Dragnet Nation: A Quest for Privacy, Security, and Freedom in a World of Relentless Surveillance Author: Julia Angwin | Language: English | ISBN:
B00FCQW7HG | Format: EPUB
Dragnet Nation: A Quest for Privacy, Security, and Freedom in a World of Relentless Surveillance Description
An inside look at who’s watching you, what they know and why it matters. We are being watched.
We see online ads from websites we’ve visited, long after we’ve moved on to other interests. Our smartphones and cars transmit our location, enabling us to know what’s in the neighborhood but also enabling others to track us. And the federal government, we recently learned, has been conducting a massive data-gathering surveillance operation across the Internet and on our phone lines.
In Dragnet Nation, award-winning investigative journalist Julia Angwin reports from the front lines of America’s surveillance economy, offering a revelatory and unsettling look at how the government, private companies, and even criminals use technology to indiscriminately sweep up vast amounts of our personal data. In a world where we can be watched in our own homes, where we can no longer keep secrets, and where we can be impersonated, financially manipulated, or even placed in a police lineup, Angwin argues that the greatest long-term danger is that we start to internalize the surveillance and censor our words and thoughts, until we lose the very freedom that makes us unique individuals. Appalled at such a prospect, Angwin conducts a series of experiments to try to protect herself, ranging from quitting Google to carrying a “burner” phone, showing how difficult it is for an average citizen to resist the dragnets’ reach.
Her book is a cautionary tale for all of us, with profound implications for our values, our society, and our very selves.
- File Size: 847 KB
- Print Length: 304 pages
- Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0805098070
- Publisher: Times Books (February 25, 2014)
- Sold by: Macmillan
- Language: English
- ASIN: B00FCQW7HG
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
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- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,657 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
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in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Specific Topics > Civil Rights & Liberties
- #1
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Specific Topics > Civil Rights & Liberties - #2
in Books > Computers & Technology > Networking > Internet, Groupware, & Telecommunications - #3
in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > Specific Topics > Civil Rights & Liberties
This is an important book and I'm glad I had the opportunity to read it. For those of concerned about privacy, it's a useful read.
The book is structured like a memoir. The author was a reporter for the Wall Street Journal. Refreshingly, she's a married mom with two kids. I say this because, normally the people writing about government surveillance and privacy issues are single, white men. She begins the book with a brief review of privacy and government violation of it from the beginning of the republic to now. The rest of the book is taken up with her mission to retake as much of her privacy as possible and leave the smallest possible digital footprint.
She finds that it is no easy task retaking your personal information from the data brokers. We are constantly tracked while online. "Anonymous" profiles of people are assembled by these data brokers based on what websites people visit. Based on the information they collect, they'll present you with ads based on your presumed interests. More detailed profiles of people are assembled and used to determine what prices you see for say insurance or plane tickets.
This book was a real eye-opener for me. I took for granted that my moves online were tracked, but I had no idea to the degree which it is done. Most troubling is this data industry is completely unregulated. Once they have your data, you cannot compel them to reveal what they know or to delete their data on you. The only exception to this is your credit score.
I dog-eared and underlined quite a few sections in this book because she has practical tips for minimizing your exposure. I hope that if this book goes to a paperback edition, she'll assemble some of the more useful tips into a single section at the end of the book.
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