Fifty years ago, in "1984, " George Orwell imagined a future in
which privacy was demolished by a totalitarian state that used
spies, video surveillance, historical revisionism, and control over
the media to maintain its power. Those who worry about personal
privacy and identity--especially in this day of technologies that
encroach upon these rights--still use Orwell's "Big Brother"
language to discuss privacy issues. But the reality is that the age
of a monolithic Big Brother is over. And yet the threats are
perhaps even more likely to destroy the rights we've assumed were
ours.
"Database Nation: The Death of Privacy in the 21st Century"
shows how, in these early years of the 21st century, advances in
technology endanger our privacy in ways never before imagined.
Direct marketers and retailers track our every purchase;
surveillance cameras observe our movements; mobile phones will soon
report our location to those who want to track us; government
eavesdroppers listen in on private communications; misused medical
records turn our bodies and our histories against us; and linked
databases assemble detailed consumer profiles used to predict and
influence our behavior. Privacy--the most basic of our civil
rights--is in grave peril.
Simson Garfinkel--journalist, entrepreneur, and international
authority on computer security--has devoted his career to testing
new technologies and warning about their implications. This newly
revised update of the popular hardcover edition of "Database Nation
" is his compelling account of how invasive technologies will
affect our lives in the coming years. It's a timely, far-reaching,
entertaining, and thought-provoking look at the serious threats to
privacy facing us today. The book poses a disturbing question: how
can we protect our basic rights to privacy, identity, and autonomy
when technology is making invasion and control easier than ever
before?
Garfinkel's captivating blend of journalism, storytelling, and
futurism is a call to arms. It will frighten, entertain, and
ultimately convince us that we must take action now to protect our
privacy and identity before it's too late.
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