Surveillance Valley
The Secret Military History of the Internet
by Yasha Levine · first published 2018
68% recommend29% neutral3% critical
Why HN recommends it
Argues the internet grew out of military counter-insurgency and intelligence work and was built with surveillance in mind, tracing Silicon Valley's ties to defense; for readers wanting the darker history of the net.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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
Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
Related books
2011–2026The Puzzle Palace
James Bamford
Recommended by 13 · mentioned by 3513 recommend · 35 mention13 recommend · 3513 recommend
2008–2026Where wizards stay up late
Katie Hafner, Katie Hefner, Matthew Lyon
Recommended by 86 · mentioned by 10986 recommend · 109 mention86 recommend · 10986 recommend
2014–2026The Innovators
Walter Isaacson, Francisco José Ramos Mena, Marcos Pérez Sánchez, Inga Pellisa Díaz
Recommended by 55 · mentioned by 7355 recommend · 73 mention55 recommend · 7355 recommend
2009–2026The Dream Machine
M. Mitchell Waldrop
Recommended by 109 · mentioned by 131109 recommend · 131 mention109 recommend · 131109 recommend
2007–2026Brave New World
Aldous Huxley
Recommended by 202 · mentioned by 708202 recommend · 708 mention202 recommend · 708202 recommend
This seems like a good place to say that I strongly recommend Yasha Levine's Surveillance Valley book (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34220713-surveillance-va...) where he suggests that all of this is working as intended, going all the way back to the military counter-insurgency roots of the…
on “FBI's ability to legally access secure messaging app content and metadata [pdf]” ↗…attacks sent to Daschle and Leahy (no, it wasn't Bruce Ivins). Then you've got the backdoors into Google and Apple, the whole PRISM thing... I doubt they've shut any of that down. See Yasha Levine's "Surveillance Valley" for more on that. https://yashalevine.com/surveillance-valley It's not quite China yet, but I'm pretty sure that when our politicians and bureaucrats and their corporate masters look at China's system,…
on “New documents reveal scale of US Government’s cell phone location data tracking” ↗…(and others most likely) to unlock Android phones? Maybe Google knew about it and that accounts for their stalling on providing a fix? Yes, that's how you start thinking after reading Yasha Levine's Surveillance Valley. https://yashalevine.com/surveillance-valley
on “Accidental Google Pixel Lock Screen Bypass” ↗OP here... Any guesses why this was flagged? Yasha Levine is the author of Surveillance Valley, a well-reviewed book that covers this topic extensively.
on “Almost everyone developing Tor was or is funded by the US government (2014)” ↗Finally that kind of stuff starts landing on the main page of HN. I highly recommend a unique book: "Surveillance Valley", Yasha Levine. Although not without cons, the book makes a very strong case for the Internet to be planned from the very start as a surveillance vehicle of the future. The founding grounds of some well-known…
on “Google’s true origin partly lies in gov grants for mass surveillance (2017)” ↗Very true. I'd recommend Yasha Levine's (the post author's) book Surveillance Valley for anyone interested in this topic. You'll notice any web posts about "how to get on the dark web" suggest Tor. Uh, huh.
on “Almost everyone developing Tor was or is funded by the US government (2014)” ↗The internet itself is a military project and its pioneers were all either military-employed or had contracts early on, for actual military applications or surveillance. Read Yasha Levine's Surveillance Valley. Unfortunately it seems tech is forever tied with the military industrial complex.
on “Microsoft wins $21.9B contract with U.S. Army to supply AR headsets” ↗I'd read "Surveillance Valley: The Rise of the Military-Digital Complex", by Yasha Levine, for a discussion of why Tor/Onion has relatively little value for private communications, unless it's used in a highly specific manner - and…
on “On the dangers of cryptocurrencies and the uselessness of blockchain” ↗For the darker aspects of Internet history, read 'Surveillance Valley' by Yasha Levine: https://www.amazon.com/Surveillance-Valley-Military-History-...
on “Ask HN: Where can one learn about the history of the internet and the protocols?” ↗Yasha Levine covers the commercialisation of the Internet very well in "Surveillance Valley".
on “Ask HN: What was the Internet like before corporations got their hands on it?” ↗As does Yasha Levine's Surveillance Valley. https://surveillancevalley.com/ And I realize anti-establishment innuendo is taboo here, but if yc is focused on bringing forth more products and services to the world, then doing so without understanding…
on “Selective Empathy Can Chip Away at Civil Society” ↗Not exactly what you described, but overviews DoD role in development of internet technologies and SV: https://www.amazon.com/Surveillance-Valley-Military-History-...
on “A history sheds light on venture capital’s ties to military-industrial complex” ↗Some with more degrees of separation than others, yes. Yasha Levine's "Surveillance Valley" is a satisfactory history of that era, up to the near-present, albeit with a clear political perspective.
on “Leonard Kleinrock on what went wrong with the internet” ↗Yasha Levine's "Surveillance Valley: The Secret Military History of the Internet" (2018). I ended up reading it side-by-side with Ed Snowden's "Permanent Record" (2019) which was useful as they have somewhat different takes on domestic…
on “Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?” ↗One of the people involved in the film this is related to (Pistachio Wars) is Yasha Levine, whose book about the history of the Internet, Surveillance Valley, is excellent (if controversial!). Background on the film: https://yasha.substack.com/p/pistachio-wars-the-back-story-5... Surveillance Valley: http://yashalevine.com/surveillance-valley
on “Pistachio Billionaires Accused of Artwashing California's Water Crisis” ↗