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basqueattack's review against another edition
4.0
This book started out extremely promising. It talked about Leakers, how leaks happen, and the hurdles to leaking. It breifly went over how much easier Bradley Manning leaked his trove of documents compared to Daniel Ellsberg, and the troubles that both of them faced. However, this book took a turn for the worst when it started talking about Julian Assange. The book put too much focus on him and very quickly got caught up in the nuances of WikiLeaks and the drama it faced. The book became very technical and didn't do a great job explaining the difficult technical principles that the author was trying to discuss. I also felt the book had some loose ends. Despite this, I would still say this book was very interesting and a great read if your looking for something about leakers or WikiLeaks.
amber_lea84's review against another edition
4.0
I read this because I really liked Andy Greenberg's latest book, Sandworm.
I kind of regret my decision to pick this up because good lord, I do not want to have to talk about Julian Assange and whatever his deal is. But I went in thinking I maybe would learn something about him that I didn't understand before and I'd have something worth saying about my newfound understanding. Unfortunately, this is just more of what I'd already heard. He still seems like a brilliant asshole who's understanding of the world seems kind of incomprehensible.
Honestly, there isn't much here that I didn't already know, which surprises me because I never really thought I was super knowledgeable about WikiLeaks. I paid attention to the news at the time, but I always thought there was more to know if you really wanted to dig into it. So to me this felt more like a refresher course rather than something informative to fill in the details.
I kind of regret my decision to pick this up because good lord, I do not want to have to talk about Julian Assange and whatever his deal is. But I went in thinking I maybe would learn something about him that I didn't understand before and I'd have something worth saying about my newfound understanding. Unfortunately, this is just more of what I'd already heard. He still seems like a brilliant asshole who's understanding of the world seems kind of incomprehensible.
Honestly, there isn't much here that I didn't already know, which surprises me because I never really thought I was super knowledgeable about WikiLeaks. I paid attention to the news at the time, but I always thought there was more to know if you really wanted to dig into it. So to me this felt more like a refresher course rather than something informative to fill in the details.
dogtrax's review against another edition
4.0
An enlightening look at the world of leaks and cypherpunk philosophy. Snowden only gets brief mention due to the timing of publication of this book.
bakudreamer's review against another edition
3.0
Filled in a lot of blanks. ( Haven't seen the term ' sussing out ' in print for a long time , page 205 )
whichcraftidk's review against another edition
5.0
My review from Woodridge Book Talk.
“This machine kills secrets” is a riff on Woody Guthrie’s slogan “this machine kills fascists.” Greenberg lays out how cryptography and anonymity are the machine that can help people leak secrets that those in power don’t want the public to know. The best example of this idea is Wikileaks where thousands of classified documents were posted for public consumption. Greenberg goes back to Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers where the leaking technology was nothing more than a photocopier and brings the reader to today where Tor, PGP, SSL, and other technologies make it possible for whistleblowers to anonymously spread information. Or at least they would in theory. In practice, Wikileaks and similar sites are plagued by problems like internal strife, legal issues, and endangerment of innocents mentioned in leaked documents.
Greenberg does a wonderful job of capturing the personalities of those involved in the struggle to free information. He doesn’t shy away from showing that some of the “heroes” of the movement are deeply flawed. He’s equally honest about the subject of leaking. While leaked documents can make for a more informed public, they can also cause great danger to the people who leak and share them as well as those mentioned in the documents themselves. Security measures to prevent or catch whistleblowers are more likely to catch innocent people and are a danger as well.
There are many elements to leaks–why people do it, how they do it, where the leaks go, what happens with the information, how you protect the people who want to leak information, and how to keep that information from doing more harm. Greenberg covers all of them and his conclusion is that what we currently have in the form of Wikileaks and its offshoots and copycats isn’t the final form and somewhere, someone is working on the next big thing. After reading This Machine Kills Secrets, I have a better understanding of why people are working on it. I wish some of the technical descriptions had been more detailed (I’m a fan of Neal Stephenson’s infodumps and think Cryptonomicon would be a great readalike). Despite the subject, this is a very readable book since Greenberg focuses on individuals and uses them to talk about the technologies they use. You don’t need a lot of knowledge about computers to get into This Machine Kills Secrets but it may leave you wanting to learn more.
“This machine kills secrets” is a riff on Woody Guthrie’s slogan “this machine kills fascists.” Greenberg lays out how cryptography and anonymity are the machine that can help people leak secrets that those in power don’t want the public to know. The best example of this idea is Wikileaks where thousands of classified documents were posted for public consumption. Greenberg goes back to Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers where the leaking technology was nothing more than a photocopier and brings the reader to today where Tor, PGP, SSL, and other technologies make it possible for whistleblowers to anonymously spread information. Or at least they would in theory. In practice, Wikileaks and similar sites are plagued by problems like internal strife, legal issues, and endangerment of innocents mentioned in leaked documents.
Greenberg does a wonderful job of capturing the personalities of those involved in the struggle to free information. He doesn’t shy away from showing that some of the “heroes” of the movement are deeply flawed. He’s equally honest about the subject of leaking. While leaked documents can make for a more informed public, they can also cause great danger to the people who leak and share them as well as those mentioned in the documents themselves. Security measures to prevent or catch whistleblowers are more likely to catch innocent people and are a danger as well.
There are many elements to leaks–why people do it, how they do it, where the leaks go, what happens with the information, how you protect the people who want to leak information, and how to keep that information from doing more harm. Greenberg covers all of them and his conclusion is that what we currently have in the form of Wikileaks and its offshoots and copycats isn’t the final form and somewhere, someone is working on the next big thing. After reading This Machine Kills Secrets, I have a better understanding of why people are working on it. I wish some of the technical descriptions had been more detailed (I’m a fan of Neal Stephenson’s infodumps and think Cryptonomicon would be a great readalike). Despite the subject, this is a very readable book since Greenberg focuses on individuals and uses them to talk about the technologies they use. You don’t need a lot of knowledge about computers to get into This Machine Kills Secrets but it may leave you wanting to learn more.
libertytech's review against another edition
5.0
Andy gives us a behind the scenes look at the implosion of wikileaks and the intriguing history of leaks and whistle-blowers. A must read for anyone interested in the darker side of the internet and how it can be used to spread transparency and chaos.
bracky's review against another edition
3.0
The subject matter is great, and the author has actually talked to all the major players involved, but it is written too much like a Wired story; every person gets a background story focussing on the troubles he/she went through in his early life, growing up in Wherever, MA, where he/she first came into contact with a computer, why he/she ended up spending all their time on the computer, etc etc.
After 7 of those it gets kind of repetitive. Still, the storyline and the idea of telling the history, present, and future of leaking and anonymity, is great, and well done. I read it all, and learned a lot, but the amount of backstories (and the repetitiveness of them) was annoying.
After 7 of those it gets kind of repetitive. Still, the storyline and the idea of telling the history, present, and future of leaking and anonymity, is great, and well done. I read it all, and learned a lot, but the amount of backstories (and the repetitiveness of them) was annoying.
triptych_turning's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
This book was dense but informative. I appreciate the puzzle included and the tips and tricks outlined throughout, intentional or not.
matthew_p's review against another edition
4.0
A brief history of an unfinished story. We're stuck waiting for the next line of defense against anti-democratic secrecy.