Examines how the global digital underground is liberated by "open secrecy"—a novel and ominous mix of tools for mass communication and anonymity
Shadowy groups are increasingly capable of collective action. Using military-grade encryption, rerouting software, and cryptocurrencies, anonymous and pseudonymous actors can now communicate, solve problems, recruit members, and manage resources across multiple public and semipublic spaces. This swirling mix of secrecy and openness enables people to move through cyberspace like nomads with verifiable personas, which makes them impossible to stop.
Isak Ladegaard takes readers inside a dark, digital economy for banned drugs that has survived numerous police crackdowns, examines how activist software developers in China and other countries have maintained paths to the open internet, and documents how the American far right uses the same tools to sustain antisocial movements based on paranoia and hate. Timely and perceptive, Open Secrecy argues that although information technology enables mass surveillance, it also undermines state power by boosting groups that evade its rule. These dual forces of control and liberation are propelling us forward, with no one at the wheel.
Isak Ladegaard is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Hong Kong.
"A fascinating, expertly researched, and beautifully written examination of the juxtaposition between openness and secrecy in the dark digital underbelly of the internet."—Alexandrea Ravenelle, author of Side Hustle Safety Net: How Vulnerable Workers Survive Precarious Times
"This pathbreaking book offers an original, unifying perspective for viewing seemingly unrelated empirical social phenomena—online drug trade, internet censorship circumvention, and the digital far right—by providing new insights into the tension and struggle between two opposing forces of society: individual rights and liberty on the one hand, and state control and surveillance on the other."—Tim Liao, Professor of Sociology and LAS Alumni Distinguished Professorial Scholar, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
"As technology continues to advance, books on cybercrime often become outdated even before they hit the shelves. Isak Ladegaard's framework of 'open secrecy' transcends these transformations to unite various covert phenomena, drawing on a treasure trove of data that could take an entire team of computer and social scientists to compile."—Marie Ouellet, Assistant Professor of Criminology, Simon Fraser University
"Want to understand more about how antisocial and illegal actors are using the web to further their agendas? Open Secrecy is a spectacularly original, well-written, and deeply researched account. From the drug markets of the Silk Road to the white supremacist Daily Stormer, Ladegaard lays bare the ways in which these communities use the vulnerabilities of the technology to promote themselves. A must-read for anyone concerned about the direction of society. I'll definitely be assigning it to students."—Juliet Schor, Professor of Sociology, Boston College
“As encryption technology becomes more mainstream and governments around the world scramble to regain their snooping capabilities, Isak Ladegaard provides important insight into how online secrecy empowers and protects all kinds of actors, both good and bad.”—James Griffiths, author of The Great Firewall of China: How to Build and Control an Alternative Version of the Internet
304 pp.6 x 9Illus: 12 b/w illustrations
9780520397293$29.95|£25.00Paper
May 2025