Dan.

 

HMH shares a devotion to several of the causes that Gregg Housh and others in Anonymous champion (cf, our current book on Scientology), so I’m sorry to say that I can’t make an offer for this project.  I have some questions about how this book would be structured, but my deeper concern is with the extreme close-up this material offers on the group’s activities.  The inside-baseball focus on HBGary and similar ops prevents us (well, me at least) from seeing the larger trendlines and significance of the group’s work.  An insider’s perspective is invaluable, of course, but I don’t believe this proposal does enough to balance that against a wider-angle view of the space Anonymous occupies within the much larger realm of cybersecurity, secrecy, free speech, etc.  And, without any strong protagonists that readers can relate to, Anonymous remains just that — faceless, undifferentiated, and inhuman.  I realize this is the coin of this realm, and yet I must identify it as a challenge to the ultimate success of the project. 

 

Many thanks for giving me a shot at this, Dan, and sorry I can’t be entirely sanguine about its prospects here.

 

Best,

 

ED

_______________________

Eamon Dolan

VP, Editorial Director

Eamon Dolan Books

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

215 Park Avenue South

New York, NY  10003

212 420 5805

eamon.dolan@hmhpub.com

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Eamon,

 

Here, as discussed, is the proposal for an absolutely fascinating behind-the-curtain glimpse at the notorious—and apparently fearless—‘hacktivist’ collective known as Anonymous.  The targets for Anonymous’s particular brand of outlaw activism—all part of their global campaign against injustices and abuses in the realm of freedom of speech and freedom of information—have included (so far) foreign governments (Egypt, Libya, Tunisia), major corporations (Sony, Visa, MasterCard), sanctimonious ‘religious’ organizations (the Church of Scientology, the Westboro Baptist Church) and powerful governmental agencies (FBI, CIA, NATO).  Nobody, apparently, is off-limits.

 

As Kevin Mitnick’s current New York Times bestseller Ghost in the Wires has demonstrated, there is a real fascination out there with the culture of hacking and the internet.  Gregg Housh and Barrett Brown, the authors of ANONYMOUS: Tales from Inside the Accidental Cyberwar—and the two most visible public figures known to be associated with Anonymous (both of whom have provided invaluable access & insight regarding the modus operandi of Anonymous to reporters hungry to make sense of it)—take Mitnick one step further, showing how that culture can be harnessed as an engine for social change.  Even when (as is often the case for Anons) the “engine for social change” rhetoric is really just a terrific excuse to indulge in some weaponized chaos…

 

And therein lies the magnificent contradiction of this culture.  Patriotic vigilantism?  Animal House pranksterism?  Both?  Whatever the true alchemic mix is, it’s a wild and fascinating ride, laid bare here for the first time.

 

Call me when you’ve read this, OK?

 

—Dan

 

 

Literary Agent

Writers House

(212) 696-3825