The Banality of Surveillance
War Virtually: The Quest to Automate Conflict, Militarize Data, and Predict the Future Roberto González University of California Press, $29.95 (cloth) The Listeners: A History of Wiretapping in the United States Brian Hochman Harvard University Press, $35 (cloth) Fictional spy stories tend to follow a formula. Within the first few pages the protagonist is assigned a mission by an espionage agency or covert military unit. The mission is impossible for just anyone to carry out, requiring access to high-tech weaponry, disposable income, and combat training out of reach for most readers. (This is part of the thrill.) After a few hundred pages, much bloodshed, and byzantine plot twists, the protagonist will have gathered enough inte
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