Back in the 1960s when they first developed networked computers and databases and analysis software - people were already thinking into the future, and thinking about creating an early warning radar system for human society - a networked computer system that could sit on top of the world, and watch it for threats, and intercept them before they caused harm - on a global and societal level, but even on a personal level. And we're seeing that right now. The internet has become a radar system for people and societies.

Investigative journalist Yasha Levine explains why the internet has been a surveillance tool since day one - as a Cold War project to monitor populations pushing back against the militarization of society, and as the synthesis of corporate and state power in service of protecting the interests of the ruling class - yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Yasha is author of the new book Surveillance Valley: The Secret Military History of the Internet from PublicAffairs.