Data and Goliath by Bruce Schneier

Data and Goliath: The Hidden Battles to Collect Your Data and Control Your World, Bruce Schneier. London: W.W. Norton & Company, 2015. e-book, 425 pps. incl extensive notes.

I have infinite respect for Bruce Schneier as a true authority on data, the collection of data, the mining of data, and why we ought to not be so lackadaisical about it. He is far from a luddite. In his most excellent book Data and Goliath, Bruce Schneier does not hesitate to point out the myriad ways that the interpretation of data can make life run smoother for us. He also forces the reader to concentrate on items that are uncomfortable for the average computer user to think about for long periods of time. Although I am more familiar with privacy and surveillance concerns than the average Joe, I found that I had to read this one in short breaks rather than all at once. It was a lot of information to take it.

sapphoq reviews says: The ideas that are uncomfortable are often the ones that are most beneficial to sit with. I found this certainly to be true in respect to Data and Goliath. Anyone with a brain ought to be asking what the corporation behind the offering of that "discount card" is doing with "their" data [and in the United States, we no longer "own our own" data]. These days, we ought to asking our states whether or not they are selling off our drivers licenses info too. The recent move by Twitter[r] to move operations to Ireland [except for those accounts residing in the United States] ought to be a clue that something continues to run afoul in the fields of Big Data. Read this book. And then tell me you don't care.

https://twitter.com/schneierblog

https://www.schneier.com/

http://www.ted.com/talks/bruce_schneier?language=en

http://www.wired.com/2012/11/feudal-security/

http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/16/opinion/schneier-internet-surveillance/

No Place to Hide by Glenn Greenwald

No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA and the U.S. Surveillance State, Glenn Greenwald. New York: Holt, Henry & Company, Inc., 2014. e-book, 205 pps.


     I knew immediately upon hearing about what Ed Snowden did that he was destined to be one of my forever-heroes. Regardless of the supposed "legality" or "illegality" of his actions, he knew that we the American peoples needed to know what the N.S.A. was doing to us the American peoples as well as to everyone else all over the world. That an agency, with the approval of the rubber stamping FISA kangaroo court, could and would collect all kinds of metadata on everyone who breathes and then build a giant set of buildings to store the metadata in Utah [of all places! uh, hello National Guard I guess. I've heard that Utah is the top recruiting state for the National Guard. And it follows that Utah would provide National Guards to guard our metadata from our own selves. Bully for Utah I guess.]. So the N.S.A. wants to collect it all in the name of yet another failed ideological "war"--on terrorism this time.

     It is pathetic that there is so much overt apathy surrounding these sorts of things. The United States has been referred to as a surveillance state. I myself have called my beloved country of unloved crooked politicians and un-social justice a Spy Nation. Obummer-- I mean Obama-- no, I really do mean Obummer has gone after whistle-blowers with a vengeance. That factoid, along with some others, has helped to render him as a tool in my unasked for and perhaps unwanted opinion.

     I will pause to assure you that Glenn Greenwald-- regardless of what you may think about him or his personality personally-- has done a bang-up job in his latest book No Place to Hide. For one thing, he writes better than I do. For another, he was there. He was a part of the Ed Snowden Security "Crisis." Suppose the N.S.A. got away with what it was doing to all of us and none of us knew about it-- would it still be morally reprehensible then???

sapphoq reviews says: Hey if someone writes a book for profit, then yeah he or she should financially profit from it. I don't have a problem with that. My fear is that the end result of No Place to Hide is that folks will slip back into their various states of apathy and nothing much will change. But it does not have to be that way.
     Ed Snowden uprooted his whole life in order to deliver information to citizens of the world about what the N.S.A. and other shadowy agencies are doing to us. That really is the bottom line. Meanwhile, if there is anyone who is in direct contact with Ed Snowden, please tell him not to come back here. Promises-- especially those made by politicians and others who do not have your best interest at heart-- are for the breaking. So bro, stay in Russia or move to some other country if you feel you want to. But whatever you do, don't come back here. Sure the drones and the abilities of at least one of the U.S.A. heavy-hitting agency agents extend throughout the world and I suspect are capable of making you disappear or die. At least let them work at it a bit instead of coming back here and becoming an easier target.
     The book-- get it. Read it. Ponder it. Do some research. Then decide what if anything you are going to do. Because surely, the desire of the N.S.A. to "collect it all" ought to be at cross-purposes with our own desire to remain people with some degree of privacy.
Highly recommended.