Authors: Simson Garfinkel.
Paperback, 336 pages
Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Publication Date: 2001-01


Reviews :

    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....

    Forget the common cold for a moment. Instead, consider the rise of "false data syndrome," a deceptive method of identification derived from numbers rather than more recognizable human traits. Simson Garfinkel couples this idea with concepts like "data shadow" and "datasphere" in Database Nation, offering a decidedly unappealing scenario of how we have overlooked privacy with the advent of advanced technology.

According to Garfinkel, "technology is not privacy neutral." It leaves us with only two choices: 1) allow our personal data to rest in the public domain or 2) become hermits (no credit cards, no midnight video jaunts--you get the point).

Garfinkel's thoroughly researched and example-rich text explores the history of identification procedures; the computerization of ID systems; how and where data is collected, tracked, and stored; and the laws that protect privacy. He also explains who owns, manipulates, ensures the safety of, and manages the vast amount of data that makes up our collective human infrastructure. The big surprise here? It's not the United States government who controls or manages the majority of this data but rather faceless corporations who trade your purchasing habits, social security numbers, and other personal information just like any other hot commodity.

There's a heck of a lot of data to digest about data here and only a smidgen of humor to counterbalance the weight of Garfinkel's projections. But then again, humor isn't really appropriate in connection with stolen identities; medical, bank, and insurance record exploitation; or the potential for a future that's a "video surveillance free-for-all."

In many information-horrific situations, Garfinkel explores the wide variety of data thievery and the future implications of larger, longer-lasting databases. "Citizens," Garfinkel theorizes, "don't know how to fight back even though we know our privacy is at risk." In a case study involving an insurance claim form, he explains how a short paragraph can grant "blanket authorization" to all personal (not just medical) records to an insurance company. Citizens who refuse to sign the consent paragraph typically must forfeit any reimbursement for medical services. Ultimately, "we do not have the choice [as consumers] either to negotiate or to strike our own deal."

The choice that we do have, however, is to build a world in which sensitive data is respected and kept private--and the book offers clever, "turn-the-tables" solutions, suggesting that citizens, government, and corporations cooperate to develop weaker ID systems and legislate heavier penalties for identification theft.

Garfinkel's argument does give one pause, but his paranoia-laden prose and Orwellian imagination tends to obscure the effectiveness of his argument. Strangely, for all his talk about protecting your privacy, he never mentions how to remove your personal information from direct mail and telemarketing groups. And while he would like for Database Nation to be as highly regarded (and timely) as Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, the fact remains that we're not going to perish from having our privacy violated. --E. Brooke Gilbert...

Authors:
Paperback, 177 pages
Publisher: Springer
Publication Date: 2006-11-14
Edition: 1

Reviews :

   

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-proceedings of the 7th International Workshop on Mining Web Data, WEBKDD 2005, held in Chicago, IL, USA in August 2005 in conjunction with the 11th ACM SIGKDD International Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining, KDD 2005.

The 9 revised full papers presented together with a detailed preface went through two rounds of reviewing and improvement and were carfully selected for inclusion in the book. The enhanced papers show that Web mining techniques and applications have to more effectively integrate a variety of types of data across multiple channels and from different sources in addition to usage, such as content, structure, and semantics. Thus a next generation of intelligent applications is stimulated for more effective exploitation and mining of multi-faceted data. The papers express also the need to study and design robust recommender systems that can resist various malicious manipulations.

...

Authors: Michael Lewis.
Hardcover, 192 pages
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Publication Date: 2001-07-31
Edition: 1st

Reviews :

    A mordantly funny exploration of the brave new world spawned by the Internet.

In Liar's Poker the barbarians seized control of the bond markets. In The New New Thing some guys from Silicon Valley redefined the American economy. Now, with his knowing eye and wicked pen, Michael Lewis reveals how the Internet boom has encouraged great changes in the way we live, work, and think. He finds that we are in the midst of one of the greatest status revolutions in the history of the world, and the Internet is a weapon in the hands of revolutionaries. The old priesthoods—lawyers, investment gurus, professionals in general—have been toppled. The amateur, or individual, is king: fourteen-year-old children manipulate the stock market; nineteen-year-olds take down the music industry; and wrestlers get elected to public office. Deep, unseen forces seek to undermine all forms of collectivism, from the mass market to the family. Where does it all lead? And will we like where we end up?...

    If you've ever had the sneaking (and perhaps depressing) suspicion that the Internet is radically changing the world as you know it, buck up. No wait, buckle up--it is. While some people celebrate this and others bemoan it, Michael Lewis has been busy investigating the reasons for this rapid change. Employing the sarcastic wit and keen recognition of social shifts that readers of Liar's Poker and The New New Thing will recognize, Lewis takes us on a quick spin through today and speculates on what it might mean for tomorrow.

Central to Lewis's observations is the idea that the Internet hasn't really caused anything; rather it fills a type of social hole, the most obvious of which is a need to alter relations between "insiders" and "outsiders." In Next, Lewis shows how the Internet is the ideal model for sociologists who believe that our "selves are merely the masks we wear in response to the social situations in which we find ourselves." It is the place where a New Jersey boy barely into his teens flouts the investment system, making big enough bucks to get the SEC breathing down his neck for stock market fraud. Where Markus, a bored adolescent stuck in a dusty desert town and too young to even drive, becomes the most-requested legal expert on Askme.com, doling out advice on everything from how to plead to murder charges to how much an Illinois resident can profit from illegal gains before being charged with fraud ($5,001 was the figure Markus supplied to this particular cost-benefit query). Where a left-leaning kid of 14 in a depressed town outside Manchester is too poor to take up a partial scholarship to a school for gifted children, but who spends all hours (all cheap call-time hours, at least) engaged in "digital socialism," trying to develop a successor to Gnutella, the notorious file-sharing program that had spawned the new field of peer-to-peer computing. Lewis burrows deeply into each of these stories and others, examining social phenomena that the Internet has contributed to: the redistribution of prestige and authority and the reversal of the social order; the erosive effect on the money culture (both in the democratization of capital and in the effect of gambling losing its "status as a sin"); the decreased value we place on formal training (or as he puts it "casual thought went well with casual dress"); and the increased need for knowledge exchange.

Lewis's observations are piercingly sharp. He can be very funny in portraying ordinary people's behavior, but remains thorough and insightful in his examination of the social consequences. He notes that Jonathan Lebed, the teenage online investor, had "glimpsed the essential truth of the market--that even people who called themselves professionals were often incapable of independent thought and that most people, though obsessed with money, had little ability to make decisions about it." While Lewis's commentary gets a little more dense and theoretical toward the end, Next is an entertaining, thought-provoking look at life in an Internet-driven world. --S. Ketchum...

Authors: Larry Long. Nancy Long.
Paperback, 560 pages
Publisher: Prentice Hall
Publication Date: 2003-04-24
Edition: 11

Reviews :

   

Providing an overview coverage of computing/IT concepts and applications for beginners, this 11th edition has been updated to keep readers abreast of the thousands of changes in this rampaging technology; currency is the top priority. Over 150 new or updated images reflect the latest releases and innovations in software. Everything has been adjusted to reflect the state of the art. Beginning with a comprehensive section called “Getting Started,” this book covers such topics as the technology revolution, software, inside the computer, storing and retrieving information, networks and networking, going online, information technology ethics, personal computing, information systems, business information systems, and technology and society. This book provides useful and relevant information for anyone who uses a personal computer whether at home or in the office.

...

Authors: Lisa Nakamura.
Paperback, 192 pages
Publisher: Routledge
Publication Date: 2002-06-14
Edition: 1

Reviews :

    Cyberspace entices us with the promise of an online utopia--a web of fluid identities and infinite possibilities. When we look for signs of freedom online--anywhere from chat room conversations to cyberpunk fiction--we are almost inevitably urged toward "liberation" from our bodies and their "restrictive" attributes like race, gender, and age. But cyberculture critic Lisa Nakamura insists that the Internet is a place where race matters.
Race itself may not be fixed or finite, but Nakamura argues that racial stereotypes-or "cybertypes"-are hardwired into our online interactions: Identity tourists masquerade in virtual roles like Asian_Geisha and Alatinolover. Web directories sharply narrow racial categories. Anonymous computer users are assumed to be white.
In Cybertypes, Nakamura looks at what happened to race when it went online, and how our ideas about race continue to be shaped and reshaped every time we log on. Examining all facets of our everyday online experience from Internet advertising to email jokes, Nakamura shows that the postmodern ideal of fluid selves made possible by network technology is not necessarily subversive, progressive, or liberating. The harder race is pushed off-line, the greater the consequences in real life for people of color.
A lively and provocative discussion Cybertypes offers a valuable new way of thinking about race and identity in the information age....

Authors: Milton L. Mueller.
Paperback, 327 pages
Publisher: The MIT Press
Publication Date: 2004-03-01


Reviews :

    In Ruling the Root, Milton Mueller uses the theoretical framework of institutional economics to analyze the global policy and governance problems created by the assignment of Internet domain names and addresses. "The root" is the top of the domain name hierarchy and the Internet address space. It is the only point of centralized control in what is otherwise a distributed and voluntaristic network of networks. Both domain names and IP numbers are valuable resources, and their assignment on a coordinated basis is essential to the technical operation of the Internet. Mueller explains how control of the root is being leveraged to control the Internet itself in such key areas as trademark and copyright protection, surveillance of users, content regulation, and regulation of the domain name supply industry.

Control of the root originally resided in an informally organized technical elite comprised mostly of American computer scientists. As the Internet became commercialized and domain name registration became a profitable business, a six-year struggle over property rights and the control of the root broke out among Internet technologists, business and intellectual property interests, international organizations, national governments, and advocates of individual rights. By the late 1990s, it was apparent that only a new international institution could resolve conflicts among the factions in the domain name wars. Mueller recounts the fascinating process that led to the formation of a new international regime around ICANN, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. In the process, he shows how the vaunted freedom and openness of the Internet is being diminished by the institutionalization of the root....

Authors: Flo Conway. Jim Siegelman.
Paperback, 464 pages
Publisher: Basic Books
Publication Date: 2006-08-28


Reviews :

    ...

Authors: Donald MacKenzie.
Paperback, 439 pages
Publisher: The MIT Press
Publication Date: 2004-03-01


Reviews :

    Winner of the 2003 Robert K. Merton Book Award presented by the Science, Knowledge, and Technology section of the American Sociological Association.

Most aspects of our private and social lives—our safety, the integrity of the financial system, the functioning of utilities and other services, and national security—now depend on computing. But how can we know that this computing is trustworthy? In Mechanizing Proof, Donald MacKenzie addresses this key issue by investigating the interrelations of computing, risk, and mathematical proof over the last half century from the perspectives of history and sociology. His discussion draws on the technical literature of computer science and artificial intelligence and on extensive interviews with participants.

MacKenzie argues that our culture now contains two ideals of proof: proof as traditionally conducted by human mathematicians, and formal, mechanized proof. He describes the systems constructed by those committed to the latter ideal and the many questions those systems raise about the nature of proof. He looks at the primary social influence on the development of automated proof—the need to predict the behavior of the computer systems upon which human life and security depend—and explores the involvement of powerful organizations such as the National Security Agency. He concludes that in mechanizing proof, and in pursuing dependable computer systems, we do not obviate the need for trust in our collective human judgment....

Authors: Michael Miller.
Paperback, 512 pages
Publisher: Sybex
Publication Date: 2002-08-01
Edition: 1st

Reviews :

    If you think anti-virus software is enough protection from hackers, think again!
Have you ever engaged in high-risk Internet activities? You have if you've ever shopped, chatted with a friend, played a game or swapped an MP3 file while online. And you'll be shocked to learn how incredibly vulnerable your PC is if you're connecting via cable/DSL. Your risk of Internet attacks is likely to increase in the coming years--in both frequency and destructiveness. It's simply becoming easier for computer criminals to access and sabotage your PC, and even to steal your identity. Learn how to protect your PC from fast-spreading viruses in disguise, Internet-connection hijackers, con artists after your personal information, annoying spam e-mail and relentless pop-up advertising. Absolute PC Security and Privacy shows you how to detect security holes, reduce your chances of attack, recognize when you're under attack and stop an attack in progress.
Coverage includes:
* Understanding the various types of viruses and how they spread
* Learning which virus types you're most vulnerable to
* Protecting your PC from virus infection
* Recovering from a virus attack and disinfecting your system
* Understanding the different types of Internet-based attacks
* Protecting your system from an Internet-based attack
* Protecting your system in a P2P environment
* Defending your home or small business network
* Securing your wireless network
* Understanding hardware and software firewalls and which type you should use
* Recognizing when your system is under an Internet-based attack
* Shutting down and recovering from an Internet-based attack
* Tips and tricks for safeguarding your personal information
* Practicing safe shopping and avoiding auction fraud while online
* Protecting yourself and your children from online predators
* Understanding how spyware works and how to defeat it
* Using passwords, digital certificates, and encryption
* How to anonymously surf the Web and send e-mail
* How to keep your contact information out of the hands of spammers
* How to eliminate spam e-mail and pop-up advertisements...

Authors: David Lyon.
Paperback, 189 pages
Publisher: Open University Press
Publication Date: 2001-02-01
Edition: 1

Reviews :

   

• In what ways does contemporary surveillance reinforce social divisions?
• How are police and consumer surveillance becoming more similar as they are automated?
• Are we forced to choose between classical and poststructuralist approaches in explaining surveillance?
• Why is surveillance both expanding globally and focusing more on the human body?

Surveillance Society takes a post-privacy approach to surveillance with a fresh look at the relations between technology and society. Personal data is collected from us all the time, whether we know it or not, through identity numbers, camera images, or increasingly by other means such as fingerprint and retinal scans. This book examines the constant computer-based scrutiny of ordinary daily life for citizens and consumers as they participate in contemporary societies. It argues that to understand what is happening we have to go beyond Orwellian alarms and cries for more privacy to see how such surveillance also reinforces divisions by sorting people into social categories. The issues spill over narrow policy and legal boundaries to generate responses at several levels including local consumer groups, internet activism, and international social movements. In this fascinating study, sociologies of new technology and social theories of surveillance are illustrated with examples from North America, Europe, and Pacific Asia.

David Lyon provides an invaluable text for undergraduate and postgraduate sociology courses both in social theory and in science, technology and society. It will also appeal much more widely, for example to those with an interest in politics, social control, human geography and public administration....

    The walls have ears and the hills have eyes, but who's got the brain? Canadian sociologist David Lyon argues that we are complicit in much of our recent loss of privacy, but that makes it no less sinister. Surveillance Society: Monitoring Everyday Life critically examines the nature and potential of monitoring technologies serving governmental and corporate interests. Part of Tim May's very smart Issues in Society series, it features a background check on the context of modern surveillance, an updated view of data-collection techniques and practices, and a projection of new political and social meanings made available through the panopticon.

Lyon rarely encrypts his work in academese, but this accessibility should not be confused with oversimplification. In just over 150 pages he has compressed countless brain-hours of analysis and speculation--few readers will be able to digest it in one sitting or even one reading. Indeed, he spends a fair amount of time poking at the simplifications of other analysts, winking at the reader with sly passages like this:

"Are there really godlike operators who can control the city using a mouse and a keyboard? Such absolute power is scarcely visible in practice. The sheer mass of data would be impossible to handle. Even in SimCity one cannot keep track of everything."

Crucial reading for anyone concerned with privacy issues, Surveillance Society restages the debate over ubiquitous monitoring and encourages deeper thinking on all sides. --Rob Lightner ...