed an Iraqi doctor, Riyadh al-Adhadh, running for office during the country's first civil elections, which took place under US occupation-Poitras became a frequent target of the security state. Between 2006 and 2012, she was stopped and questioned by the Transportation Security Administration more than 50 times during her travels. She was also placed on a Department of Homeland Security watch list and flagged with the highest possible threat level."

Laura Poitras displays a PGP key at her studio and has used encryption to receive messages, including the famous one from Edward Snowden. Her filmmaking exposed mass surveillance by the National Security Agency and contributed to public awareness of state surveillance of citizens. Poitras faced sustained government scrutiny after her 2006 documentary My Country, My Country, including more than fifty stops and questions by the Transportation Security Administration between 2006 and 2012. She was placed on a Department of Homeland Security watch list and flagged at the highest threat level. Poitras experienced invasive searches and persistent targeting during travel.

Read at The Nation