Surveillance Valley

Understanding internet history is crucial for anyone who uses it. It helps us grasp the original intent and motives behind its creation, and how these impact our personal lives today and into the future.

Yasha Levine’s Surveillance Valley provides this history lesson and more.

By exploring the relationship between military and intelligence agencies and Silicon Valley, Levine educates us not just on how and why the internet emerged and evolved, but also on how the latter was jumpstarted (and still supported) by the former.

Levine reveals how major technology companies like Google, as well as privacy apps like Tor and Signal, were initially funded by—and remain intrinsically linked to—the U.S. government, including agencies such as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency, National Science Foundation, and the Broadcasting Board of Governors. He raises important questions about the relationship between the two.

We are left with the realization that exponential technology funding stems from U.S. government intelligence and military budgets, and we are left wondering whether the effort to maintain some sense of privacy is futile. Years after Surveillance Valley was published, this is even more true.

While we can continue to strive for privacy, we must also come to terms with the reality and nuances of the past and how this impacts our future.