There is more information in the world than ever before - but who is in control? At the centre is the Establishment: governments, corporations andpowerful individuals who have more knowledge about us, and more power, than at any other time in history. Circling them is a new generation of hackers, pro-democracy campaigners and internet activists who no longer accept that the Establishment should run the show. In her gripping, revelatory new book, award-winning journalist and campaigner Heather Brooke takes us inside the Information War, from the hackerspaces of Boston and Berlin to the UK's journalism hub and Iceland's free speech revolution; from the headquarters of Google and Facebook to Collateral Murder, Cablegate and the murky world of Julian Assange and Wikileaks. Along the way Brooke explores the most urgent questions of the digital age: where is the balance between freedom and security? In an online world, does privacy still exist? And will the internet empower individuals, or usher in a new age of censorship, surveillance and oppression? Praise for The Silent State 'Passionate, eloquent and persuasive' Times Book of the Week 'Wonderful... Heather Brooke has changed British public culture and earned an essential place in our national history' Peter Oborne '***** If you care about our so-called democracy, you must read this profoundly shocking book' Mail on Sunday
