Snitch Culture: How Citizens Are Turned Into the Eyes and Ears of the State.Snitch Culture: How Citizens Are Turned Into the Eyes and Ears of the State by Jim Redden red·den v. red·dened, red·den·ing, red·dens v.tr. To make red. v.intr. 1. To become red. 2. To blush. Feral House. 320 pages. $14.95 (paper). According to Jim According to Jim is an American situation comedy television series originally broadcast by ABC. The show premiered with little publicity in October 2001, following the surprise hit comedy My Wife and Kids. Redden, "There is no war on crime. There is no war on drugs, no war on terrorism Terrorist acts and the threat of Terrorism have occupied the various law enforcement agencies in the U.S. government for many years. The Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, as amended by the usa patriot act . There is only the ongoing effort by the federal government to collect as much information on as many people as possible." Redden traces the history of the snitch's role in surveillance, from its birth in the corporation (with Alan Pinkerton) to its growth in government spying efforts (COINTELPRO Between 1956 and 1971, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) conducted a campaign of domestic counterintelligence. The agency's Domestic Intelligence Division did more than simply spy on U.S. , for example) and its current omnipresence (there are tip-off lines even for elementary kids). The author also provides case studies that illustrate how snitches have ruined the lives of innocent people. Snitch Culture is occasionally shortsighted short·sight·ed adj. 1. Nearsighted; myopic. 2. Lacking foresight. short  sight , since it tends to focus on the surveillance itself, and not the repressive goals of those who order it. But the book succeeds as a comprehensive study of malevolent tactics employed by the government and the private sector.
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion