Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Database Nation : The Death of Privacy in the 21st Century by Simson Garfinkel ISBN: 0-596-00105-3 Publisher: O'Reilly & Associates Pub. Date: January, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.73 (30 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Who's Watching Me Now?
Comment: Simson Garfinkel's Database Nation is a frightening account of how our privacy is being infringed upon by government, industry and certain individuals. It illustrates how ordinary citizens' private information is obtained by individuals or organizations that want to exploit the data to their advantage. The information can be obtained from driver's licenses, credit card purchases, and medical records, just to name a few. The book is insightful and fast-reading. It will prompt you to take control of your life and wonder, "Who is watching me now?"
Garfinkel's intent is not to scare his readers, but to inform unsuspecting citizens that an increasing percentage of our daily activities are being captured by databases across the world. Our personal privacy is threatened with the use of fingerprinting and human marking to document and identify individuals. Whereas this means of identification was created to prevent identity theft, solve crimes, and eliminate computer error, some states are now able to sell this information to private businesses because they are part of the public record. Garfinkel's research on this topic is extensive.
Not unlike George Orwell's book 1984, we are also under constant surveillance. The stores we shop at, offices we work in, roads we drive on, and establishments we frequent are capturing our video images and placing them in databanks across the nation. Even surveillance satellites are able to capture minute details of a person. Our personal information is a commodity--it's what marketers use to solicit people.
Chapter 11: Privacy Now! provides us with examples and ways in which we can fight back as a nation to protect our right to privacy. However, it does not provide individuals with strategies for protection. Humans have come to rely on computers and data processing at the expense of the individual. The problem is that the smallest clerical error can destroy a person's life.
Garfinkel compares his book to Silent Spring, by Rachel Carson, which planted the seeds for the environmental movement. Likewise, Database Nation sets the stage for the legislation and regulation of privacy in the twenty-first century.
Everyone should read this book!
Rating: 5
Summary: Simson at his best
Comment: To many people, George Orwell's 1984 epitomizes loss of privacy, in which a totalitarian state uses complete control of the media to maintain its power over the populace. Today's actual usurpation of privacy, which is arguably greater than Orwell could ever have imagined, is much more subtle and incremental. Bits and bytes of personal information are collected by credit bureaus, government agencies, financial institutions, insurance companies, and other organizations, the compilation of which is a dossier of valuable personal information on any given person. As author Simson Garfinkel puts it, the future isn't one dominated by Big Brother but by "a hundred kid brothers that constantly watch and interrupt our daily lives."
Database Nation is one of those rare books that comes along every few years and gives its readers pause to think about the effects of the massive computing infrastructure that Western society has laid down. The book explains in great detail how personal privacy has slowly been eroding and the effects of this erosion.
Garfinkel details today's myriad threats to privacy, the most notable of which may be the systematic capture of everyday events in our lives. Nearly every purchase we make, every place we travel, every word we say, and every page we read is routinely recorded and made available for later analysis. The result is an unprecedented amount of data surveillance, the effect of which we have just begun to grasp.
Database Nation is an important book for two reasons. For the individual, it details the countless ways in which our privacy is slowly yet relentlessly being worn away. For the security professional, the book details the responsibilities that must be assumed to ensure that the Orwellian society envisioned in 1984 doesn't become a reality.
This review of mine originally appears at http://www.securitymanagement.com/library/000874.html
Rating: 1
Summary: lacks global perspective, highly misleading
Comment: This book has more to do with American politics than negative implication of advanced technology like it is trying to shoot for.
Database is merely a tool, and tools can bring hazardous results when held in wrong hands. SSN is another tool to get a grip on personal information for the government and large businesses, and the author is right in pointing out the abuse of SSN. However, one needs to note that use of such numbering system is considered unconstitutional in many countries, because they rob the rights to remain anonymous away from people.
Traditionally, the interest of the nation and large businesses took precedence over the rights and freedom of commoners in the United States, and installment and abuse of SSN is just one of the tools they use in order to tap into what they should not.
This book blames the tools and development thereof for such negative consequences, without ever blaming those who hold the tool. It's like blaming chain saw itself for the lost forest, without ever considering who used the chain saw.
The book never talks about the global trend of the issue. If it did, it would have been clear that most of the worries expressed in the book does not apply in many countries where the government and businesses aren't as nosy as ours. Freedom, individual rights and technology can co-exist, and there are lots of good examples to learn from on our planet, but the author refuses to do so. Most of the worries expressed in this book have to do with the ways of U.S. policymakers than the technology itself.
As for the chapter on terrorism - The author might be a knowledgeable person within the boundary of the United States, but he severely lacks international common sense. It fails to address the cause of terrorism, noting, "The terrorist of tomorrow is the irrational terrorist. (pp.211)" - A typical uninformed American take on terrorism. The author needs to learn a few languages, travel every continent and see how the world works for himself before publishing a book on it. The ignorance alone doesn't bother me, but I'm not happy with the fact that it is published in a book that is supposedly informative, ending up with spreading unnecessary fear without presenting any valid solution. Besides, this chapter on terrorism strays from the purpose of this book (technology and privacy). This is another indication that this book is compiled without sense of direction.
All positive reviews quoted on the back cover are of domestic sources: I suppose they couldn't get anyone overseas to recognize the value of the book on this supposedly global issue. I think this book should be discontinued, but in case that's impossible, they could at least change the title to "Nightmare in the 21st century America" from "The Death of privacy in the 21st century" and re-compile the book under some sense of direction, instead of simply listing whatever people would be afraid of.
To sum up, this book scores well among those who are uninformed: it is highly engaging because it tickles the fear factor of readers and grabs attention, in a way fictions do. However, the raison d'etre of this book is quite questionable. Like cheap horror movies, it flows without sense of direction, moving from one scare to another. I'm afraid I cannot recommend this book to anyone as an informative source.
 |
Title: Technology and Privacy: The New Landscape by Philip E. Agre, Marc Rotenberg ISBN: 0262511010 Publisher: MIT Press Pub. Date: 03 July, 1998 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
 |
Title: The End of Privacy: How Total Surveillance Is Becoming a Reality by Reg Whitaker, Reginald Whitaker ISBN: 1565845692 Publisher: New Press Pub. Date: February, 2000 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
 |
Title: The Limits of Privacy by Amitai Etzioni ISBN: 046504090X Publisher: Basic Books Pub. Date: 04 April, 2000 List Price(USD): $21.50 |
 |
Title: The Transparent Society: Will Technology Force Us to Choose Between Privacy and Freedom? by David Brin ISBN: 0738201448 Publisher: Perseus Publishing Pub. Date: 01 June, 1999 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
 |
Title: Privacy in the Information Age by Fred H. Cate, Michael H. Armacost ISBN: 0815713150 Publisher: The Brookings Institution Pub. Date: November, 1997 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
