The Best Political Privacy & Surveillance Books 2025

1. The Counterrevolution: How Our Government Went to War Against Its Own Citizens, Pre-Owned (Hardcover)

Pre-Owned - A distinguished political theorist sounds the alarm about the counterinsurgency strategies used to govern Americans Militarized police officers with tanks and drones. Pervasive government surveillance and profiling. Social media that distract and track us. All of these, contends Bernard E. Harcourt, are facets of a new and radical governing paradigm in the United States -- one rooted in the modes of warfare originally developed to suppress anticolonial revolutions and, more recently, to prosecute the war on terror. The Counterrevolution is a penetrating and disturbing account of the rise of counterinsurgency, first as a military strategy but increasingly as a way of ruling ordinary Americans. Harcourt shows how counterinsurgency's principles -- bulk intelligence collection, ruthless targeting of minorities, pacifying propaganda -- have taken hold domestically despite the absence of any radical uprising. This counterrevolution against phantom enemies, he argues, is the tyranny of our age. Seeing it clearly is the first step to resisting it effectively.

The Counterrevolution: How Our Government Went to War Against Its Own Citizens, Pre-Owned (Hardcover)

2. The Edward Snowden Affair : The Media, the NSA, and the One That Got Away, Used [Paperback]

The narrative begins with Snowden literally growing up in the shadow of the National Security Agency. At a pace that reads like a taut political thriller Gurnow reveals for the first time the dramatic details of how select members of the media broke the story, and the cat and mouse game that followed between the media and the administration. Gurnow goes on to explain in plain language the political, legal and technological implications of the whistleblower's classified data.

The Edward Snowden Affair : The Media, the NSA, and the One That Got Away, Used [Paperback]

3. The Covert Bug Book : How to Find Eavesdropping Devices and Stop Them Dead, Used [Paperback]

Protecting their privacy and safeguarding proprietary and intellectual property from prying eyes is becoming an everyday security burden for individuals and businesses. The Covert Bug Book provides the reader with cost-effective countermeasures that can minimize and prevent the most prevalent and costly invasions of privacy. Find out from security specialist Norbert Zaenglein how to assess your security level, identify likely "hot spots" for eavesdropping, understand how eavesdroppers ply their trade and locate or neutralize hidden cameras, transmitters, phone taps, vehicle tracking devices, keyboard loggers, room monitors, video cameras, infrared and laser transmitters and a host of other legal and illegal electronic devices. Make your home or office a no-spy zone with the professional secrets in this book This book is for academic study only.

The Covert Bug Book : How to Find Eavesdropping Devices and Stop Them Dead, Used [Paperback]

4. How America Lost Its Secrets: Edward Snowden, the Man and the Theft [Hardcover - Used]

CONDITION - USED - Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "From the library of" labels or previous owner inscriptions. Accessories such as CD, codes, toys, may not be included. A groundbreaking expos that convincingly challenges the popular image of Edward Snowden as hacker turned avenging angel, while revealing how vulnerable our national security systems have become--as exciting as any political thriller, and far more important. After details of American government surveillance were published in 2013, Edward Snowden, formerly a subcontracted IT analyst for the NSA, became the center of an international controversy: Was he a hero, traitor, whistle-blower, spy? Was his theft legitimized by the nature of the information he exposed? When is it necessary for governmental transparency to give way to subterfuge? Edward Jay Epstein brings a lifetime of journalistic and investigative acumen to bear on these and other questions, delving into both how our secrets were taken and the man who took them. He makes clear that by outsourcing parts of our security apparatus, the government has made classified information far more vulnerable; how Snowden sought employment precisely where he could most easily gain access to the most sensitive classified material; and how, though he claims to have acted to serve his country, Snowden is treated as a prized intelligence asset in Moscow, his new home.

How America Lost Its Secrets : Edward Snowden, the Man and the Theft, Used [Hardcover]

5. After Snowden: Privacy, Secrecy, and Security in the Information Age [Hardcover - Used]

CONDITION - USED - Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "From the library of" labels or previous owner inscriptions. Accessories such as CD, codes, toys, may not be included. Was Edward Snowden a patriot or a traitor? Just how far do American privacy rights extend? And how far is too far when it comes to government secrecy in the name of security? These are just a few of the questions that have dominated American consciousness since Edward Snowden exposed the breath of the NSA's domestic surveillance program. In these seven previously unpublished essays, a group of prominent legal and political experts delve in to life After Snowden , examining the ramifications of the infamous leak from multiple angles: - Washington lawyer and literary agent RONALD GOLDFARB acts as the book's editor and provides an introduction outlining the many debates sparked by the Snowden leaks. - Pulitzer Prize winning journalist BARRY SIEGEL analyses the role of the state secrets provision in the judicial system. - Former Assistant Secretary of State HODDING CARTER explores whether the press is justified in unearthing and publishing classified information. - Ethics expert and dean of the UC Berkley School of Journalism EDWARD WASSERMAN discusses the uneven relationship between journalists and whistleblowers. - Georgetown Law Professor DAVID COLE addresses the motives and complicated legacy of Snowden and other leakers. - Director of the National Security Archive THOMAS BLANTON looks at the impact of the Snowden leaks on the classification of government documents. - Dean of the University of Florida Law School JON MILLS addresses the constitutional right to privacy and the difficulties of applying it in the digital age.

After Snowden: Privacy, Secrecy, and Security in the Information Age [Hardcover - Used]

6. No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State [Paperback - Used]

CONDITION - USED - Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "From the library of" labels or previous owner inscriptions. Accessories such as CD, codes, toys, may not be included. By Glenn Greenwald, star of Citizenfour , the Academy Award-winning documentary on Edward Snowden In May 2013, Glenn Greenwald set out for Hong Kong to meet an anonymous source who claimed to have astonishing evidence of pervasive government spying and insisted on communicating only through heavily encrypted channels. That source turned out to be the twenty-nine-year-old NSA contractor Edward Snowden, and his revelations about the agency's widespread, systemic overreach proved to be some of the most explosive and consequential news in recent history, triggering a fierce debate over national security and information privacy. Now Greenwald fits all the pieces together, recounting his high-intensity eleven-day trip to Hong Kong, examining the broader implications of the surveillance detailed in his reporting for The Guardian , and revealing fresh information on the NSA's unprecedented abuse of power with documents from the Snowden archive. Fearless and incisive, No Place to Hide has already sparked outrage around the globe and been hailed by voices across the political spectrum as an essential contribution to our understanding of the U.S. surveillance state.

No Place to Hide : Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U. S. Surveillance State, Used [Paperback]

7. Behold a Pale Farce: Cyberwar, Threat Inflation, & the Malware Industrial Complex, Used [Paperback]

This book presents a data-driven message that exposes the cyberwar media campaign being directed by the Pentagon and its patronage networks. By demonstrating that the American public is being coerced by a threat that has been blown out of proportion--much like the run-up to the Gulf War or the global war on terror--this book discusses how the notion of cyberwar instills a crisis mentality that discourages formal risk assessment, making the public anxious and hence susceptible to ill-conceived solutions. With content that challenges conventional notions regarding cyber security, Behold a Pale Farce covers topics--including cybercrime; modern espionage; mass-surveillance systems; and the threats facing infrastructure targets such as the Federal Reserve, the stock exchange, and telecommunications--in a way that provides objective analysis rather than advocacy. This book is a must-read for anyone concerned with the recent emergence of Orwellian tools of mass interception that have developed under the guise of national security.

Behold a Pale Farce: Cyberwar, Threat Inflation, & the Malware Industrial Complex, Used [Paperback]

8. No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State [Hardcover - Used]

CONDITION - USED - Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "From the library of" labels or previous owner inscriptions. Accessories such as CD, codes, toys, may not be included. The New York Times Bestseller In May 2013, Glenn Greenwald set out for Hong Kong to meet an anonymous source who claimed to have astonishing evidence of pervasive government spying and insisted on communicating only through heavily encrypted channels. That source turned out to be the 29-year-old NSA contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden, and his revelations about the agency's widespread, systemic overreach proved to be some of the most explosive and consequential news in recent history, triggering a fierce debate over national security and information privacy. As the arguments rage on and the government considers various proposals for reform, it is clear that we have yet to see the full impact of Snowden's disclosures. Now for the first time, Greenwald fits all the pieces together, recounting his high-intensity ten-day trip to Hong Kong, examining the broader implications of the surveillance detailed in his reporting for The Guardian , and revealing fresh information on the NSA's unprecedented abuse of power with never-before-seen documents entrusted to him by Snowden himself. Going beyond NSA specifics, Greenwald also takes on the establishment media, excoriating their habitual avoidance of adversarial reporting on the government and their failure to serve the interests of the people. Finally, he asks what it means both for individuals and for a nation's political health when a government pries so invasively into the private lives of its citizens--and considers what safeguards and forms of oversight are necessary to protect democracy in the digital age. Coming at a landmark moment in American history, No Place to Hide is a fearless, incisive, and essential contribution to our understanding of the U.S. surveillance state.

No Place to Hide : Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U. S. Surveillance State, Used [Hardcover]

9. The Covert Bug Book : How to Find Eavesdropping Devices and Stop Them Dead, Used [Paperback]

Protecting their privacy and safeguarding proprietary and intellectual property from prying eyes is becoming an everyday security burden for individuals and businesses. The Covert Bug Book provides the reader with cost-effective countermeasures that can minimize and prevent the most prevalent and costly invasions of privacy. Find out from security specialist Norbert Zaenglein how to assess your security level, identify likely "hot spots" for eavesdropping, understand how eavesdroppers ply their trade and locate or neutralize hidden cameras, transmitters, phone taps, vehicle tracking devices, keyboard loggers, room monitors, video cameras, infrared and laser transmitters and a host of other legal and illegal electronic devices. Make your home or office a no-spy zone with the professional secrets in this book This book is for academic study only.

The Covert Bug Book : How to Find Eavesdropping Devices and Stop Them Dead, Used [Paperback]