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“This comprehensive analysis of privacy in the information age challenges traditional assumptions that breeches of privacy through the development of electronic dossiers involve the invasion of one's private space.”
—Choice
"
The Digital Person challenges the existing ways in which law and legal theory approach the social, political, and legal implications of the collection and use of personal information in computer databases. Solove's book is ambitious, and represents the most important publications in the field of information privacy law for some years."
—Georgetown Law Journal
"Anyone concerned with preserving privacy against technology's growing intrusiveness will find this book enlightening."
—Publishers Weekly
"Solove . . . truly understands the intersection of law and technology. This book is a fascinating journey into the almost surreal ways personal information is hoarded, used, and abused in the digital age."
—The Wall Street Journal
"Daniel Solove is one of the most energetic and creative scholars writing about privacy today.
The Digital Person is an important contribution to the privacy debate, and Solove's discussion of the harms of what he calls 'digital dossiers' is invaluable."
—Jeffrey Rosen, author of The Unwanted Gaze and The Naked Crowd
"Powerful theme."
—Privacy Journal
"This is not only a book you should read, but you should make sure your friends read it."
—IEEE Review
"Solove offers a book that is both comprehensive and easy to understand, discussing the changes that technology has brought to our concept of privacy. An excellent starting point for much needed discussion."
—Law Technology News
"An unusually perceptive discussion of one of the most vexing problems of the digital age—our loss of control over our personal information. It's a fascinating journey into the almost surreal ways personal information is hoarded, used, and abused in the digital age. I recommend his book highly."
—Bruce Schneier
"Solove's book is the best exposition thus far about the threat that computer databases containing personal data about millions of Americans poses for information privacy."
—Pamela Samuelson, Chancellor's Professor of Law and Information Management at the University of California, Berkeley
"Solove drives his points home through considerable reconfiguration of the basic argument. Rather than casting blame or urging retreat to a precomputer database era, the solution is seen in informing individuals, challenging data collectors, and bringing the law up-to-date."
—Choice
"If you want to find out what a mess the law of privacy is, how it got that way, and whether there is hope for the future, then read this book."
—Legal Times
"Solove evaluates the shortcomings of current approaches to privacy as well as some useful and controversial ideas for striking a new balance. Anyone who deals with privacy matters will find a lot ot consider."
—DM News
"Solove's treatment of this particular facet is thoughtful, thorough, concise, and occasionally laced with humor. The present volume gives us reason to look forward to his future contributions."
—The Law and Politics Book Review
"Solove's book is useful, particularly as an overview on how these private and government databases grew in sophistication and now interact with one another."
—Christian Science Monitor
"A far-reaching examination of how digital dossiers are shaping our lives. Daniel Solove has persuasively reconceptualized privacy for the digital age. A must-read."
—Paul Schwartz, Brooklyn Law School
"
The Digital Person is a detailed and approachable resource on privacy issues and the laws that affect them."
—IT Conversations
Seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day, electronic databases are compiling information about you. As you surf the Internet, an unprecedented amount of your personal information is being recorded and preserved forever in the digital minds of computers. For each individual, these databases create a profile of activities, interests, and preferences used to investigate backgrounds, check credit, market products, and make a wide variety of decisions affecting our lives. The creation and use of these databases—which Daniel J. Solove calls "digital dossiers"—has thus far gone largely unchecked. In this startling account of new technologies for gathering and using personal data, Solove explains why digital dossiers pose a grave threat to our privacy.
The Digital Person sets forth a new understanding of what privacy is, one that is appropriate for the new challenges of the Information Age. Solove recommends how the law can be reformed to simultaneously protect our privacy and allow us to enjoy the benefits of our increasingly digital world.
The first volume in the series EX MACHINA: LAW, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY
Customer Reviews:
The Digital Person.......2007-05-02
I think this book address the rising problem of privacy in the Information Age very well. Discussing the history of databases and the privacy laws are helpful, but I think the author goes too much into that. I was hoping the book would discuss more about how privacy problems could be in the future and how to deal with them effectively.
taken from Journal of Law, Economics & Policy Volume 1, Number 2 (Winter 2005).......2006-08-17
"The knowledge which can be gained from the study of this text is found in the placement that Solove's topic has within the broader debate surrounding the role of knowledge in society. Solove's points chime in right around the time we recognize that computers have great potential for advancing the spread and use of productive information. Computers provide tools capable of tapping into dispersed knowledge; but, we must simultaneously recognize that they are not miracle cures to be implemented from central positions of authority. The knowledge which they coordinate is valuable only in so far that it is dispersed and subjective. The hazardous notions of knowledge, in the Hayekian sense, would be those which claim to be more complete and universally applicable than they actually are. When based upon such false notions, actions stand to be erroneous, misinformed, and the host to unintended consequences."
[..]
Distortion of John E. Holts Public Record.......2006-07-17
The information in this book about John E. Holt, former GSA Official is false
Super on Law and Accountability, Read with "The Transparent Society".......2006-07-08
There are some great reviews below, so I will not repeat them. Amazon is getting to the point now where it is almost essential to read all of the reviews as a pre-cursor to buying and reading the book.
This book was instrumental, after I bought it, in pointing me to the preceding work by David Brin, "The Transparent Society," and I found it useful to read that book first.
The two key points in this book that make it a notable contribution are:
1. Best available review of applicable laws; and
2. Superb expansive discussion of privacy violation that emerge not just for deliberate abuse and invasion, but from "careless unconcerned bureaucracies" with little judgement or accountability.
IDEA for Amazon: connect with the Institute of Scientific Information, and start showing us new books that cite existing books. I would love to be able to "fast forward" from this book to the "best in class" books that cite this book so that I could buy the best most recent book (I buy and read in threes on most topics). Amazon has become a major intellectual force, and is my starting point for every issue (Google is for fast looks, Amazon is for deep looks; I hope that one day they merge with Wikipedia).
"Purposely Not Taught Outside of Law School- its Big Money!".......2006-02-24
"The Digital Person: Technology & Privacy in the Information Age," Daniel Solove, NY, NYUniv. Press, 2004 ISBN: 0-8147-9846-2, HC, 228/283 (Notes 37 pg., Index 16 pg.), 9 1/4" x 6 1/8"
Assoc. Prof. of Law & author of "Information Privacy Law", Solove thoroughly covers the history, current status & provides some law recommendations for coping better with rapidly changing practices of information gathering, its useage & its intrusions into our privacy.
Historically traceable, perhaps, to 1st U.S. census asking 4 questions in 1790, & hundreds of queries by 1890 including those on disease, infirmities & wages, data sorting was processed by punch card readers (forerunner of IBM). The "New Deal" Social Security System of 1935 assigned 9-digit U.S. citizen identifier numbers (SSNs) & useage of SSNs popularized with computerization in 1960's by both private & governmental (city/state/federal) sectors but provoked early concerns on privacy invasions.
Noting 'information breeds information', data analysis & number crunching fostered creation of 'digital dossiers' on millions of citizens via accumulation/assemblage of 'bits of information' from private, public & governmental sources. The privacy invasion affects our freedom, diminishes our power & allows for abuses including identity theft, blacklisting, profiling, self-incrimination & serious data errors (the latter which may be impossible to exterpate). Databases, some 2000 at federal level, are valuable comodities bought, sold, & traded between the private, public & governmental sectors including DMV, SS, PE's credit-card issuers, banks, websites, employers, etc. for spying, credit checks, targeted marketing, & diverse legal/illegal purposes, etc. Several paradigms including "Big Brother" of "1984" are discussed in detail.
Solove discusses stealth data collections relative to the 1st, 4th & 5th Ammendments, providing ample case law citations & recommendations for reducing one's own vulnerability to identify theft, & he confides of perceived, needed changes in current laws. An important read (not overtly technical but perhaps wordy or repetitious in sections) about what appears purposely not taught ouside of law school. This week several states announced that video (CCTV) surveillance of all business will be mandated - with specific mention of City of Santa Monica amongst the first & some vague rumors that CCTV may be proposed for all dwellings.
Customer Reviews:
A fascinating, concise text for understanding privacy law........2004-07-11
When I read the course description for the information privacy law class offered at my law school, I immediately signed up. This book was the text used.
As a general rule, reading a 700+ page legal book from cover to cover in a condensed summer session is about as pleasant as getting a root canal. This text is one of the rare exceptions to that rule. Chock full of fascinating cases, explanations and statutes, this book was a joy to study. The cases are all either amusing, interesting or instructive on the intricacies of the law.
What makes this area of the law so interesting is that it combines tort law with criminal law and privacy considerations. Whether you want to learn about healthcare privacy, wiretaps, the Patriot Act, telephone privacy or computer privacy, this book is likely to address it. In sum, this book is one of the best legal texts I have encountered in law school and that is quite a compliment considering how confusing many legal books can be. This is a worthwhile read.
A Masterful Synthesis of the Field.......2003-02-15
This book is a great introduction to the rapidly growing field of information privacy law. Although it is a casebook designed for classroom instruction, it also serves as a terrific reference tool for lawyers in the field, especially given the field's lack of reference books. The text has broad coverage, including privacy issues about the media, law enforcement, health and genetic data, computers, the Internet, email, anonymity, and the workplace. It also has a chapter on international privacy law. It covers the privacy torts, constitutional protections, FTC enforcement, federal statutes, HIPAA regulations, EU Data Protection Directive, and more. The book is tightly edited; and it provides copious background and explanatory notes. All of the major privacy statutes are explained thoroughly and clearly -- for this alone, the book is worth purchasing! The book is the best synthesis of the field I have yet encountered. If you deal with information privacy law issues, this book is an indispensable reference tool!
Average customer rating:
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Borders in Cyberspace: Information Policy and the Global Information Infrastructure
Manufacturer: The MIT Press
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Amazon.com
The international nature of the Internet often conflicts with national differences in law, social values, and public policy. Within national boundaries, local ordinances add another layer of discord. And many governments have been caught off-guard by the Net's explosive growth. Some concern and confusion can be attributed to laws developed for earlier forms of media and business transactions. The contributors to this collection of essays wrestle with the emerging questions posed by a medium that defies national boundaries in ways previously unknown and woefully unexpected. Among the issues covered are intellectual property, commerce, security, privacy, and censorship.
Book Description
Today millions of technologically empowered individuals are able to participate freely in international transactions and enterprises, social and economic. These activities are governed by national and local laws designed for simpler times and now challenged by a new technological and market environment as well as by the practicalities and politics of enforcement across national boundaries.
Borders in Cyberspace investigates issues arising from national differences in law, public policy, and social and cultural values as these differences are reformulated in the emerging global information infrastructure. The contributions include detailed analyses of some of the most visible issues, including intellectual property, security, privacy, and censorship.
Product Description
Litigation Under the Federal Open Government Laws, published by EPIC and the James Madison Project, is the standard reference work covering all aspects of the Freedom of Information Act, the Privacy Act, the Government in the Sunshine Act, and the Federal Advisory Committee Act. Now in its 21st edition, the book is edited by Harry Hammitt of Access Reports and it draws upon the expertise of practicing attorneys who are recognized experts in the field. Appendixes include the text of the relevant acts, and sample pleadings for litigators. A comprehensive guide, essential for anyone interested in open access laws.
Amazon.com
This series of 10 scholarly essays lays a foundation for understanding the current state of technology-based privacy issues. The diverse group of contributors encompasses the fields of communications, human-computer interaction, law, political science, and sociology. Each contributor provides a capsule view of a privacy concern from a standpoint of where things now stand and what bodes for the future. The book's most prevalent theme focuses on how advances in cybertechnology have led to greater threats to personal privacy, but have also led to greater promise for privacy protection. For example, editor Philip E. Agre's opening essay looks at the concept of a "Mirror World," where computer technology mirrors everything important happening in the real world.
Another contributor, Victoria Bellotti, examines multimedia environments, where work environments are wired for video and audio communication, and how individuals within them can be protected from unwelcome eyes and ears. Colin Bennett looks at how much of the world may be moving towards similar privacy protection standards. Other issues include varieties of privacy-enhancing technologies, the challenge of controlling surveillance, the effectiveness of privacy laws, and cryptography. The final chapter, "Interactivity as Though Privacy Matters," belongs to Rohan Samarajiva, who looks at the prospects for limited consensual surveillance between vendors and customers.
Book Description
Over the last several years, the realm of technology and privacy has been transformed, creating a landscape that is both dangerous and encouraging. Significant changes include large increases in communications bandwidths; the widespread adoption of computer networking and public-key cryptography; new digital media that support a wide range of social relationships; a massive body of practical experience in the development and application of data-protection laws; and the rapid globalization of manufacturing, culture, and policy making. The essays in this book provide a new conceptual framework for the analysis and debate of privacy policy and for the design and development of information systems.
Customer Reviews:
More balanced view than many treatments........2000-02-13
From Virginia Postrel's pollyannish embrace of technology to Reg Whitakers musings of government devolving power (the state withering away-an old notion yet to be validated by experience) to Jerry Furland's utterly terrifying vision, this latest entry, "Technology and Privacy: The New Landscape" at least allows that the jury is still out on this issue. Except for Furland, ("Transfer-the end of the beginning")each falls short of addressing what one can "DO" with this new technology and actually provides a credible blueprint in novel form. I recommend each of these authors, but I put my money on Furland being right.
An overview.......2000-02-11
This book is somewhat slanted toward "technology is bad" but not excessively so. The focus is on political issues and opinions. How well one likes these chapters depends on one's political leaning; few of the chapters manage to be balanced. The one chapter on technical matters is a nice but simple introduction to computer security. Many chapters have long reference lists for further study.
Book Description
"Privacy, Information, And Technology" offers a comprehensive, in-depth treatment of all important issues involving information privacy. It presents an extensive and clear background about the law and policy issues relating to information privacy and computers, databases, and the Internet. Many great features make this a truly valuable source, including: Coverage of government surveillance topics, such as Fourth Amendment, sensory enhancement technologies, wiretapping, computer searches, ISP records, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and the USA-Patriot Act; a thorough examination of new issues such as privacy and access to public records, government access to personal information, airline passenger screening and profiling, data mining, identity theft, consumer privacy, and financial privacy; coverage of emerging information technologies such as computer databases, RFID, cookies, spyware, data mining, and others; and an introductory chapter with a thought-provoking philosophical discussion of information privacy.
Book Description
In Overseers of the Poor, John Gilliom confronts the everyday politics of surveillance by exploring the worlds and words of those who know it best-the watched. Arguing that the current public conversation about surveillance and privacy rights is rife with political and conceptual failings, Gilliom goes beyond the critics and analysts to add fresh voices, insights, and perspectives.
This powerful book lets us in on the conversations of low-income mothers from Appalachian Ohio as they talk about the welfare bureaucracy and its remarkably advanced surveillance system. In their struggle to care for their families, these women are monitored and assessed through a vast network of supercomputers, caseworkers, fraud control agents, and even grocers and neighbors.
In-depth interviews show that these women focus less on the right to privacy than on a critique of surveillance that lays bare the personal and political conflicts with which they live. And, while they have little interest in conventional forms of politics, we see widespread patterns of everyday resistance as they subvert the surveillance regime when they feel it prevents them from being good parents. Ultimately, Overseers of the Poor demonstrates the need to reconceive not just our understanding of the surveillance-privacy debate but also the broader realms of language, participation, and the politics of rights.
We all know that our lives are being watched more than ever before. As we struggle to understand and confront this new order, Gilliom argues, we need to spend less time talking about privacy rights, legislatures, and courts of law and more time talking about power, domination, and the ongoing struggles of everyday people.
Book Description
In this book, Tony Sammes and Brian Jenkinson show how information held in computer systems can be recovered and how it may be deliberately hidden or subverted for criminal purposes. "Forensic Computing: A Practitioner's Guide" is illustrated by plenty of case studies and worked examples, and will help practitioners and students gain a clear understanding of:
* how to recover information from computer systems in such a way as to ensure that its integrity cannot be challenged and that it will be accepted as admissible evidence in court
* the principles involved in password protection and data encryption
* the evaluation procedures used in circumventing these safeguards
* the particular legal issues associated with computer-generated evidence and how to ensure admissibility of such evidence.
Customer Reviews:
A beginners guide.......2001-09-13
If you are new to the Forensic game then this book might make good reading. A large portion of the book is on disk and data structure & geometry. This makes for interesting reading if you have not covered this before, but if you are an investigator, this will be 'old' and somewhat irrelevant news.
Chapters include information on;
* PDA/Electronic Organisers,
* Search and seizure of PC's
* A little on Network and encryption (informational reading only).
Overall, not a book I would recommend for someone who has "been there, done that". From each book I read I expect find a little bit of information that is new to me, but unfortunately I went hungry on this one! I probably wouldn't call it a 'Practitioners Guide', but more of a 'beginners guide'.
Average customer rating:
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Your Right to Privacy, Second Edition: A basic guide to legal rights in an information society (ACLU Handbook)
Evan Hendricks ,
Trudy Hayden , and
Jack D. Novik
Manufacturer: Southern Illinois University
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ASIN: 0809316323 |
Book Description
This carefully researched revision of an earlier edition of Your Right to Privacy documents the major assaults on privacy that have occurred since the advent of the computer age. Now our activities are recorded and the data stored in huge computer systems operated by corporations and government agencies, but weak privacy laws give us very little control over who sees those records.
They explore privacy issues in connection with electronic surveillance results; drug and AIDS testing and polygraph tests; and government and private sector use of personal data, including bank, medical, employee, credit, video store, library, and social service records. A special chapter explains how private investigators gain access to personal records.
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- A personal tale from the Digital Freedom Front
- A Thrilling, Inside Story of Internet Legal Development
- Human stories about cyberspace and law
- A coherent, passionate take on the subject
- Reconciles online ethics and law
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Cyber Rights: Defending Free speech in the Digital Age
Mike Godwin
Manufacturer: The MIT Press
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Why Societies Need Dissent (Oliver Wendell Holmes Lectures)
ASIN: 0262571684 |
Amazon.com
Cyber Rights is an exceptionally rational and compelling account of the most explosive and controversial issues surrounding freedom in cyberspace. Author Mike Godwin is the well-known outspoken activist for online civil liberties and counsel to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). He's been directly involved in many of the news-making cases and offers cogent analysis of very thorny situations, such as:
- Time magazine's infamous "Cyberporn" issue, which featured a flawed study and which many believe was at least a partial cause for passage of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 (later overturned);
- the case of Jake Baker, a college kid who distributed his stories about rape and torture in newsgroups, which resulted in his computer being confiscated by police;
- the Church of Scientology's line in the sand regarding intellectual property and the backlash against Scientology in online debates;
- the libel conflicts experienced by Net journalists Matt Drudge and Brock Meeks; and
- Philip Zimmerman's (the programmer who developed the encryption tool Pretty Good Privacy [PGP]) fight with the Clinton administration to allow the use of encryption software.
Godwin is a natural teacher, carefully describing each event and explaining the issues surrounding it. Unlike many writers, he shows that he thoroughly understands the arguments for restricting speech. He then methodically takes the arguments apart, covering what is normally boring legal theory and explaining it in a lively manner so that readers are drawn into the story.
This book differs from other books on the topic in two ways: it's entertaining and it's a personal account. It's obvious that Godwin enjoys telling his stories, and he passes his enthusiasm on to readers. Readers also get a sense of Godwin's personal involvement as he describes his role in exposing the erroneous study that was the basis of Time magazine's "cyberporn" scare. In his chapter on the court decision that overturned the Communications Decency Act of 1996, it's clear that Godwin's work for the EFF is not just his job, but his passion. --Elizabeth Lewis
Book Description
Lawyer and writer Mike Godwin has been at the forefront of the struggle to preserve freedom of speech on the Internet. In Cyber Rights he recounts the major cases and issues in which he was involved and offers his views on free speech and other constitutional rights in the digital age. Godwin shows how the law and the Constitution apply, or should apply, in cyberspace and defends the Net against those who would damage it for their own purposes.
Godwin details events and phenomena that have shaped our understanding of rights in cyberspace--including early antihacker fears that colored law enforcement activities in the early 1990s, the struggle between the Church of Scientology and its critics on the Net, disputes about protecting copyrighted works on the Net, and what he calls "the great cyberporn panic." That panic, he shows, laid bare the plans of those hoping to use our children in an effort to impose a new censorship regime on what otherwise could be the most liberating communications medium the world has seen. Most important, Godwin shows how anyone--not just lawyers, journalists, policy makers, and the rich and well connected--can use the Net to hold media and political institutions accountable and to ensure that the truth is known.
Customer Reviews:
A personal tale from the Digital Freedom Front.......2003-03-25
I started off a review of a Bruce Sterling novel with a statement of full disclosure, so I must do the same here--even more so. Mike is a long-time friend from when I lived in Austin, Texas. He knew me, as they say, when. After my disastrous first year at the University of Texas, he helped me identify the classes to take that would awaken my interest (including Shakespeare at Winedale). Mike grilled me on my reading critically, forcing me to be able to talk about books on a level besides enjoyment. He was also the organizer of the Dull Men's Club, a regular meeting group for argument and drinking that often became similar to the Austin BBS Users Reading Group. Yes, I think it safe to say that he was, and still is, a friend.
As he explains his history in this book, Mike was in the right place at the right time interested in the right things. Mike's interest in electronic communication and constitutional law and his journalistic background all brought him to the attention of Mitch Kapor, who made his money with Lotus when they were known for a spreadsheet called 1-2-3. Kapor was forming a think tank to work on his pet project, the rights of people on the electronic frontier. This group eventually became the Electronic Freedom Foundation (EFF) and Mike Godwin was hired as its first employee to be its legal counsel.
Nearly ten years later, the world has changed. The EFF has been part of some historic court battles and media frenzy and Godwin was there at each step of the way. In Cyber Rights, he explains these issues by giving you his personal history and his involvement. I can't think of too many other people who could have written a book like this (although Bruce Sterling's The Hacker Crackdown comes close; Bruce, however, was never so intimately involved in his non-fiction). Mike's background as a journalist keeps this from being a snooze, even when the legal hair-splits start looking like a bad day at Supercuts. If anything, some people may be turned off by his relative informality. I thought it actually helped, by showing that these are not dry issues that only lawyers and civil libertarians can love. Mike is passionate that the future of our society lies in the battles we are fighting today regarding what we can and can not do on the Internet.
What freedom are we talking about? Those guaranteed to you in the First Amendment, specifically freedom of the press, where the Internet is showing itself to be a new medium, just as radio and TV were earlier. In radio and TV, this freedom was abridged because of the issues of access to a limited spectrum. The Internet, however, is almost limitless, even more so than newspapers and publishers, who heretofore have enjoyed the full benefit of First Amendment protection. The issues that come up in these debates include: libel, pornography, privacy, marketing, and copyright. The Internet has changed the ground rules on all of these, yet most legislation and court cases have tried to link the Internet to older traditional media (likely due to our legal practice of using case law precedents), whereas Godwin feels that a new media, a new press, requires different interpretations.
I liked this book so much that I spent part of last semester designing a composition unit around the book and a writing assignment that would use Godwin's issues as a baseline to discover how things have changed since he finished the book at the end of 1997. I did not realize when I designed the unit that I would get a chance to put it immediately into practice, but circumstances have enabled me to teach two months of a freshman composition course this next semester on "Writing in a Technological Age and we'll be tackling Godwin's issues in February (in March, we'll be looking at Geoff Ryman's Internet novel, 253). I went by the bookstore earlier this week and noticed that I'm not the only teacher who is requiring this book; a professor in the School for International Studies is also using it as a text.
Okay, you're likely not one of my students, so you aren't required to read this book, so why should you? If you use the Internet for business or pleasure, the topics discussed herein are directly applicable to your continued use of this resource. Godwin explains in simple terms why you should be concerned, what the difficult issues are, and what things are being overblown by Chicken Littles. If you've been following these issues closely, this is a good summary; if you don't know what I'm talking about at all, this is your introduction.
A Thrilling, Inside Story of Internet Legal Development.......2000-02-04
"Cyber Rights" provides a real insider's view aboutthe early development of Internet law in the United States, focusingon free speech, privacy and copyright issues, among others.
He notes that some things have changed since he wrote "Cyber Rights": "One of the great ironies of cyberlaw is the extent to which policymakers were panicky about anonymity on the Net in the early 1990s -- nowadays it's increasingly obvious that the Internet is one of the least anonymous places there is, since so much that you do there is archived and recorded."
Human stories about cyberspace and law.......1999-04-05
This is the book that picks up where Bruce Sterling's "The Hacker Crackdown" leaves off. Lots of talk about law and philosophy, but wrapped in a series of very human stories. I was caught up in it from the introduction on.
A coherent, passionate take on the subject.......1999-04-04
What I liked was Godwin's willingness to invest some of his own passionate belief into his accounts of the principles and cases he discusses. This is also the first book I've seen that builds a coherent, positive theory of free speech on the Net rather than just a defensive one. I found the discussions of memes and virtual communities absolutely central to the book.
Reconciles online ethics and law.......1999-04-03
One of the things I liked about this book was the way in which it addressed the ethics of online publication (don't spread bad memes, try to counter bad memes with good ones) with the First Amendment (which basically keeps government out of the meme-regulation process). In other words, policing the Net should be a matter of individual ethics rather than of legislation or prosecutions. I didn't find the messages of this book inconsistent at all -- it seems to me to be one of the goals of First Amendment advocacy to explain how free speech leads to good results. I think that anyone who approaches the book as a simple guide to online rights is missing the larger message, which is that there is a philosophy of free speech and privacy that has to shape how we deal with the Internet.
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No Place to Hide
Database Nation : The Death of Privacy in the 21st Century
The Transparent Society: Will Technology Force Us to Choose Between Privacy and Freedom?
Privacy Lost: How Technology Is Endangering Your Privacy
