Alexander V. Avakov was born in the USSR in 1954. He has been interested in economic statistics since childhood. His formal university education was in mathematics and mathematical economics with additional studies in economics, philosophy, law, politics, anthropology, sociology and psychology.

As a result of early political maturity he was arrested in 1975 for distributing liberal-minded leaflets at the university. Sentenced to a year and half of hard labor, he was sent to a KGB-run camp for political prisoners. After completing the prison term, he emigrated from the Soviet Union and has since settled with his family in the United States.

Previously published books in Russian include, among others, Autobiography of the Soviet Anti-Soviet Philosopher, and Welcome to the New Security State. Mr. Avakov has published several books through Algora, including Plato’s Dream Realized: Surveillance and Citizen Rights, from KGB to FBI, and a series of statistical studies analyzing the relative power of nations in terms both economic and military, including undeclared nuclear weapons.

This book explores the frontiers of legal theory within the United States with regards to modern surveillance and its effects on human rights....

This book explores the frontiers of legal theory within the United States with regards to modern surveillance and its effects on human rights. The author shares his personal experiences, first with the KGB and then with the US national security state. This second experience helped him realize the dangers of the routine abuses committed by the US intelligence apparatus.

He gives an overview of documents he was able to receive pursuant the Freedom of Information Act — mostly blacked out, although they describe his own “suspicious” activities, i.e. letter-writing. He broadens the discussion to address the wider issue of electronic surveillance by the government. Former CIA and FBI director William Webster describes the agencies’ use of “spiderweb” electronic surveillance against "foreign agents" with breathtaking directness.

Avakov then examines the art of electronic surveillance as well as the extent of modern “total surveillance,” with a consideration of the impact of electronic surveillance on rights, and the philosophical basis for the connection between rights and privacy.

Without privacy, there is no autonomy of person; without autonomy of person, there is no freedom. Yet the United States government employs several legal mechanisms, especially against foreign intelligence “agents,” which hinge on innovative uses of electronic surveillance. Such techniques include the use of friendly countries’ intelligence services and Echelon to avoid the ticklish problem of obtaining warrants.

The information collected by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) used to be barred from presentation in criminal court as evidence, because it entailed a much weaker “probable cause” requirement than domestic surveillance. However, developments in connection with the war on terror, such as the USA Patriot Act, allow the US government use of FISC surveillance information for criminal persecution. The resultant weakening of the exclusionary rule and due process in general violate the Constitution.

The history of political spying in the US, as well as warnings by US legal authorities, point to the dangers of electronic surveillance to human rights.

The author concludes with a discussion of practical solutions to counter these dangers as suggested in a number of publications.

By way of background, Avakov adds an extensive reading list giving some sense of the breadth of knowledge pursued by an intellectual of international caliber.