Means of Control

Praise

“[Tau] documents how, across more than two decades, our government has turned to the private sector to keep tabs on us, all while both the authorities and the companies involved do everything they can to keep Americans in the dark. . . . An in-depth account . . . Tau’s extensive research gives readers a detailed tour of the bafflingly complex ecosystem of brokers and buyers of [our] information.”—Reason

“Byron Tau has revealed the secret history of a new American surveillance state. We are all its unwitting builders, providing the raw materials from the phones we carry in our pockets and the devices we place in our homes. As Tau shows in vivid, often frightening detail, none of us consented to this arrangement. But we can hardly be surprised that corporations and governments have scooped up unfathomable amounts of information about us, since it was practically free for the taking. Means of Control is an urgent story, meticulously reported and compellingly told. . . . A testament to the singular and indispensable power of journalism to shine light in the dark and find answers to the hardest questions.”—Shane Harris, author of The Watchers

“Byron Tau’s extraordinary book recounts in engrossing detail how the U.S. government exploits massive loopholes in U.S. surveillance law to purchase in vast digital bazaars the intimate personal data that Americans unwittingly spew from their phones, cars, and computers every minute of every day. Means of Control exposes how American surveillance capitalism breeds secret government surveillance on a scale never imagined.”—Jack Goldsmith, Learned Hand Professor of Law, Harvard Law School

“A chilling chronicle of how data collection efforts by corporate and government entities have created a ‘digital panopticon’ . . . Filled with shocking revelations and first-rate reporting, this will have readers thinking twice before they post.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Startling . . . Tau’s explanations of how surveillance techniques have evolved in the twenty-first century in response to the trauma of 9/11—and how they might yet be put to use in ordinary circumstance—are exceptionally clear and unsettling. . . . This timely book carries a crucial message about the stakes involved in government-corporate partnerships. A fascinating, sometimes terrifying examination of the decline of privacy in the digital age.”—Kirkus Reviews