CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · People & Ideas

David Miranda (politician)

Brazilian politician (1985–2023)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 2, 2026
Entity authorityQ17378217 ↗
Source-derived summary

David Michael dos Santos Miranda (Portuguese: [ˈdejvidʒi miˈɾɐ̃dɐ]; 10 May 1985 – 9 May 2023) was a Brazilian politician. He was a Federal Congressman representing the state of Rio de Janeiro, serving from 2019 until 2023, and was affiliated with the Democratic Labour Party (PDT), after switching parties from the Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL) in 2022. Prior to that, he was a City Councilman representing the city of Rio de Janeiro. Miranda also played a key role in Edward Snowden's global surveillance leaks.

In 2019, Miranda was named by Time magazine as one of the world's next generation of new leaders.

Global surveillance activism

In August 2013, Miranda was carrying a thumb drive with classified material provided by Edward Snowden when he was detained by the British government at London's Heathrow Airport under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000 on a layover between Berlin and Rio de Janeiro. The material had been given to Miranda by Laura Poitras, intended for his husband, American journalist Glenn Greenwald. His belongings were seized, including the thumb drive and other electronics equipment. Greenwald described his partner's detention as "clearly intended to send a message of intimidation to those of us who have been reporting on the NSA and GCHQ". Miranda described his treatment by the UK authorities as "psychological torture" and later said, "I was sure I was going away to Guantánamo forever."

He sued the British government over his detention, but in 2014 it was ruled lawful by the UK High Court, which accepted that the detention and seizure of computer material was "an indirect interference with press freedom", but said this was justified by legitimate and "very pressing" interests of national security.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “David Miranda (politician)” as brazilian politician (1985–2023). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1985, 2023, 2019, 2022—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1985-05-10. The account is most persuasive where David, Miranda and politician can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as brazilian politician (1985–2023). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q17378217. VIAF identifies the subject as 99051224. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1985, 2023, 2019 and 2022.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “David Miranda (politician)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow David Miranda (politician) primary sources, David Miranda (politician) archive and David research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “David Miranda (politician)”?
  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “David Miranda (politician)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.