by Julia Angwin
First published 2014
We live under constant watch. Online ads follow us across websites. Smartphones broadcast our locations. The federal government sweeps up massive amounts of personal data from the Internet and phone networks. Julia Angwin, an investigative journalist, examines how government agencies, corporations, and criminals use technology to collect our private information without discrimination. She reveals a world where people can be monitored in their homes, where secrets become impossible to keep, and where individuals face impersonation, financial manipulation, and false identification by law enforcement. Angwin warns that the greatest threat comes when people begin to police their own thoughts and words, losing the freedom that defines individual identity. Determined to resist this outcome, she experiments with protective measures, from abandoning Google to using disposable phones. Her efforts demonstrate how challenging it becomes for ordinary citizens to avoid these digital dragnets. The book serves as a warning about the implications for personal values, social structures, and individual identity.
Genres: american, non-fiction, 21st-century, current-affairs, activism
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: investigative-journalism, personal-journey
304 pages · Hardcover · Times Books