Database Nation: The Death of Privacy in the 21st Century [Paperback]

We do get some of that and to the extent this book is in this scope I like it a great deal (for example, the discussions around eternal copyrights and huge commercial databases gathering everything known about each of us or the sale of drivers license photos to commercial interests). When it is in the middle area of discussing thought crime and brain wiretapping he begins to lose me. It isn't that the issues aren't worthy of discussion, it is simply they way he discusses them has too much of a paranoid science fiction future feel.

When he paints the future of conscious machines and whether they will demand civil rights or not, well, I think he spoils this book. That speculative stuff should be in a different book. For me, the inclusion of this material makes it impossible to take seriously the good stuff he does have. The weird apple spoils the barrel kind of thing.

It isn't that the book isn't worth reading. It's that the serious stuff is so important that we need to focus on that and not be distracted by paranoid delusions about things that don't even exist. There is plenty to be concerned about in the databases already collected and being sold in commercial markets.

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!

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.