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Data and Goliath
Book

Data and Goliath

The Hidden Battles to Collect Your Data and Control Your World

Bruce Schneier
W.W. Norton, 2015

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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Applicable

Recommendation

If you send an email, use a search engine or like a Facebook page, you are under surveillance. Companies gather information to target you with advertising and the US National Security Agency (NSA) collects data on virtually every American. In this discerning, well-researched work, security guru Bruce Schneier shows why the NSA’s post-September 11, 2001, surveillance doesn’t make the world safer and he covers why marketers work to harvest your data. He crystallizes these issues with powerful examples as he argues for reform. To stem the erosion of privacy, Schneier recommends solutions, which, he concedes, the pace of technological change may soon make obsolete. While politically neutral, getAbstract recommends Schneier’s informed overview to policy makers, privacy specialists and anyone looking to curb the excesses of the surveillance age.

Take-Aways

  • Governments and corporations watch you via your Internet searches, your emails and texts, your smartphone’s location data, and more.
  • Erosion of privacy leads to erosion of freedom.
  • The US National Security Agency keeps Americans under surveillance through questionable legal justifications.

About the Author

Bruce Schneier, a fellow at the Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, is the author of 13 books. He writes an influential newsletter and blog on information security.

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    P. M. 9 years ago
    Liked the summary so much, I bought the book. Mr. Schneier does an excellent job of blending together the information technology world we face, and how it relates to privacy, and also why privacy is important. This book should be required reading for anyone involved in technology policy in government.
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    K. E. 9 years ago
    This summary offered an excellent, and chilling glimpse at the depth and ramifications that come from collection of our data - be that Facebook likes, or NSA monitoring your phone calls. It provides insight into what's at stake, and what you can do to protect yourself. It very much makes me want to explore the book, and the ideas, a lot further.