About Mashapedia

The Project

This project is a comprehensive glossary of technologies mentioned in Cory Doctorow’s book Attack Surface. When reading the book, I was amazed by the amount of tech terms Doctorow was using throughout the story. While some terms like “Tor” might be familiar to tech-savvy readers, others like “IMSI-catcher” or “adversarial perturbation” might require further explanation.

This collection aims to help readers understand these technologies better by providing:

  • Clear, concise explanations
  • Links to authoritative sources (primarily Wikipedia)
  • Additional resources for deeper learning
  • Context about how each technology relates to the story

The Book

Attack Surface is the third book in Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother series. It follows Masha Maximow, a tech specialist who has worked for private military contractors and intelligence agencies. The book explores themes of:

  • Digital surveillance and privacy
  • The ethics of technology in warfare
  • Resistance against authoritarian systems
  • The power and responsibility that comes with technical knowledge

The Author

Cory Doctorow is a science fiction author, activist, and journalist. He is a co-editor of the blog Boing Boing and has been named one of the Web’s twenty-five influencers by Forbes Magazine and a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.

Contributing

This is an open-source project, and contributions are welcome! If you want to:

  • Add new terms
  • Correct existing definitions
  • Expand explanations
  • Add more reference links

Please feel free to:

  1. Open an issue in the GitHub repository
  2. Fork the repository and submit a pull request
  3. Contact the maintainer with suggestions

Technical Details

This documentation site is built with:

  • Hugo - Static site generator
  • Hextra - Documentation theme
  • Original content in AsciiDoc format

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to:

  • Cory Doctorow for writing such an educational and engaging book
  • All contributors who help improve this glossary
  • The open-source community for the tools that make this project possible