First published 2014
Privacy expert Frank Ahearn sounds the alarm about America's vanishing personal freedoms. He argues that government and corporations have formed an unholy alliance to monitor citizens' every move. Phone records, bank statements, travel patterns, social media posts, and digital communications all flow into databases controlled by what Ahearn calls the "evil twins" of Big Brother and Big Business. Companies collect user data through free services and paid products, then share this information with government agencies through spying programs or voluntary cooperation. Ahearn rejects the common defense that surveillance doesn't matter if you have nothing to hide. He insists privacy remains vital regardless of innocence. The author contends that bailouts and tax breaks reveal how government serves corporate interests while ordinary citizens pay the bills. Every keystroke, download, and digital transaction leaves footprints that analysts examine. Ahearn presents disappearing from this surveillance network as both possible and necessary for preserving individual liberty in an age of institutional control.
Genres: american, non-fiction, 21st-century, activism
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: investigative-journalism, social-commentary
Period: 21st-Century
223 pages · Paperback · Createspace Independent Pub