How much do you value your privacy? (Database Nation - Simson Garfinkel)

Member Name: GroundZero

Product:	Database Nation - Simson Garfinkel
Date:	16/04/01 (45 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fascinating look at modern privacy, well written

Disadvantages: Written from an American viewpoint, so some legal stuff will not be comparable over here

Imagine a world where everything you did was recorded. Where every time you went online your actions were monitored. Where every purchase you made could be cross-referenced. Sound scary? Well, in case you hadn’t guessed, these are all possible today, and in many cases are more commonplace than you might imagine.

In Database Nation, Simson Garfinkel, a journalist who writes for the American technology magazine Wired, gives a chilling account of the ways in which modern technology has the potential to infringe our privacy. With the widespread use of computers nowadays, he argues that it is about time that we start to examine just what we expect of privacy in the 21st century.

Most people have become used to the ways in which details of their daily lives are recorded. It is when these are all put together to form an overall picture of someone (which may or may not be accurate) that we should begin to get worried. After all, the technology already exists to track our movements as we drive to work, where we shop, what websites we look at online, and who we have been communicating with.

The concept of absolute identification is examined in chapter 3. Fingerprinting, DNA testing and biometrics are explained in depth, along with their limitations. Biometrics in particular offers great potential for the future, allowing us to be recognised by our unique human characteristics. The problem still exists of what happens once the biometric data is stored within a computer, where it is just as susceptible to manipulation as any other form of data.

Remote surveillance, and the sinister applications it can be used for are examined in chapter 5. From CCTV to spy satellites, Garfinkel highlights the dangers inherent in a world where people can be monitored without their knowing. Do we really want cameras tracking us everywhere we go? Are webcams really such a good idea, as they allow complete strangers to see when we are home?


Garfinkel raises some interesting points in the next chapter regarding whether we have the right to know our own past. For example, should people who are adopted have the right to find out who their natural parents were? Suppose they learn they are suffering from a hereditary illness, should they be allowed to contact their parents when they have made it clear they do not wish to be traced?

The implications of the loyalty cards employed by a large number of shops these days are looked at, and some interesting issues raised. What happens when your favoured supermarket starts selling details of your buying habits to other companies? Will your life insurance company be interested to hear that you regularly binge on high cholesterol foods, and like to purchase alcohol in large quantities?

The question of whether we are willing to surrender some of our basic freedoms for the right to a safer life is discussed in chapter 9. Do we believe that stopping terrorism is a good enough reason to enforce legislation that allows law enforcement agencies to intercept our mail (both physical and electronic)?

The biggest problems with this book is that it is written from an American perspective, so there is little coverage given to the practices used in Britain. It may just put you off ever emigrating to the States though….

This book comes highly recommended for anyone with an interest in the implications of technology in our modern life. It is written in an engaging style that will appeal equally well to those with only minimal knowledge of computing. It should not be written off merely as a computing book, since it raises a number of issues that are pertinent to society as a whole. Although Garfinkel raises some disturbing issues, he never goes over the top with any of the consequences, merely describing the logical results of the issues he covers.

Summary: