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Title: The Transparent Society: Will Technology Force Us to Choose Between Privacy and Freedom? by David Brin ISBN: 0-7382-0144-8 Publisher: Perseus Publishing Pub. Date: 01 June, 1999 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.58 (24 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Provocative!
Comment: (Note: I read the manuscript shortly before David finished the book.) Brin takes a fresh look at privacy and freedom, arguing that strong, healthy societies depend on open debate, the power of criticism, to decide who and what is right. If you've read "Earth," you may recognize some of his ideas from its characters; after reading "Transparent Society," a re-read of "Earth" is worthwhile, as its characters practice some of what Brin preaches in the new book.
If you're interested in this argument about the role of free speech, Jonathan Rauch's "Kindly Inquisitors" tackles the same issue with a focus on institutions rather than technology.
Rating: 5
Summary: Hard to accept, but he may be right
Comment: The entire book is basically one giant argument: That in order to be safe and maintain some form of privacy, we have to in fact give it up and become an open society.
If we try to preserve our privacy through laws and such, he says, then we fall into the trap of who watches the watchers, because to some degree law enforcement and businesses will need access to private information.
His ideal society, that he puts forth, is one where all information is available, with this caveat - that none of it open to just any priviledged group. So, though the police may be able to see that you're standing on the corner, you can see them sitting at their desk. While someone might know you read some newsgroup, you'll know which ones they read.
He sees personal accountability, through openness, to be a great regulator of behaviour.
Before I read this book, if someone suggested this to me, I'd call them crazy. But after reading his arguments, and considering the reasons why I'm an open-source software proponent, I find myself considering that Brin may be right to a degree.
Rating: 4
Summary: A thought provoking and sometimes scary look at privacy...
Comment: Anyone who follows digerati publications such as Wired magazine and reads novels by Neal Stephenson already knows all about cryptography- that protective suit of armor that is supposed to keep all our private data safe from the thugs that would exploit it, whether they be the government, the megacorps, or the mob. In a future of ultra-surveillance, heavy crypto is the only way to hide.
David Brin throws this notion in the trash.
In "The Transparent Society", David Brin suggests that to embrace heavy crypto is to embark in an "arms race" of secrecy that lowly private citizens can't possibly win. The age of ultra-surveillance, universal wiretapping, and data regulation is upon us, and there's only one true way to avoid a scenario that seems straight out of Orwell- universal transparency and accountability. In Brin's view, the technologies of data retrieval and surveillance should be made available to anyone who would make use of them- neighborhood watches could monitor their streets, parents could keep track of their children, and, while governments and agencies would have the ability to spy upon citizens, citizens and watchdog groups would have the power to spy back- and thus hold the powers that be accountable. While we'd lose the anonymity provided by modern society, we would gain safety, not only from crime, but from abuse of authority. We'd be able to form new community bonds that utilize distributed computing to keep tabs on each other. And, most importantly, we'd gain peace of mind.
In theory, anyway.
While Brin's thesis is unique, formidable and provacative, it does seem to fall short in places. For instance, there would still be a huge division between technological haves and have-nots- between the people who know how to utilize this technology and those who lack the skill, the patience, the time, the resources, or the simple will to use it. Brin is more than a bit of a technophile (not insulting technophiles, I'm one too), and seems to assume that everyone in the neo-West is on the same page as him. Also, despite his numerous appeals to pragmatism, the book is extremely idealistic, and runs counter to the trends we're seeing today, in both the increased scope of government surveillance powers, the increased intrusion of companies into our lives, and the ever-escalating privacy arms race being fought on the internet and in the courts. The world is going the way of Orwell, and not the way of Brin.
Yet, in the end, would there be any difference? In addition to public apathy, the sheer amount of data created by a surveillance infrastructure would be daunting to an individual attempting to make use of it. We're already facing a massive "information glut" today, both in terms of the internet, and in terms of government agencies who, despite their increased powers in the wake of 9-11, lack the ability to sort through all the data they're recieving. Between these problems and the haves-have nots gap, Brin's vision seems to fall short.
Also annoying was Brin's obsession with Plato-bashing, which seems to be a popular hobby among political philosophers ever since Karl Popper tackled "The Republic" in his book "The Open Society and It's Enemies". Last year, however, my government advisor gave me a different view of the Republic- that the book is actually a satire, meant to show how and why totalitarianism never could work. This flies in the face of these Popperians, who seem caught up in the idea that Plato was a proto-Nazi.
However, weaknesses aside, The Transparent Society is an excellent read. I'd suggest that, for an alternative (fictional) view, anyone with an interest in this title also pick up a copy of Neal Stephenson's "Cryptonomicon".
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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 |
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Title: World Without Secrets: Business, Crime and Privacy in the Age of Ubiquitous Computing by Richard Hunter ISBN: 0471218162 Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Pub. Date: 12 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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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 |
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Title: The Limits of Privacy by Amitai Etzioni ISBN: 046504090X Publisher: Basic Books Pub. Date: 04 April, 2000 List Price(USD): $21.50 |
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Title: The Unwanted Gaze : The Destruction of Privacy in America by Jeffrey Rosen ISBN: 0679765204 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 12 June, 2001 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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