Surveillance Valley
Surveillance Valley by Yasha Levineby Yasha Levine
Shares rank 18 of 51 history books by recommenders
Recommended as a documented account of the military and intelligence roots of the internet and its surveillance design.
Recommended as a documented account of the military and intelligence roots of the internet and its surveillance design.
5 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 6 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Well documented account of internet surveillance
“Yasha Levine's well documented premise is that the entire existence of the internet is designed for surveillance and content control”
Comment from 6 Nov 2025 in “FBI tries to unmask owner of archive.is” “the interaction with government and defense and intelligence is well documented”
Comment from 2 Jul 2026 in “Why I'm Forced to Say Farewell: Google Management Has Lost Its Moral Compass” Covers military roots of the internet
“about the military history of the internet originating in counter insurgency strategy in vietnam”
Comment from 8 Dec 2025 in “Hunting for North Korean Fiber Optic Cables” “"Surveillance Valley" is another excellent book about the tech industry's military roots.”
Comment from 26 Feb 2026 in “Tech Companies Shouldn't Be Bullied into Doing Surveillance”
Other history books people recommend
The four most recommended other history books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Dawn of Everythingby David Graeber and David Wengrow | 23 | 5 | 82% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Cadillac Desertby Marc Reisner | 18 | 0 | 100% | 11 | — | Approved |
| The Boxby Marc Levinson | 16 | 0 | 100% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Sapiensby Yuval Noah Harari | 13 | 9 | 59% | 8 | — | — |
| Surveillance Valleyby Yasha LevineThis page | 5 | 0 | 100% | 6 | — | — |
What people said
All 7 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“the interaction with government and defense and intelligence is well documented”
“Read Surveillance Valley by Yasha Levine and Means of control by Byron Tau if you want to learn more.”
“Can't recommend these books enough for anyone who is skeptical of the above claim.”
“"Surveillance Valley" is another excellent book about the tech industry's military roots.”
“It goes into who funds these things.”
“about the military history of the internet originating in counter insurgency strategy in vietnam”
“Yasha Levine's well documented premise is that the entire existence of the internet is designed for surveillance and content control”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.