Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I found this in a charity shop and wondered how it ended up there. I mean, it was only published last year, came from a reputable academic press and discussed something that's particularly important to our lives today.
Then I read it.
There's not anything wrong with this book per se. As an overview of privacy and of the possible ramifications of technology on our privacy, it's fine. But it seems to never really become much more than an overview.
The authors are unquestionably knowledgeable about the subject of privacy, and about how communication and browsing behaviour on the Internet affect personal (and community) privacy - but it seems that they are hamstrung by the book's attempt to appeal to as wide an audience as possible. The chapters on case-studies of other nations' handling of the Net seem particularly light-on, in my view.
There's some interesting thoughts provoked by this book; the exploration of Moore's Law and the ramifications on personal surveillance, and the possible ways of ensuring government transparency on surveillance are discussion-starters. But on the whole, the book left me feeling a little unsatisfied.
That said, I suppose this is a rapidly moving area; perhaps this work would be better served in an online, easily-updated format? It's funny - something printed last year can already seem out of date, so quickly are privacy and censorship debates moving.
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What do you know about the new surveillance state that has been created in the wake of pervasive computing - the increasing use of very small and simple computers in all sorts of host - from your computer to your coat? Well, these little computers can communicate via the web and form powerful networks whose emergent behaviour can be very complex, intelligent, and invasive. The question is: how much of an infringement on privacy are they?
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