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Thom Hartmann
The Hidden History of Big Brother in America
How the Death of Privacy and the Rise of Surveillance Threaten Us and Our Democracy
Berrett-Koehler, 2022
What's inside?
Big technology companies have established an era of surveillance capitalism.
Recommendation
Technology companies enable a new kind of surveillance state, argues progressive talk show host Thom Hartmann in this brief, disturbing book. Hartmann shows how today’s web giants evoke the Big Brother that author George Orwell foretold in 1984. Corporations such as Google and Facebook don’t need the heavy-handed tactics of past surveillance states. They offer free services, help themselves to details about all facets of your life, and sell that data to marketers, law enforcement, politicians, and intelligence agencies. Hartmann outlines the dangers of surveillance capitalism and describes efforts to keep big tech in check. He warns that whoever has access to this much data can control people’s behavior on a large scale.
Summary
About the Author
Thom Hartmann is the host of The Thom Hartmann Program, an internationally syndicated talk show. He is also the author of Walking Your Blues Away: How to Heal the Mind and Create Emotional Well-being and ADHD Secrets of Success: Coaching Yourself to Fulfillment in the Business World. He has also written a series of other Hidden History books, including histories of neoliberalism, the Supreme Court, monopolies, American health care, American oligarchies, and guns and the Second Amendment.
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