384 pages
English language
Published Nov. 2, 2020
Cory Doctorow's Attack Surface is a standalone novel set in the world of New York Times bestsellers Little Brother and Homeland.
Most days, Masha Maximow was sure she'd chosen the winning side.
In her day job as a counterterrorism wizard for an transnational cybersecurity firm, she made the hacks that allowed repressive regimes to spy on dissidents, and manipulate their every move. The perks were fantastic, and the pay was obscene.
Just for fun, and to piss off her masters, Masha sometimes used her mad skills to help those same troublemakers evade detection, if their cause was just. It was a dangerous game and a hell of a rush. But seriously self-destructive. And unsustainable.
When her targets were strangers in faraway police states, it was easy to compartmentalize, to ignore the collateral damage of murder, rape, and torture. But when it hits close to home, and the hacks and exploits …
Cory Doctorow's Attack Surface is a standalone novel set in the world of New York Times bestsellers Little Brother and Homeland.
Most days, Masha Maximow was sure she'd chosen the winning side.
In her day job as a counterterrorism wizard for an transnational cybersecurity firm, she made the hacks that allowed repressive regimes to spy on dissidents, and manipulate their every move. The perks were fantastic, and the pay was obscene.
Just for fun, and to piss off her masters, Masha sometimes used her mad skills to help those same troublemakers evade detection, if their cause was just. It was a dangerous game and a hell of a rush. But seriously self-destructive. And unsustainable.
When her targets were strangers in faraway police states, it was easy to compartmentalize, to ignore the collateral damage of murder, rape, and torture. But when it hits close to home, and the hacks and exploits she’s devised are directed at her friends and family--including boy wonder Marcus Yallow, her old crush and archrival, and his entourage of naïve idealists--Masha realizes she has to choose.
And whatever choice she makes, someone is going to get hurt.
Jumping between Iraq, Eastern Europe, and the US west coast, Doctorow's narrative guides the reader through a whirlwind of technology, power, and espionage. Marsha's journey was illuminating and exhilarating. As her character arc bends towards justice it tensions your heart strings. Lessons abound in the this thought provoking and essential 21st century work.
I'll read anything Doctorow puts out. Enjoyed this techno-thriller, though the pacing felt vaguely off at times. Had a bit of Heinlein-esque unsubtle author monologuing through the mouths of charismatic and hypercompetent characters on the nature of technology as at best a tool for connecting and enabling humans to participate in person-to-person organizing and democracy, rather than as a magic wand that makes the world better -- you can clearly feel the period and mood he was writing this in.
The first Doctorow's book I consumed, by listening this time. Felt a bit like a road movie. Somehow not so urgent like many of his essays. I guess I also enjoy his twists and reserved poetics more when related with reality than with fiction.
But listening time was really enjoyable and the book is easy to recommend. Non the less because it is generously stuffed with technicalities of surveillance and resistance methods (even if sometimes exaggerated), which aren't often heard of and seem to be very worth noticing.
Thanks @pluralistic@mamot.fr
This is the third book in the "Little Brother" series, which started with "Little Brother" and "Homeland". Although this novel can be read on its own, it does make reference to several of the events and people from the previous novels so having read those first might add a little more depth.
Although these are nominally YA books, their themes are very serious and tech-heavy; the first book happens as a terrorist attach on San Francisco leads to the Department of Homeland Security using terrorism as an excuse to increase surveillance of its citizens, and follows the efforts of teen Marcus Yallow and his friends to create peer to peer un-monitorable networks through which to resist this. Homeland follows up to the previous book with more examination of state surveillance, political resistance, and Marcus's former acquaintance Masha Maximow surfacing as a whistleblower for Xyz, a corporate surveillance contractor working closely …
This is the third book in the "Little Brother" series, which started with "Little Brother" and "Homeland". Although this novel can be read on its own, it does make reference to several of the events and people from the previous novels so having read those first might add a little more depth.
Although these are nominally YA books, their themes are very serious and tech-heavy; the first book happens as a terrorist attach on San Francisco leads to the Department of Homeland Security using terrorism as an excuse to increase surveillance of its citizens, and follows the efforts of teen Marcus Yallow and his friends to create peer to peer un-monitorable networks through which to resist this. Homeland follows up to the previous book with more examination of state surveillance, political resistance, and Marcus's former acquaintance Masha Maximow surfacing as a whistleblower for Xyz, a corporate surveillance contractor working closely with various governments around the world to enable government surveillance.
Attack Surface switches the protagonist over to Masha, who in contrast to Marcus, reacted to the attacks on San Francisco by getting hired for the very same companies enabling the surveillance and developing new technologies. Based initially in the thinly disguised European country of "Slovstakia", Masha is extremely good at what she does, first for Xyz and then for Xoth, a similar but if possible even more morally corrupt surveillance company. However, she eventually becomes unable to ignore the fact that a large majority of the "suspects" she is helping to surveil are in fact no terrorists or terrible people, just regular citizens who want nothing more than privacy. And when her former friends back in San Francisco start experiencing similar problems due to their participation in the BLM movement, she's forced to make a choice.
It's quite a technology heavy read, and maybe overdoes the detail a little, although it's detail that really more people should know and pay attention to. As a technology writer and activist Doctorow is ideally place to write clearly and accurately about what can or soon will be possible, and it's pretty scary stuff. But, he also has a strong message that technology itself is not going to save us (or doom us); technology doesn't grant freedom, it just gives us the tools to fight for our own freedom.
Awesome conclusion/spinoff of the Little Brother story arc. This one focusing on Masha, a hacker involved on supplying surveillance companies and military contractors with tech to spy and control the general population.
A really insightful look into the dark side of tech, and the moral complexities of the people involved in it. It uses the whole story as a really clear introduction to tech concepts like cryptography, man-in-the-middle attacks, virtual machines and so on.
Definitely a required reading for survival in the age of surveillance capitalism and the horrors it brings.
The book was awesome. It took a deep look at surveillance capitalism, targeted surveillance and the private military industrial complex. It shows how technology isnt the panacea to solve all social ills, but is a merely a tool that can be used by people for good and bad.
An entertaining and...eventually...fast paced caper set in the world of governments spying on their own citizens using any cyber tool the big bad corporates will sell them. However the surfeit of One dimensional characters who accompany and harry the faintly believable heroine, plus Doctorow’s need to constantly be “educating” his audience – as evidenced in the frankly unnecessary and multiple afterwords – lets down its efforts to be anything other than a semi-enjoyable read which geeks especially will no doubt lap up.
One of these stars is because this is an important book. It’s one that is painful and stupid in the same way 2020 has been a painful and stupid year. It’s also an optimistic book in some ways. This book has a happy-ish ending. Protests seem to actually lead to some positive change in the book.
The afterwards were interesting (there were two of them) and tied some of the technological and political issues in this book to reality in a way that was both necessary and frightening.
I’ll be honest, I didn’t ever like the protagonist / main character in this book. I’m not entirely sure we’re supposed to like her, but I think my dislike went beyond the obvious character flaws (and poor decisions), and got into some other, unspecified territory. So while it “worked” for me as a story, if it weren’t such an important book for …
One of these stars is because this is an important book. It’s one that is painful and stupid in the same way 2020 has been a painful and stupid year. It’s also an optimistic book in some ways. This book has a happy-ish ending. Protests seem to actually lead to some positive change in the book.
The afterwards were interesting (there were two of them) and tied some of the technological and political issues in this book to reality in a way that was both necessary and frightening.
I’ll be honest, I didn’t ever like the protagonist / main character in this book. I’m not entirely sure we’re supposed to like her, but I think my dislike went beyond the obvious character flaws (and poor decisions), and got into some other, unspecified territory. So while it “worked” for me as a story, if it weren’t such an important book for bringing attention and distrust to the surveillance state, it would probably get a much lower rating.
