Big Brother is not watching us. But thousands of Little Brothers are, says
journalist Simson Garfinkel in his book, "Database Nation" (O'Reilly, $24.95,
hardback).
On the Web, in stores, at work, in our cars, while we stroll on sidewalks, or
talk on cell phones virtually all day long--we are monitored by computers,
surveillance cameras, spy satellites, and other means.
We cast data shadows, and information gleaned from these shadows is being stored
in linked databases around the world.
Privacy? The very rich still can buy it. For the rest of us, however, it's almost
dead.
This is not news, Garfinkel concedes in his heavily researched, well-written
study. Still, "Database Nation" dramatically chronicles a growing range of
threats against information once considered personal, such as buying habits,
credit histories, medical records, and telephone records.
Many of us have long accepted the possibility that sinister people can compile
digital dossiers and use them against us somehow. So can government agencies and
corporations. But we feel powerless, Garfinkel notes. So we just keep surfing,
using our charge cards, filling out applications, and allowing telemarketers and
junk mailers to bombard us and sell our information to each other.
It's time, Garfinkel contends, to fight back and rescue privacy, "one of the
fundamental rights from which all other rights are derived."
He gives a few practical tips for battling some of the privacy thieves. He also
offers some impractical tips, such as creating new government watchdog agencies.
Another example: "Instead of creating a database nation, we must change our
thinking, our laws, and our society. We must create a future of freedom that
honors personal autonomy and respects personal privacy. And we must start now."
What nation has the bold leadership, political unity, and public will to follow
that noble quest?
For us, a clearer course may be to develop digital self-defense skills and keep
lower profiles. Use cash instead of credit cards, and occasionally disguise your
identity while online. For some people, the privacy attacks already have gone too
far. "Around the world, we are seeing the emergence of radical privacy activists"
and a privacy underground where "people are already engaged in acts of data
subversion," Garfinkel warns.
"Database Nation" demonstrates graphically how our information can be used and
abused by anyone from car salesmen to terrorists. For this alone, the book is
well worth reading.
As a call to arms, however, it leans too heavily on warnings and not enough on
clear, achievable steps toward rebuilding individual privacy. Garfinkel obviously
has strong beliefs and ideas on this subject; some tangible, practical solutions
for both private citizens and public entities would not only have strengthened
his argument, but also empowered the reader in the fight against all those little
Big Brothers.
