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Cypherpunks: Freedom and the Future of the Internet Julian Assange with Jacob Appelbaum, Andy Moller-Magun, and Jérémie Zimmermann. New York: OR Books, 2012. 186 pp. $16
The Snowden Files Luke Harding. New York: Vintage Books, 2014. 346 pp. $14.95
The following review by Judy Anderson covers two books.
The continuing saga of WikiLeaks and the fate of Edward Snowden remain a story of conflicting viewpoints. Those interested in exploring the reasoning behind such hacking and exposure will find that Cypherpunks supplies the background and philosophy of the techies who feel strongly that the Internet must remain a free zone for privacy in communication, economic activity, and movement/travel. The Snowden Files shows another, more reserved, approach but with the same end-to alert people to the government's invasion of their personal privacy that, legally, it is only permitted access after proper procedures are followed against specific individuals. Each work walks the reader through the thought processes of the whistleblowers; Harding's book adds the reporter's talent for putting the reader into the daily life of Snowden through descriptions of places and meetings that occurred as Snowden sought trustworthy people and secure locations.
Cypherpunks is a dialog among some well-known cypherpunks, i.e., persons who "advocate for the use of cryptography and similar methods ... to achieve political and social change," explaining their experiences and personal views on Internet management and control of its data. Each sees using cryptography as the ultimate non-violent means for direct action; a way of providing privacy for the general public and forcing transparency in government. The conversation is held among Julian Assange (editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks), Jacob Appelbaum (founder of Noisebridge-San Francisco and researcher for the TOR project), Andy Moller-Maguhn (Chaos Computer Club and European Director of ICAAN), and Jérémie Zimmerman (cofounder of La Quadrature du Net). Because they operate within different types of government and in different countries, their discussions are lively and show there are many ways to approach problem solving. Their approaches to the topics covered-surveillance, censorship, the military, economics, politics, and privacy-demonstrate their ability to examine many sides of a problem and to share knowledge to find solutions to benefit individuals, not corporate or government entities.
In the past, data collection and storage was cost prohibitive; only the more affluent countries...