Hey folks! As the summer sun blazes many corners of the world and many of us take a small break from our usual routines, it’s the perfect time to dive into some thought-provoking books. This summer, we’re not just lounging by the seaside; as always, we’re exploring how big tech influences our world. And what a better way to do so by reading books, whitepapers and other materials?

In that spirit, I asked some of my colleagues on their summer picks and curated a list (in no particular order) of recommended reads to share with others. Some are published under a creative commons licenses, there are e-book and audiobooks formats to make it easier for you to enjoy the reads the way it is more convenient to you. So grab a cool drink 🍹, find a shady spot, and enjoy these reads to ‘Rise Against Big Tech’! Some of these books are available as physical copies, other publications are e-book reader friendly, but can also be read with softare like https://www.koodoreader.com/en. Enjoy!

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1. Surveillance Valley: The Secret Military History of the Internet by Yasha Levine

Levine explores how the internet, which we often think of as a free and open space, was actually born out of military and surveillance projects. He reveals the hidden history of how the internet was shaped by the needs of the military and intelligence agencies. It’s a compelling read that sheds light on the darker origins of our digital world. Publisher: Hachette Books.

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2. Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

A gripping young adult novel that takes on issues of surveillance and privacy. After a terrorist attack in San Francisco, a teenager named Marcus finds himself fighting against a government that has turned the city into a police state. Doctorow’s fast-paced story is both entertaining and thought-provoking, raising important questions about freedom and security in the digital age. The book has been remixed, some of the materials are published in Creative commons and also features an audiobook. Love it! Publisher: Tor Teen. More info craphound.com/littlebrother.

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3. Infosecurity (Gran Knows Why) by Arjen Kamphuis

Kamphuis provides a detailed look into the world of information security and the often-overlooked risks that come with the digital age. Through a mix of practical advice and broader commentary, this book is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding the complexities of securing information in an era dominated by big tech. Publisher: Chaos Crew. More info and purchase: https://shop.hack42.nl/infosecurityhardcover.

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4. Unix and Linux System Administration Handbook

They told me this is a summer read, which I disagree, but have to add it on the list. In other words, they made me do it! Jokes aside, this classic handbook is essential for anyone managing Unix or Linux systems. While not directly focused on big tech, it’s a comprehensive guide that provides deep insights into system administration, which is crucial for understanding the infrastructure behind many tech services. More info and purchase: https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/unix-and-linux/9780134278308/.

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5. Standard e-books Project

Too much tech and nerdy texts from the previous book proposal? Here is something to change the mood back to the wonders of summer. Standard Ebooks is a volunteer-driven effort to produce a collection of high-quality, carefully formatted, accessible, open-source, and free public domain ebooks that meet or exceed the quality of commercially produced ebooks. The text and cover art in their ebooks are already believed to be in the U.S. public domain, and Standard Ebooks dedicates its own work to the public domain, thus releasing the entirety of each ebook file into the public domain. You read a classic novel and stick it to big tech corporations that work against us with tools like strict copyright. Win-win.

Start with Don Juan and continue with Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Download and enjoy from here: standardebooks.org.

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6. The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power

This one is a 2018 non-fiction book by Shoshana Zuboff which looks at the development of digital companies like Google and Amazon, and suggests that their business models represent a new form of capitalist accumulation that she calls “surveillance capitalism”.

While industrial capitalism exploited and controlled nature with devastating consequences, surveillance capitalism exploits and controls human nature with a totalitarian order as the endpoint of the development. Publisher: Profile Books.

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7. Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism by Yannis Varoufakis

“In the book, Varoufakis refers to Homer, Hesiod, “Mad Men,” F.D.R., Batman, and Thomas Edison to illustrate what has happened since people started staring at smartphones for most of their waking hours. Under feudalism, a landowner would grant fiefs to vassals, who would farm the land and give a portion of the yield to the landowner. Varoufakis writes that Jeff Bezos’s “relationship with the vendors on Amazon corp is not too dissimilar.” But the new setup is a bigger threat to representative government than even the old capitalism was.” The New Yorker. You can get it from here.

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8. Resources from the Freedom of the Press Foundation

The training team behind Freedom of the Press Foundation delivers digital security trainings to news organizations, freelance and citizen journalists, and other at-risk groups. With education and advocacy, the aim of these materials is to protect press freedoms through the adoption of the tools and practices included in their trainings. Unpopular opinion: ideal reads during your summer vacation. Get the guides from their website: freedom.press/training.

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9. All books and materials from Tactical Tech collective

Tactical Tech, is a Berlin-based non-profit organisation. They design and co-develop playful and forward-looking experiences, interventions, events and educational resources that invite people to think about how technology influences their lives and changes the world they live in. There are lots of materials that are books, but you can also super charge your ebook reader with the guides in PDF. Bonus: some of these materials are in different languages. Download or get the hard copy from: tacticaltech.org/resources.

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10. Whitepapers from the Electronic Frontier Foundation

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is an international non-profit digital rights group based in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1990 to promote Internet civil liberties. It provides funds for legal defense in court, presents amicus curiae briefs, defends individuals and new technologies from what it considers abusive legal threats, works to expose government malfeasance, provides guidance to the government and courts, organizes political action and mass mailings, supports some new technologies which it believes preserve personal freedoms and online civil liberties, maintains a database and web sites of related news and information, monitors and challenges potential legislation that it believes would infringe on personal liberties and fair use, and solicits a list of what it considers are abusive patents with intentions to defeat those that it considers are without merit. Free downloads from eff.org/updates?type=whitepaper.

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Bonus: Ada & Zangemann: A Tale of Software, Skateboards, and Raspberry Ice Cream

This illustrated children’s book tells the story of the famous inventor Zangemann and the girl Ada, a curious tinkerer. Ada begins to experiment with hardware and software, and in the process realizes how crucial it is for her and others to control technology. Ada & Zangemann will inspire children’s interest in tinkering and encourage shaping technology. Publisher: O’Reilly Germany. More info fsfe.org/news/2021/news-20211129-01.en.html

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And now, we’d love to hear from you! What books do you recommend that tackle big tech issues? Share your favorites as a comment on our Mastodon profile, and we’ll make sure to add them to our list. Happy reading and stay cool this summer!

Note: the covers of the books are shared only to inform about the books. If you don’t want us to use the images consider publishing them using a Creative Commons license. If that does not work for you contact us and we will remove it. We don’t have any affiliations with the creators or publishers of these books and we don’t take any commision by posting links. some of our team members have read one or more of these books and just wanted to share the titles with others.