// Comparison
À la trace vs Surveillance://: Which Should You Read?
Two cybersecurity books on Surveillance, compared honestly: who each is for, what each does best, and which to read first.
An investigative map of modern surveillance — from data brokers and facial recognition to contact-tracing — charting how continuous digital tracking became normal, by a French tech journalist.
A lucid, accessible case for digital privacy — how mass surveillance works, why it matters, and concrete ways to take back control — by the founder of Mozilla Europe.
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Key takeaways
- A 2020 investigative cartography of the new surveillance — data brokers, facial recognition, tracing.
- Tesquet reports with specifics, making the abstract surveillance economy concrete.
- Read for the landscape and the cases; pair with Nitot/Untersinger for what to do about it.
- One of the clearest French-language explanations of why digital privacy matters, written for everyone.
- Nitot (ex-Mozilla) argues from inside the open-web movement, so the alternatives he proposes are concrete, not abstract.
- Ends with practical steps — the rare privacy book that tells you what to actually do.
How they compare
À la trace and Surveillance:// are both rated 4/5 in our catalog. Pick by topic preference and reading style rather than by rating.
Both books target beginner-level readers, so the choice is about topic, not difficulty.
À la trace and Surveillance:// both cover Surveillance, Privacy, Policy, so reading them in sequence reinforces the same material from different angles.