Interception

A media history of how the UK and US governments have surveilled citizens by intercepting their private communications.

It may not be Big Brother (yet), but the state is watching you—watching all of us, in fact—systematically intercepting our private communications and putting them to work in its own interests. In Interception, a media genealogy of the surveillance state at its most intimate, Bernard Keenan investigates the emergence of this practice as a governmental power and the secret role it has played in the development of communication systems and law. His book exposes the complex, largely obscure history of a covert and fundamental connection between the secret powers of the state and the means by which we communicate our everyday lives.

Keenan analyzes key moments in this history, from the formation of the postal system to cable networks, satellites, and the internet, with particular attention to the role that media play in determining the political and legal conditions of the power of interception in governmental affairs. While chiefly focused on Britain, the Empire, and the post-1945 UKUSA signal intelligence alliance, the book's analysis has international reach across networks and jurisdictions, connecting Edward Snowden's disclosures and post-2013 developments to a longer media history, foregrounding the technical dimensions of an inherently secret practice and well-guarded political power. Ultimately, Keenan's work reveals how law and information systems have been interpolated over time, linking communication, governmental power, law, and information science—often to dark, antidemocratic ends.CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION: TECHNICAL LITERACY
CHAPTER 2 – MESSENGERS
CHAPTER 3 - POST
CHAPTER 4 – CLOSURE
CHAPTER 5 – TELEGRAPHY
CHAPTER 6 – WIRELESS
CHAPTER 7 – FILTERING
CHAPTER 8 – TELEPHONE
CHAPTER 9 – PLATFORM
CHAPTER 10 – SNOWDEN
CHAPTER 11 – POST-SNOWDEN"Interception makes a commendable socio-legal contribution to the history of media and surveillance studies. Those in legal history, public policy, and human rights would justifiably find this read beneficial."
—International Journal of Communication“An utterly fascinating and quietly devastating inquiry into the secret history of statecraft. Espionage, covert surveillance, wiretapping, general warrants and generalized skullduggery—all feature in Keenan's gripping narrative. Essential reading for anyone interested in the dark arts of the state.”
—Thomas Poole, London School of Economics and Political Science

“Keenan's erumpent analysis shows how current media technologies outpace their legal regimes, offering a highly original historical perspective on the ecologies of power that are shaping modern surveillance.”
—Peter Goodrich, Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University

“Keenan’s compelling media archaeology bridges foundational problems in seventeenth-century sovereignty to twenty-first-century internet surveillance. It’s Vismann and Kittler for the twenty-first century!”
—Bernard Geoghegan, King’s College London; author of Code: From Information Theory to French TheoryBernard Keenan is Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Laws, University College London. He works at the intersection of law, social theory, and new technologies.