Surveillance Valley book review

I’ve just finished reading Surveillance Valley: the secret military history of the internet by Yasha Levine. Its a great page turner for a nonfiction book, and imagine it as one /e/ backers and users would enjoy.

The book traces the history of the internet by first starting with the foundation of the agency that created it (ARPA/DARPA) and the figures at the helm. Where the book differs from your typical internet history tale is the research and explanations of the agency’s involvement in the development of counterinsurgency methods and technology, such efforts that would kickstart the drive for the creation of the internet. The book elegantly debunks the current mythos of the internet being this liberating tool corrupted by government surveillance as a distortion of its real history where it from its very beginnings as the ARPANET been created to be used as a surveillance tool.

I can’t recommend this book highly enough!
https://surveillancevalley.com/

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