Download or read book The Rise of the American Corporate Security State written by Beatrice Edwards and published by Berrett-Koehler Publishers. This book was released on 2014-04-14 with total page 121 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beatrice Edwards, executive director of the organization representing Edward Snowden and four other NSA whistleblowers, argues that we now live in a Corporate Security State, where the government is more interested in protecting the companies that serve it than the citizens who support it. Hheavy domestic surveillance, political persecution of dissenters, the threat of indefinite detention codified into law—how did we get here? And is there a way out? Edwards details how intelligence agencies took advantage of 9/11 to illegitimately extend the government's reach. Corporations, she shows, were only too eager to sell them expensive surveillance technology, as well as share data on customers and employees using the bogus threat of an imminent “cyber war.” This is why the Justice Department isn't going after the institutions responsible for the financial collapse of 2008—government and business are partners in crime. But Edwards offers a plan to fight back and restore transparency to government, keep private information private, and make democracy a reality once again.