4/5: Good intro to mass surveilance for a young audience
Young adult novel following a teenager in San Francisco after a terror attack. The government introduced mass surveilance policies and the book explores the effects on the people and a group of young hacker rebels that refuse to accept it.
- Good introduction to the themes of mass surveilance for a young audience.
- Including common arguments for (« I have nothing to hide » and « it’s to make us safe »).
- Demonstrates how easy it is to abuse. Both by authorities overstepping their power and by people knowing how to abuse the system.
- All tech concepts introduced (crypto, keyloggers, VPN…) are real.
- « Rebellious teenager vs the adult world » makes it captivating to read.
- Afterwords by security researchers inviting the readers to get a carreer in tech.
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It was fun reading something set in SF after having been there.
- Very American centered (mentions the constitution, patriot act)
- Didn’t like the relationship/sex parts. I guess it is more compelling to the young audience.