Fetch Your Copy Chatter: Uncovering The Echelon Surveillance Network And The Secret World Of Global Eavesdropping Developed By Patrick Radden Keefe Conveyed In Pamphlet

introduction to the world of signals intelligence SIGINT that is inevitably very basic, due to the dearth of publicly available information on the topic Radden Keefe does a reasonable job of filling the pages that would otherwise remain empty with philosophical questions and discussions around privacy and technology.
This book was my first introduction to real spy and listening posts and their history, I read it when it was first published and I recommend it highly, The author has done his homework and his writing style is clear and moves along without bogging down in inessentials, This is a history that more Americans and others need to know, It's been going on since, at least, Fascinating but had to stop listening/of the way due to another book becoming available, Maybe a little outdated in the postSnowden world and probably explains why its out of print and I had to get this through interlibrary loan, but for a first book this is pretty good.
Keefe says somewhere in the intro that hes “not an investigative reporter” but that washim writing, because hes clearly one of the best out there now.
Interesting but a bit lose and with the benefit of hindsight a little off at times, The most interesting aspect of this book is how much the world has changed since it was publishedyears ago,

It's a quaint snapshot of a world beginning to really worry about technology and privacy issues right before smartphones and wifi connectivity blew up all around the world and caused us to become a million times more vulnerable.
This is a remarkable book about "sigint" signals intelligence, The first half is a chilling detailing of how telecommunications of all sorts are swept up by numerous listening stations around the world, a central part of a UKUSA agreement including Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.


The second half begins to wonder if the enormous amount of money spent by the NSA and others is worth it, given the tremendous failures of sigint to help prevent terrorist acts notably Septemberth, for example.
I have read a bunch of books on spying and intelligence agencies over the years,

Most of their authors allowed themselves the luxury of blurring the line between plainly observable / provable facts and wild flights of fanciful conjecture.


This book is a refreshing change in that and other regards,

sitelink Patrick Radden Keefe does an excellent job sketching in both broad and detailed strokes exactly what we do know about agencies like the NSA and their counterparts in the UK, AU and NZ and plainly states what we don't.


I'm also quite pleasantly surprised at how even handed this book is, He coolly presents and evaluates arguments from both the left and the right, and isn't afraid to say so when someone is coming off as self deluded or even a bit wacky.


There is a great deal of fascinating data in this book, If you're at all interested in the intelligence business or the very real effect it has on our right to privacy as a society, this is a must read.
B Interesting but dated. An interesting but very general look at the world's security agencies in a preSnowden world, It's kinda an Intelligencecourse, exploring the rise of technology and the transition away from inperson spying, Very boring book. It is probably outdated. Best for:
People interested in an historical perspective on data interception and national security,

In a nutshell:
Keefe explores the US systems of eavesdropping on allies and enemies alike,

Worth quoting:
“In times of panic, we overreact, we overlegislate, We get it wrong. ”

Why I chose it:
I thought Id read all of Keefes books then this popped up, I have thoroughly enjoyed his last two fulllength investigations, so figured why not read this

:
Reading a book about national security and intelligence that was released inis interesting, in that things like smart phones werent around, and so much has changed in terms of the data so many of us are willing to share.
So this book is almost alike a time capsule, and while reading I mostly caught myself thinking whoa, this is interesting but whats happening now

Keefe looks at ECHELON, the surveillance program that the UK, US, Canada, New Zealand and Australia all participate in, looking at the information their friends and foes share.
Its both super secret but also not really secret at all

At times it was a bit hard to follow exactly what was being discussed, and how it related to everything else, but overall it was interesting, as it was written in light of the fact thathappened but all the fancy spying didnt prevent it.
A couple of main themes are that you can capture all the data you want, but you really do need humans to review it and make sense of it, and there arent nearly enough humans working in the field to do that and is it worth giving up so much privacy if it doesnt even lead to better security

I would love an update to this book, looking at whats been happening for the pastyears since the book was published, but overall for someone like me with very limited subject knowledge, it was a pretty good read.


Recommend to a Friend / Keep / Donate it / Toss it:
Not likely to recommend, and its an audio book so cant do the rest!
Exceptionally well written.
Insightful. A look into signal intelligence capturing by the Anglo alliance,
Get Smart
Written by Mandi Chestler on Januaryth,
Book Rating:/
An eye opening expose on the world of governmental spying, Keefe's writing is well researched and riviting.
I particularly liked that he stayed objective and factbased all the way through the book, and avoided the temptation to succumb to conspiracy theories or breathless speculationthe great temptation when dealing with the topic of espionage and eavesdropping.
I feel so much better informed about the warrantless wiretapping issue after "listening in" on this audio book, It's time for us all to get smart about this important issue, This was really interesting and also really frustrating, As Keefe acknowledges at the end of the book, he has mostly managed to identify where the gaps in public knowledge about global eavesdropping by government agencies begins and ends, rather than offering any real answers.
He does, however, use this to very effectively make a case that the current hypersecretive, changeresistant culture of intelligence agencies is ultimately to their own detriment.
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