Surveillance Valley: The Secret Military History of the
Internet | Hardcover

Yasha Levine

PublicAffairs | PublicAffairs Political Science / Privacy &
Surveillance (see also Social Science - Privacy & Surveillance)
/ Security (National & International) / Computers / Internet -
Online Safety & Privacy

Published Feb 6, 2018

"The internet is the most effective weapon the government has
ever built.

"In this fascinating book, investigative reporter Yasha Levine
uncovers the secret origins of the internet, tracing it back to
a Pentagon counterinsurgency surveillance project.

"A visionary intelligence officer, William Godel, realized that
the key to winning the war in Vietnam was not outgunning the
enemy, but using new information technology to understand their
motives and anticipate their movements. This idea -- using
computers to spy on people and groups perceived as a threat,
both at home and abroad -- drove ARPA to develop the internet
in the 1960s, and continues to be at the heart of the modern
internet we all know and use today. As Levine shows,
surveillance wasn't something that suddenly appeared on the
internet; it was woven into the fabric of the technology.

"But this isn't just a story about the NSA or other domestic
programs run by the government. As t he book spins forward in
time, Levine examines the private surveillance business that
powers tech-industry giants like Google, Facebook, and Amazon,
revealing how these companies spy on their users for profit,
all while doing double duty as military and intelligence
contractors. Levine shows that the military and Silicon Valley
are effectively inseparable: a military-digital complex that
permeates everything connected to the internet, even coopting
and weaponizing the antigovernment privacy movement that sprang
up in the wake of Edward Snowden.

"With deep research, skilled storytelling, and provocative
arguments, Surveillance Valley will change the way you think
about the news -- and the device on which you read it.


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