What do you think?
Rate this book
Dark Wire: The Incredible True Story of the Largest Sting Operation Ever
The inside story of the largest law-enforcement sting operation ever, in which the FBI made its own tech start-up to wiretap the world, shows how cunning both the authorities and drug traffickers have become, with privacy implications for everyone. In 2018, a powerful app for secure communications called Anom took root among organized criminals. They believed Anom allowed them to conduct business in the shadows. Except for one thing: it was secretly run by the FBI.
Backdoor access to Anom and a series of related investigations granted American, Australian, and European authorities a front-row seat to the underworld. Tens of thousands of criminals worldwide appeared in full view of the same agents they were trying to evade. International smugglers. Money launderers. Hitmen. A sprawling global economy as efficient and interconnected as the legal one. Officers watched drug shipments and murder plots unfold, making arrests without blowing their cover. But, as the FBI started to lose control of Anom, did the agency go too far?
A painstakingly investigated exposé, Dark Wire reveals the true scale and stakes of this unprecedented operation through the agents and crooks who were there. This fly-on-the-wall thriller is a caper for our modern world, where no one can be sure who is listening in.
Backdoor access to Anom and a series of related investigations granted American, Australian, and European authorities a front-row seat to the underworld. Tens of thousands of criminals worldwide appeared in full view of the same agents they were trying to evade. International smugglers. Money launderers. Hitmen. A sprawling global economy as efficient and interconnected as the legal one. Officers watched drug shipments and murder plots unfold, making arrests without blowing their cover. But, as the FBI started to lose control of Anom, did the agency go too far?
A painstakingly investigated exposé, Dark Wire reveals the true scale and stakes of this unprecedented operation through the agents and crooks who were there. This fly-on-the-wall thriller is a caper for our modern world, where no one can be sure who is listening in.
First published June 4, 2024
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
May 27, 2024
What An Unbelievable True Story
This book is one of the few books I have read that lived up to the hype on the cover page. While I usually read police procedurals, this book covers actual crime and law enforcement agencies worldwide who work to break up drug smuggling and money laundering activities by attacking their critical infrastructure, i.e., their secure communications.
The first chapter provides the story of an ex-USC football player, Owen Hanson. As he got into performance-enhancing drugs at USC in around 2004, he started to deal with them as well, with a list of clients that included professional athletes. Before long, Hanson moved on to selling recreational narcotics like cocaine and ecstasy. After the 2008 financial crisis, he was at the helm of his illegal gambling enterprise. This case was chosen because it introduces the use of an encrypted phone service to shield criminal activities from the authorities. The phones were modified Blackberries, with the camera, microphone, and GPS were removed. These phones only had texting available.
Subsequent chapters provide the details of numerous encrypted phone networks worldwide and their expansion of use globally. The measure of the effectiveness of encrypted phone use increases the probability of even larger shipments of illegal drugs. These aspects of the novel were eye-opening for me. I’ve seen news about how drug traffic was increasing but not how encrypted phone use facilitated this growth.
Then, the unbelievable occurs. A person fundamental to developing a successful encryption phone wanted to do something different. Before, all phones were based on modifying commercially available cell phones. He designed one from the ground up, providing text, voice, and camera capabilities. To help, he asked the FBI for funding in exchange for allowing the FBI to provide a module that would send all transmissions to the FBI. The question is, can the FBI spend money on developing an encryption phone for criminals? What the FBI could and couldn’t do and why were interesting. What foreign law enforcement agencies could join with the FBI at the start and when the sting progressed were also interesting.
The rest of the book was quite detailed on the operations of the drug dealers and smugglers as it was based on their texts, conversations, and videos. See how law enforcement affects criminal operations and how they adapt. I found it fascinating how steadfast the criminals were to these new encryption phones. This part of the book was the most interesting for me.
The remaining chapters provided the events of the international sting on which the critical infrastructure the drug dealers and smugglers relied was turned against them. These are the chapters that I enjoyed reading the most. If you want to read about a very successful international sting and insight into how drug dealers and smugglers work, this is a book to read. I recommend reading this book. I rate it with five stars.
The last chapter covers the announcement by the FBI and the mass arrests that followed. The authors report that two significant criminals were not arrested. The events in this book end around September 2023. I used the Internet to discover if their status had changed. I found that both were arrested in October 2003. I could not find any extradition or prosecution against them.
I received this novel's free prepublication e-book version through NetGalley from Public Affairs. My review is based solely on my own reading experience of this book. Thank you, Public Affairs, for the opportunity to read and review this novel early.
This book is one of the few books I have read that lived up to the hype on the cover page. While I usually read police procedurals, this book covers actual crime and law enforcement agencies worldwide who work to break up drug smuggling and money laundering activities by attacking their critical infrastructure, i.e., their secure communications.
The first chapter provides the story of an ex-USC football player, Owen Hanson. As he got into performance-enhancing drugs at USC in around 2004, he started to deal with them as well, with a list of clients that included professional athletes. Before long, Hanson moved on to selling recreational narcotics like cocaine and ecstasy. After the 2008 financial crisis, he was at the helm of his illegal gambling enterprise. This case was chosen because it introduces the use of an encrypted phone service to shield criminal activities from the authorities. The phones were modified Blackberries, with the camera, microphone, and GPS were removed. These phones only had texting available.
Subsequent chapters provide the details of numerous encrypted phone networks worldwide and their expansion of use globally. The measure of the effectiveness of encrypted phone use increases the probability of even larger shipments of illegal drugs. These aspects of the novel were eye-opening for me. I’ve seen news about how drug traffic was increasing but not how encrypted phone use facilitated this growth.
Then, the unbelievable occurs. A person fundamental to developing a successful encryption phone wanted to do something different. Before, all phones were based on modifying commercially available cell phones. He designed one from the ground up, providing text, voice, and camera capabilities. To help, he asked the FBI for funding in exchange for allowing the FBI to provide a module that would send all transmissions to the FBI. The question is, can the FBI spend money on developing an encryption phone for criminals? What the FBI could and couldn’t do and why were interesting. What foreign law enforcement agencies could join with the FBI at the start and when the sting progressed were also interesting.
The rest of the book was quite detailed on the operations of the drug dealers and smugglers as it was based on their texts, conversations, and videos. See how law enforcement affects criminal operations and how they adapt. I found it fascinating how steadfast the criminals were to these new encryption phones. This part of the book was the most interesting for me.
The remaining chapters provided the events of the international sting on which the critical infrastructure the drug dealers and smugglers relied was turned against them. These are the chapters that I enjoyed reading the most. If you want to read about a very successful international sting and insight into how drug dealers and smugglers work, this is a book to read. I recommend reading this book. I rate it with five stars.
The last chapter covers the announcement by the FBI and the mass arrests that followed. The authors report that two significant criminals were not arrested. The events in this book end around September 2023. I used the Internet to discover if their status had changed. I found that both were arrested in October 2003. I could not find any extradition or prosecution against them.
I received this novel's free prepublication e-book version through NetGalley from Public Affairs. My review is based solely on my own reading experience of this book. Thank you, Public Affairs, for the opportunity to read and review this novel early.
June 21, 2024
A book that starts off great, until you read the same sentence variation 50 times per chapter.
At the 1000th "but the criminals didn't know: the FBI was watching them all along!" , you would want to give up, but you've already gone too far. Thankfully, the final "critical" chapter is interesting to put your reading into perspective.
While i very well welcome the initiative and praise the investigative work behind it, I don't understand why most of the book is the way it is. It's 05% descriptive until the last chapter. At some point, you just wonder when it would end. There is just not enough details about what matters - consequences of international cooperation, the world-wide public opinion about privacy at the time these events occured. And by the time the author gets to them, you have either given up by lack of interest, or you've reached the end of the book.
A very interesting investigation of a story, but in the wrong format for me. The author shared a lot of the important bits on his Twitter, and does great job with his website - I'd rather advice anyone to spend their time on those than the book itself.
At the 1000th "but the criminals didn't know: the FBI was watching them all along!" , you would want to give up, but you've already gone too far. Thankfully, the final "critical" chapter is interesting to put your reading into perspective.
While i very well welcome the initiative and praise the investigative work behind it, I don't understand why most of the book is the way it is. It's 05% descriptive until the last chapter. At some point, you just wonder when it would end. There is just not enough details about what matters - consequences of international cooperation, the world-wide public opinion about privacy at the time these events occured. And by the time the author gets to them, you have either given up by lack of interest, or you've reached the end of the book.
A very interesting investigation of a story, but in the wrong format for me. The author shared a lot of the important bits on his Twitter, and does great job with his website - I'd rather advice anyone to spend their time on those than the book itself.
June 29, 2024
An amazing story about a group of FBI agents who create a startup business selling "secure phones" to criminals who use them to communicate securely with others. Only, the FBI can read all the messages, in conjunction with agents in countries around the world. Very well told, with some disturbing implications, and of course, though they bust a huge number of criminals, it's really on a dent in the market.
June 13, 2024
I gave it three stars on net galley. The story felt important, certainly entertaining. You've got the FBI acting in concert with other nations around the world to catch violent criminals. There's a deus ex machina. It's a true life techno thriller. Unfortunately, the writing lacks the thriller part. This thing reads like a math textbook. I felt nothing. If an author writes about a storm I expect to taste it, I need to smell it and certainly see it. Ominous; thunder cracks send sharp signals up the spine. Lightning flashing in the distance reveals grim rain. Shadows swirling in the dimly lit streets. Gotterdamerung upon us.
Joseph Cox got his hands on a story equivalent to a crossfire hurricane and proceeds to give temperature and wind speed in hourly intervals.
Joseph Cox got his hands on a story equivalent to a crossfire hurricane and proceeds to give temperature and wind speed in hourly intervals.
June 25, 2024
Interesting story, blandly told.
June 26, 2024
I can't imagine it's too surprising for someone who is both a computers professional and enthusiast, as well as an enjoyer of crime stories, but true crime books about computers always fascinate me.
June 10, 2024
Wild story about how the FBI ran an encrypted phone service called Anom used by a bunch of criminals in the drug trade! The story itself is so wild that a lot of the book talking about some of the nuts and bolts didn't quite live up to the hype for me.
Odds and ends:
- Anom was not the first company to make ultra-secure phones - an earlier one was Phantom Secure. Their model was interesting - they would only sell phones to people if they were referred to by existing customers, which meant that almost everyone using them were criminals. (pg 14)
- In March 2014 a news report in Australia claimed that Phantom Secure phones were linked to some underworld killings, and that the police couldn't get into the phone to read their messages. Obviously this made Phantom Secure much more popular! (pg 45)
- Phantom Secure's CEO was arrested in 2018 and convicted of racketeering conspiracy for knowingly providing criminals with the phones. Phantom Secure's sellers were looking for what to do next (and trying to avoid the FBI), but one of them who was technically-minded wanted to start his own encrypted phone company. And in exchange for a possibility of a reduced sentence, he reached out to the FBI and offered, from the very beginning, to let the FBI run it! (pg 84)
- There are several discussions about the age-old problem that intelligence services have when they've broken a high-value method of encryption; they want to use the knowledge they have to stop bad things from happening, but doing this too often will make it clear to the enemy that their encryption is broken and they'll switch to something else. (see the Coventry Blitz from World War 2, although apparently it wasn't very clear that Coventry was even the target!) (pg 120, 172)
- Anom phones claimed to have the GPS removed for security reasons. (some other encrypted phones also removed the camera and microphone, but Anom didn't do this) Instead the phone attached the GPS coordinates of the phone to every message that was forwarded to the FBI! (pg 126)
- The pandemic affected criminals, too - apparently more money laundering was done with dead drops (which don't require face-to-face contact) than before! (pg 137)
- A separate encrypted phone company called Encrochat had some of its servers in France, and the French police discovered this and managed to hijack the update process to backdoor all of their phones! After a few months the company figured out that the phones had been hacked and pushed an update to fix some issues and gather more information, but the police re-hacked the phones with a new update shortly thereafter. At that point Encrochat threw in the towel, told all their customers the phones weren't safe to use, and shut the company down. (pg 149)
- One of the big gangsters that the book follows (known, confusingly, as "Microsoft") realized at some point that something was up because a bunch of his operations were getting disrupted. But he thought it was yet another encrypted phone company they used (Sky), and so he forbid people he worked with from using that. Which meant more people using Anom! (pg 209)
- The knowledge that Anom was compromised was kept pretty close to the vest. In one case a Swedish police officer was ready to raid a warehouse and phoned another officer to ask if their source of the intelligence would be in danger. The "source" was actually Anom, so the other officer said they'd call back in ten minutes, twiddled their thumbs, then called back saying it was OK to go ahead! (pg 266)
- After the operation was done (and the FBI announced the truth about Anom), estimates put the number of arrests from the Encrochat, Anom, and Sky intelligence (yes, the police compromised Sky too!) at more than ten thousand people. They also led to the seizure of two hundred tons(!) of drugs and more than 760 million dollars! (pg 309) The police learned a lot about how drug smuggling operations work. And yet, it probably made only a small dent in the overall drug trade. (pg 311)
Odds and ends:
- Anom was not the first company to make ultra-secure phones - an earlier one was Phantom Secure. Their model was interesting - they would only sell phones to people if they were referred to by existing customers, which meant that almost everyone using them were criminals. (pg 14)
- In March 2014 a news report in Australia claimed that Phantom Secure phones were linked to some underworld killings, and that the police couldn't get into the phone to read their messages. Obviously this made Phantom Secure much more popular! (pg 45)
- Phantom Secure's CEO was arrested in 2018 and convicted of racketeering conspiracy for knowingly providing criminals with the phones. Phantom Secure's sellers were looking for what to do next (and trying to avoid the FBI), but one of them who was technically-minded wanted to start his own encrypted phone company. And in exchange for a possibility of a reduced sentence, he reached out to the FBI and offered, from the very beginning, to let the FBI run it! (pg 84)
- There are several discussions about the age-old problem that intelligence services have when they've broken a high-value method of encryption; they want to use the knowledge they have to stop bad things from happening, but doing this too often will make it clear to the enemy that their encryption is broken and they'll switch to something else. (see the Coventry Blitz from World War 2, although apparently it wasn't very clear that Coventry was even the target!) (pg 120, 172)
- Anom phones claimed to have the GPS removed for security reasons. (some other encrypted phones also removed the camera and microphone, but Anom didn't do this) Instead the phone attached the GPS coordinates of the phone to every message that was forwarded to the FBI! (pg 126)
- The pandemic affected criminals, too - apparently more money laundering was done with dead drops (which don't require face-to-face contact) than before! (pg 137)
- A separate encrypted phone company called Encrochat had some of its servers in France, and the French police discovered this and managed to hijack the update process to backdoor all of their phones! After a few months the company figured out that the phones had been hacked and pushed an update to fix some issues and gather more information, but the police re-hacked the phones with a new update shortly thereafter. At that point Encrochat threw in the towel, told all their customers the phones weren't safe to use, and shut the company down. (pg 149)
- One of the big gangsters that the book follows (known, confusingly, as "Microsoft") realized at some point that something was up because a bunch of his operations were getting disrupted. But he thought it was yet another encrypted phone company they used (Sky), and so he forbid people he worked with from using that. Which meant more people using Anom! (pg 209)
- The knowledge that Anom was compromised was kept pretty close to the vest. In one case a Swedish police officer was ready to raid a warehouse and phoned another officer to ask if their source of the intelligence would be in danger. The "source" was actually Anom, so the other officer said they'd call back in ten minutes, twiddled their thumbs, then called back saying it was OK to go ahead! (pg 266)
- After the operation was done (and the FBI announced the truth about Anom), estimates put the number of arrests from the Encrochat, Anom, and Sky intelligence (yes, the police compromised Sky too!) at more than ten thousand people. They also led to the seizure of two hundred tons(!) of drugs and more than 760 million dollars! (pg 309) The police learned a lot about how drug smuggling operations work. And yet, it probably made only a small dent in the overall drug trade. (pg 311)
July 1, 2024
I agree with this review. It's a fun and interesting story, but I didn't need the author telling me at the beginning of every chapter that "little did the criminals know, the FBI could actually read what they were sending each other!" I got it, it's pretty crazy that they pulled this off. That's the whole premise of the book and the reason I picked it up.
I also agree with the linked review that the book doesn't spend nearly enough time diving into the implications of the operation:
- The wiretap was mostly used to track down kind of upper-mid-level drug traffickers. Their general goal appeared to be to "find as many people as possible committing crimes, arrest them, and convict them." Did they use Anom to its fullest capability to do this? Would the world have been better off if they'd focused less on the money or the drugs and more on preventing murders?
- What does this tell us about the overall drug enforcement strategy? If you ask the head of the DEA or something what their goals are beyond arresting people - what do they say? And what would their plan be to achieve that?
- As the epilogue mentions, it's not clear to me why criminals didn't just use Signal or WhatsApp or Telegram (with a burner phone, maybe, so their phone numbers couldn't be traced to them). Once they do that, as an interview subject points out, either the police stop pursuing these criminals, or they hack into mainstream chat applications, or they somehow force those apps to put in secret bypasses. All bad outcomes.
- Obviously, there's a moral minefield in undermining encryption and lying to people about it. Although it's great that they were able to have such high precision in targeting criminals as users of Anom, it still seems a bit borderline for what I'd like the government to be able to do to pursue them.
The most unexpected part was learning about the modern structure of drug trafficking and organized crime. Presumably because of years of adaptation to avoiding law enforcement, most organized crime is extremely decentralized. Some characters base their criminal behavior on what they see on TV, because they don't have other sources to learn from. Always interesting to learn about how this stuff works.
I also agree with the linked review that the book doesn't spend nearly enough time diving into the implications of the operation:
- The wiretap was mostly used to track down kind of upper-mid-level drug traffickers. Their general goal appeared to be to "find as many people as possible committing crimes, arrest them, and convict them." Did they use Anom to its fullest capability to do this? Would the world have been better off if they'd focused less on the money or the drugs and more on preventing murders?
- What does this tell us about the overall drug enforcement strategy? If you ask the head of the DEA or something what their goals are beyond arresting people - what do they say? And what would their plan be to achieve that?
- As the epilogue mentions, it's not clear to me why criminals didn't just use Signal or WhatsApp or Telegram (with a burner phone, maybe, so their phone numbers couldn't be traced to them). Once they do that, as an interview subject points out, either the police stop pursuing these criminals, or they hack into mainstream chat applications, or they somehow force those apps to put in secret bypasses. All bad outcomes.
- Obviously, there's a moral minefield in undermining encryption and lying to people about it. Although it's great that they were able to have such high precision in targeting criminals as users of Anom, it still seems a bit borderline for what I'd like the government to be able to do to pursue them.
The most unexpected part was learning about the modern structure of drug trafficking and organized crime. Presumably because of years of adaptation to avoiding law enforcement, most organized crime is extremely decentralized. Some characters base their criminal behavior on what they see on TV, because they don't have other sources to learn from. Always interesting to learn about how this stuff works.
June 16, 2024
In the late 2010s early 2020s, the FBI created an encrypted phone service that became very popular with drug dealers, money launderers and other nefarious types. Of course, the FBI left a backdoor where they could monitor all of the communications and find evidence of crimes in countries other than the US. In 2021, in coordination with law enforcement agencies, the FBI orchestrated the takedown of thousands of criminals at once. Mr. Cox has written a very engaging account of the program from its genesis in frustration at criminals use of encrypted phones beyond the reach of law enforcement to the culminating raids around the world. Mr. Cox's account is like an organized crime novel, only it is about true events. The account is very easy to read and entertaining and focuses on the individuals involved (both law enforcement and criminals). At the end, Mr. Cox tries to raise the privacy concerns raised by such a program, but he does not go too into depth. I am ok with that. Mr. Cox has written a very fun read about how the program worked. Others can debate the policy implications. One annoying issue with this book - every couple of pages (or even more frequently), Mr. Cox reminds the reader that the criminals thought the service was very secure, but the FBI had access to all. We get it. We did not need several dozen reminders throughout the book.
June 13, 2024
I'm still to complete 30% of it, but it feels unnecessarily artificially elongated. Cox keeps on repeating things ("but unbeknownst to them, the FBI was reading every single word" and the like thrown in dozens of times. I mean come on respect the reader's intellect). I feel it could have been ¾th or less had these reputations been avoided.
Also after reading the parts about Dubai I started doubting Cox's research. For eg - "WhatsApp is banned/illegal in Dubai" is simply false. WhatsApp CALLS are banned, but not the messaging app itself. WhatsApp itself has never been illegal or banned. Only reason I could make out the factual inaccuracies about Dubai was because I am from here. So I wonder what other things Cox got wrong.
Good book, great content, but seriously could have done in a shorter version in my opinion. Unnecessarily stretched, just like this review lol. Blood And Oil by Bradley Hope and Justin Sheck was masterfully written, I was hoping for a similar feel but it isn't quite up to that level.
Edit - Wasta means one's influence/connections. It does not mean authority or power like Cox says lol. I hope his poor research was limited just to Dubai.
Edi2 - the audiobook narrator Peter Ganim's Spanish pronunciations are hilarious, but now I'm just nitpicking 😂
Also after reading the parts about Dubai I started doubting Cox's research. For eg - "WhatsApp is banned/illegal in Dubai" is simply false. WhatsApp CALLS are banned, but not the messaging app itself. WhatsApp itself has never been illegal or banned. Only reason I could make out the factual inaccuracies about Dubai was because I am from here. So I wonder what other things Cox got wrong.
Good book, great content, but seriously could have done in a shorter version in my opinion. Unnecessarily stretched, just like this review lol. Blood And Oil by Bradley Hope and Justin Sheck was masterfully written, I was hoping for a similar feel but it isn't quite up to that level.
Edit - Wasta means one's influence/connections. It does not mean authority or power like Cox says lol. I hope his poor research was limited just to Dubai.
Edi2 - the audiobook narrator Peter Ganim's Spanish pronunciations are hilarious, but now I'm just nitpicking 😂
June 9, 2024
An exceptional inside look at the biggest bandaid rip in the history of secure communications. What started as street level dealers ripping out the microphone and camera out of cellphones eventually spiraled out to a fully fledged massive industry with it's bosses, players, beefs and competition, to eventually the the law running the monopoly themselves, keeping their involvement under wraps and instilling fear into all the users once the rabbit was pulled out of the hat. This of course reads like a tale of many startups coming together and fading out but that's how Anom snowballed and was successful in the first place.
There aren't many people alive who could tell so many details about Anom, due to, well the circumstances where Anom is usually employed. The author has managed to speak to all sides involved and reveal a bunch of previously unknown feats from law enforcement.
I would've liked to read more about how Anom's staff (developers, managers, accountants, lawyers...) managed the day to day of the company while unknowingly doing the work of the FBI. Was one ever close to finding out?
There aren't many people alive who could tell so many details about Anom, due to, well the circumstances where Anom is usually employed. The author has managed to speak to all sides involved and reveal a bunch of previously unknown feats from law enforcement.
I would've liked to read more about how Anom's staff (developers, managers, accountants, lawyers...) managed the day to day of the company while unknowingly doing the work of the FBI. Was one ever close to finding out?
May 30, 2024
The cat and mouse game between law enforcement and criminals is eternal and it often leads to a really good tale. In this case the story verges on the incredible. The law is behind an encrypted phone service used by drug traffickers giving them access to vast amounts of information. The operation”s reach is world wide and Joseph Cox did a tremendous amount of research to lay out how it came about and was run. There are accounts of drug deals, money laundering, and planned assassinations. Cox includes both sides. The book flows easily through a good deal of detail. The final chapter sums up the operation’s accomplishments and how they fit in the greater scheme of cat and mouse.
I received a digital advanced copy of this book compliments of Public Affairs and NetGalley.
I received a digital advanced copy of this book compliments of Public Affairs and NetGalley.
June 17, 2024
As someone who both develops and uses secure computing platforms like privacy-focused cellphones, this was an amazing story -- information about multiple law enforcement agencies going after niche secure phone networks (Phantom Secure, based on BlackBerry) and the huge sting where law enforcement largely ran a honeytrap secure cellphone (Anom, based on a fork of Android).
This book describes the technical and especially user and law enforcement landscape around these devices and the sting operation which ensued. It raises many legal issues (especially in the US, which actually has meaningful free speech protections, unlike most of the other nations involved), and many of these are still unresolved.
This book describes the technical and especially user and law enforcement landscape around these devices and the sting operation which ensued. It raises many legal issues (especially in the US, which actually has meaningful free speech protections, unlike most of the other nations involved), and many of these are still unresolved.
June 17, 2024
Really interesting story with crazy details on the FBIs behind the scenes efforts, also dives really deep into how large drug syndicates operated in the 2010s.
The author poses an interesting question at the end that I was also thinking during the last 10% of the book: If this program lead to more drug seizures and mass arrests of high-level smugglers than any other effort in history, and yet the price, availability, and quality of street drugs was never impacted, are law enforcement efforts to combat the drug trade completely irrelevant? Do efforts to decrease the supply of drugs work at all?
The author poses an interesting question at the end that I was also thinking during the last 10% of the book: If this program lead to more drug seizures and mass arrests of high-level smugglers than any other effort in history, and yet the price, availability, and quality of street drugs was never impacted, are law enforcement efforts to combat the drug trade completely irrelevant? Do efforts to decrease the supply of drugs work at all?
July 5, 2024
**3,5 stars rounded up**
A fascinating story of an enormous law-enforcement operation that was well-researched by the author. This book would be better in my opinion if in the beginning we weren't just dropped in the middle of the story without much context or explanation. It was confusing, especially since I was listening to it as an audiobook. Also I wish author spent more time discussing the implications and wider consequences instead of listing up more and more busts that were very similar and didn't add anything new to the story or repeating "if only they knew FBI was behind this encrypted phone" every couple of pages.
A fascinating story of an enormous law-enforcement operation that was well-researched by the author. This book would be better in my opinion if in the beginning we weren't just dropped in the middle of the story without much context or explanation. It was confusing, especially since I was listening to it as an audiobook. Also I wish author spent more time discussing the implications and wider consequences instead of listing up more and more busts that were very similar and didn't add anything new to the story or repeating "if only they knew FBI was behind this encrypted phone" every couple of pages.
June 19, 2024
Joseph Cox delivers a thriller filled with such detail. His investigative prowess along with empathy for all actors involved shines through. Cox frames the story of bravado for the FBI and the various intelligence agencies of the world against rising concerns of threats to privacy and increased surveillance. My most memorable part of the story comes when a convict, in the grasp of some of the best FBI agents, slips past them when they are asleep. It shows how human the FBI are and the very human challenges present in the cat and mouse game.
June 19, 2024
This was a fascinating read. Really detailed information and investigative material, great job.
The book raises a whole bunch of questions: Should the US government run a business built for criminals? Are they responsible for the acts committed on that business? If they are getting a copy of every message, shouldn't they get warrants for everything? Is there viability for a privacy focused phone for "normal" users or the only ones that want a privacy based phone, crimnals?
The storyline is great and well written. A fascinating read, add this to your bookshelf
The book raises a whole bunch of questions: Should the US government run a business built for criminals? Are they responsible for the acts committed on that business? If they are getting a copy of every message, shouldn't they get warrants for everything? Is there viability for a privacy focused phone for "normal" users or the only ones that want a privacy based phone, crimnals?
The storyline is great and well written. A fascinating read, add this to your bookshelf
July 4, 2024
A gripping and detailed account of Operation Trojan Shield, a massive global sting operation led by the FBI. The book effectively captures the complexity and scale of the operation, showing how law enforcement agencies collaborated to take down organized crime by secretly running an encrypted phone company. Cox's writing is clear and engaging, making the technical aspects accessible without losing depth. However, the sheer volume of information can sometimes feel overwhelming. Overall, it's a fascinating read for those interested in true crime and law enforcement tactics.
May 21, 2024
The FBI planned and ran its own encrypted cell phone company to lure in criminals. The premise sounds almost too outlandish for fiction, but it’s all true. Joseph Cox weaves a fine tale of police intrigue that spans multiple continents and countries. The names and places can get a bit overwhelming at times, but it is still a very worthwhile read. Highly recommended. Thanks to PublicAffairs and NetGalley for an ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.
July 3, 2024
Joseph Cox's Dark Wire is such a fascinating topic that it's almost criminal "pun intended" that it is such a disappointing read.
Do not get me wrong, a book about the FBI and international law enforcement agencies collaborating to takedown global drug syndicates is a writer’s dreamscape. But this book has the patina of an A.I. generated expose.
I would have been okay the expose, the 300+ page literary work, not so much.
TD is not wired.
Do not get me wrong, a book about the FBI and international law enforcement agencies collaborating to takedown global drug syndicates is a writer’s dreamscape. But this book has the patina of an A.I. generated expose.
I would have been okay the expose, the 300+ page literary work, not so much.
TD is not wired.
June 20, 2024
Probably more of a 3.5 if I'm being honest. It is one of those stories that is almost too wild to be believed, I just wish it was told in a more engaging manner. A large chunk of the book just felt like it was a blow by blow of the criminal activities that were being secretly caught. A worthwhile tale that I might have enjoyed more as a documentary or limited TV series.
June 28, 2024
A good entertaining book. A quick read. A good story. It is very obvious the author did a lot of research.
I do wish it would have spent a little more time talking about the morality of all this spying on people. It came up briefly a few times during the storytelling and there is a chapter (or maybe 2) at the end and I felt like it could use a little more treatment.
I do wish it would have spent a little more time talking about the morality of all this spying on people. It came up briefly a few times during the storytelling and there is a chapter (or maybe 2) at the end and I felt like it could use a little more treatment.
June 13, 2024
A great story, beneath all the padding
June 20, 2024
the government will literally do ANYTHING but reform modern drug policies
June 23, 2024
Breezy read. Just wished there was some elaboration on why the creator of the platform opened it up to the FBI right from the jump.
June 26, 2024
I’ll probably watch it on Netflix. 3.5
June 26, 2024
Story is great, the book should have been half the size IMO.
July 1, 2024
Interesting view into technology, crime, and the legal and moral complexities.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews