A vehement but muddled jeremiad

This review of Surveillance Valley in Publisher's Weekly is quite good — excellent, in fact. Why?

Well, as far as I can recall Publishers Weekly is an industry publication that's usually dry and measured. But here the reviewer gets nasty and venomous. I take that as a sign Surveillance Valley's doing something right. Not my fault this (nameless) reviewer isn't ready for cultural deprogramming — at least not yet.

"vehement but muddled jeremiad"

"glib, omnidirectional paranoia"

"The tangible harms Levine identifies aren’t that convincing"

"he attacks the encrypted browser Tor ... as a sinister American infringement"

"Levine’s suspicion of both the state and capitalism tangles him in contradictions"

"tags even whistle-blower Edward Snowden as an unwitting tentacle of the surveillance octopus"

"The result reads as an incoherent, aimless indictment of every aspect of the internet."