Download or read book The Age of Surveillance Capitalism written by Shoshana Zuboff and published by PublicAffairs. This book was released on 2019-01-15 with total page 658 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The challenges to humanity posed by the digital future, the first detailed examination of the unprecedented form of power called "surveillance capitalism," and the quest by powerful corporations to predict and control our behavior. In this masterwork of original thinking and research, Shoshana Zuboff provides startling insights into the phenomenon that she has named surveillance capitalism. The stakes could not be higher: a global architecture of behavior modification threatens human nature in the twenty-first century just as industrial capitalism disfigured the natural world in the twentieth. Zuboff vividly brings to life the consequences as surveillance capitalism advances from Silicon Valley into every economic sector. Vast wealth and power are accumulated in ominous new "behavioral futures markets," where predictions about our behavior are bought and sold, and the production of goods and services is subordinated to a new "means of behavioral modification." The threat has shifted from a totalitarian Big Brother state to a ubiquitous digital architecture: a "Big Other" operating in the interests of surveillance capital. Here is the crucible of an unprecedented form of power marked by extreme concentrations of knowledge and free from democratic oversight. Zuboff's comprehensive and moving analysis lays bare the threats to twenty-first century society: a controlled "hive" of total connection that seduces with promises of total certainty for maximum profit -- at the expense of democracy, freedom, and our human future. With little resistance from law or society, surveillance capitalism is on the verge of dominating the social order and shaping the digital future -- if we let it.

Download or read book Surveillance and Democracy written by Kevin D. Haggerty and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2010-07-12 with total page 570 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection represents the first sustained attempt to grapple with the complex and often paradoxical relationships between surveillance and democracy. Is surveillance a barrier to democratic processes, or might it be a necessary component of democracy? How has the legacy of post 9/11 surveillance developments shaped democratic processes? As surveillance measures are increasingly justified in terms of national security, is there the prospect that a shadow "security state" will emerge? How might new surveillance measures alter the conceptions of citizens and citizenship which are at the heart of democracy? How might new communication and surveillance systems extend (or limit) the prospects for meaningful public activism? Surveillance has become central to human organizational and epistemological endeavours and is a cornerstone of governmental practices in assorted institutional realms. This social transformation towards expanded, intensified and integrated surveillance has produced many consequences. It has also given rise to an increased anxiety about the implications of surveillance for democratic processes; thus raising a series of questions – about what surveillance means, and might mean, for civil liberties, political processes, public discourse, state coercion and public consent – that the leading surveillance scholars gathered here address.

Download or read book Coding Democracy written by Maureen Webb and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2021-07-27 with total page 413 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hackers as vital disruptors, inspiring a new wave of activism in which ordinary citizens take back democracy. Hackers have a bad reputation, as shady deployers of bots and destroyers of infrastructure. In Coding Democracy, Maureen Webb offers another view. Hackers, she argues, can be vital disruptors. Hacking is becoming a practice, an ethos, and a metaphor for a new wave of activism in which ordinary citizens are inventing new forms of distributed, decentralized democracy for a digital era. Confronted with concentrations of power, mass surveillance, and authoritarianism enabled by new technology, the hacking movement is trying to "build out" democracy into cyberspace.

Download or read book Life after Privacy written by Firmin DeBrabander and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-09-08 with total page 183 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Privacy, which digital citizens eagerly relinquish, is not so essential to the health and welfare of democracy after all.

Download or read book Surveillance Transparency and Democracy written by Akhlaque Haque and published by University of Alabama Press. This book was released on 2015-08-31 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this well-informed yet anxious age, public administrators have constructed vast cisterns that collect and interpret a meteoric shower of facts. In Surveillance, Transparency, and Democracy, Akhlaque Haque demonstrates that this pervasive use and increasing dependence on information technology (IT) enables sophisticated and well-intentioned public services that nevertheless risk deforming public policy decision-making. Haque sees the contradiction at the core of a public that seeks services that require a level of data collection that triggers fears of a tyrannical police state. Haque begins by explaining that information has become a vital resource, offering a theoretical framework for its analysis. He then shows that an organization's information-gathering skill is reflected in its IT sophistication, but warns that successful IT strategies can by stunted by symbolic but shallow gestures such as the appointment of a "Chief Information Officer." He further outlines how the dependence on IT can create a reflex for IT solutions that fail to reflect the values of the citizenry they're intended to serve. Haque posits that IT's potential as a tool for human development depends on how civil servants and citizens actively engage in identifying desired outcomes, map IT solutions to those outcomes, and routinize the applications of those solutions. This leads to his call for the development of entrepreneurs who generate innovative solutions to critical human needs and problems. In his powerful summary, Haque recaps possible answers to the question: "What is the best way a public institution can apply technology to improving the human condition?" Haque masterfully flexes between crisp logical arguments and a deep empathy for human values. He finds apt metaphors that bring multifaceted scenarios into clear focus for experts and laymen alike. Engrossing, challenging, and important, Surveillance, Transparency, and Democracy is essential reading for both policy makers as well as the great majority of readers and citizens engaged in contemporary arguments about the role of government, public health and security, individual privacy, data collection, and surveillance.

Download or read book Spying on Democracy written by Heidi Boghosian and published by City Lights Books. This book was released on 2013-07-22 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Until the watershed leak of top-secret documents by Edward Snowden to the Guardian UK and the Washington Post, most Americans did not realize the extent to which our government is actively acquiring personal information from telecommunications companies and other corporations. As made startlingly clear, the National Security Agency (NSA) has collected information on every phone call Americans have made over the past seven years. In that same time, the NSA and the FBI have gained the ability to access emails, photos, audio and video chats, and additional content from Google, Facebook, Yahoo, Microsoft, YouTube, Skype, Apple, and others, allegedly in order to track foreign targets. In Spying on Democracy, Heidi Boghosian documents the disturbing increase in surveillance of ordinary citizens and the danger it poses to our privacy, our civil liberties, and to the future of democracy itself. Boghosian reveals how technology is being used to categorize and monitor people based on their associations, their movements, their purchases, and their perceived political beliefs. She shows how corporations and government intelligence agencies mine data from sources as diverse as surveillance cameras and unmanned drones to iris scans and medical records, while combing websites, email, phone records and social media for resale to third parties, including U.S. intelligence agencies. The ACLU's Michael German says of the examples shown in Boghosian's book, "this unrestrained spying is inevitably used to suppress the most essential tools of democracy: the press, political activists, civil rights advocates and conscientious insiders who blow the whistle on corporate malfeasance and government abuse." Boghosian adds, “If the trend is permitted to continue, we will soon live in a society where nothing is confidential, no information is really secure, and our civil liberties are under constant surveillance and control.” Spying on Democracy is a timely, invaluable, and accessible primer for anyone concerned with protecting privacy, freedom, and the U.S. Constitution. "Everyone of us is under the omniscient magnifying glass of the government and corporate spies. . . . How do we respond to this smog of surveillance? Start by reading Spying on Democracy: Government Surveillance, Corporate Power, and Public Resistance by Heidi Boghosian" —Bill Moyers "With ex-CIA staffer Edward Snowden’s leaks about National Security Agency surveillance in the headlines, Heidi Boghosian’s Spying on Democracy: Government Surveillance, Corporate Power, and Public Resistance feels especially timely. Boghosian reveals how the government acquires information from telecommunications companies and other organizations to create databases about 'persons of interest.'” —Publishers Weekly "Heidi Boghosian's Spying on Democracy is the answer to the question, 'if you're not doing anything wrong, why should you care if someone's watching you?'" —Michael German, Senior Policy Counsel, ACLU and former FBI agent Heidi Boghosian, a lawyer, is the executive director of the A.J. Muste Memorial Institute and co-hosts the weekly civil liberties radio program, "Law and Disorder," which airs on Pacifica's WBAI in New York and on over 50 national affiliate stations around the country. She has published numerous articles and reports on policing, protest, and the First Amendment, including The Policing of Political Speech (National Lawyers Guild 2010), Applying Restraints to Private Police (Missouri Law Review 2005), and The Assault on Free Speech, Public Assembly, and Dissent (North River Press 2004). Her book reviews have been published in The Federal Lawyer and the New York Law Journal. She is formerly the Executive Director of the National Lawyers Guild, a progressive Bar Association established in 1937.She received her JD from Temple Law School where she was editor-in-chief of the Temple Political & Civil Rights Law Review. She also holds an MS from Boston University College of Communication and a BA from Brown University.

Download or read book US National Security Intelligence and Democracy written by Russell A. Miller and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2008-07 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume examines the investigation by the 1975 Senate Select Committee (‘Church Committee’) into US intelligence abuses during the Cold War, and considers its lessons for the current ‘war on terror’. This report remains the most thorough public record of America’s intelligence services, and many of the legal boundaries operating on US intelligence agencies today are the direct result of reforms proposed by the Church Committee, including the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The Church Committee also drew attention to the importance of constitutional government as a Congressional body overseeing the activities of the Executive branch. Placing the legacy of the Church Committee in the context of the contemporary debate over US national security and democratic governance, the book brings together contributions from distinguished policy leaders and scholars of law, intelligence and political science.

Download or read book National Security Secrecy written by Sudha Setty and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2017-07-13 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book considers how excessive national security secrecy undercuts democracy and the rule of law, necessitating comparative and critical analysis toward potential reforms.

Download or read book Democracy Betrayed written by William W. Keller and published by Catapult. This book was released on 2017-01-01 with total page 211 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A vital and important look at the rise of a security state that is transforming the nature of our democracy In the aftermath of 9/11, in lockstep with booming technological advancements, a new and more authoritarian form of governance is upplanting liberal democracy. The creation of the Security Industrial Complex — an “internal security state–within–the–state” fueled by tech companies, private security firms, and the Intelligence Community to the tune of $120 billion a year — is intruding on civil liberties to an unprecedented extent. Politicians tolerate it; some citizens welcome it, thinking it may be the way to keep America safe in a time of uncertainty and terrorism. But how real is this threat, and is it worth the loss of our individual privacy? As a society, we have yet to comprehend the meaning of universal digital interconnection, its impact on our psychology, and its transformation of our government and society. America is at a crossroads in contending with a security goliath; allowing the beginnings of a police state, and the conversion of our of our “liberal democracy” to a “secure democracy”— one where government overreaches, tramples on civil liberties, and harnesses great advancements in technology to spy on the populace. Keller walks us through what these changes can mean to our society and, more importantly, what we can do to halt our march toward intrusive and widespread surveillance. An urgent wakeup call for a country in crisis, Democracy Betrayed is a timely and deeply important book about the future of America.

Download or read book Surveillance and Democracy in Europe written by William Webster and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-08-17 with total page 138 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many contemporary surveillance practices take place in information infrastructures which are from the public domain. Although they have far reaching consequences for both citizens and their rights, they are not always subject to regulatory demands and oversight. This being said, democratic fora where citizens and institutions may question such practices cannot be mobilised without widespread awareness of the dangers and consequences of surveillance practices and who is responsible for them. Through an analysis of surveillance controversies across Europe, this book not only examines the troublesome relationship between surveillance and democracy; but also highlights the vested interests which maintain the status quo. Using a participatory theory lens, Surveillance and Democracy in Europe reveals the historical, social, political and legal antecedents of the current state of affairs. Arguing that participation is a sensitising concept which enables a wide array of surveillance practices and processes to be interrogated, this insightful volume will appeal to students and researchers interested in fields such as public administration and policy, political studies, organisational behaviour and surveillance and privacy.

Download or read book Democracy Society and the Governance of Security written by Jennifer Wood and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2006-02-23 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The promotion of security is no longer a state monopoly. It is dispersed and takes place through the practices of states, corporations, non-governmental actors and community-based organizations. But what do we know about the ways in which 'security' is thought about and promoted in this pluralized field of delivery? Are democratic values being advanced and protected, or threatened and compromised? Wood and Dupont bring together a team of renowned scholars to shed light on our understanding of the arrangements for contemporary security governance. Offering a 'friendly dialogue' between those who argue that democratic transformation rests in the development of strong state institutions and those who propose a more de-centered agenda, the scholars in this volume bring cutting-edge theoretical analyses to bear on empirical examples. This volume will appeal to researchers in the fields of criminology, political science, sociology and security studies.

Download or read book Mass surveillance Who is watching the watchers written by Council of Europe and published by Council of Europe. This book was released on 2016-04-27 with total page 102 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "They know where you got on the bus, where you went to work, where you slept, and what other cell phones slept with you." Edward Snowden The disclosures by Edward Snowden since June 2013 revealing mass surveillance and large-scale intrusion practices have provided compelling evidence of the existence of far-reaching, technologically advanced surveillance systems. Put in place by United States intelligence services and their partners in certain Council of Europe member states, these systems are aimed at collecting, storing and analysing communication data, including content, location and other metadata, on a massive scale. In several countries, a massive “surveillance-industrial complex” has evolved, which risks escaping democratic control and accountability and threatens the free and open character of our societies. The surveillance practices disclosed endanger fundamental human rights, including the rights to privacy, freedom of information and expression, and the rights to a fair trial and freedom of religion. Given the threat such surveillance techniques pose, how can states uphold these fundamental rights and ensure the protection of privacy and Internet safety in the digital age? This book presents, in its first part, the report of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and, in its second part, the legal expertise of the European Commission for Democracy through Law (the Venice Commission).

Download or read book Activists and the Surveillance State written by Aziz Choudry and published by Between the Lines. This book was released on 2018-12-10 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The use of secret police, security agencies and informers to spy on, disrupt and undermine opposition to the dominant political and economic order has a long history. This book reflects on the surveillance, harassment and infiltration that pervades the lives of activists, organizations and movements that are labelled as ‘threats to national security’. Activists and scholars from the UK, South Africa, Canada, the US, Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand expose disturbing stories of political policing to question what lies beneath state surveillance. Problematizing the social amnesia that exists within progressive political networks and supposed liberal democracies, Activists and the Surveillance State shows that ultimately, movements can learn from their own repression, developing a critical and complex understanding of the Nature of states, capital and democracy today that can inform the struggles of tomorrow.

Download or read book Routledge Handbook of Democracy and Security written by Leonard Weinberg and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-12-22 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This handbook explores how democracies around the world seek to balance democratic values with the requirement to protect their citizens from the threat of politically motivated violence. Over the past few decades, the majority of the world’s democracies have had to confront serious security threats, and in many instances these challenges have not come from rival states but from violent groups. This volume offers readers an overview of how some democracies have responded to such threats. It examines the extent to which authorities have felt compelled to modify laws to evade what would ordinarily be regarded as protected rights, such as personal privacy, freedom of movement and freedom of speech. Grounded in historical analysis, each of the sections addresses past and emerging security threats; legal and legislative responses to them; successful and unsuccessful efforts to reconcile democracy and security; and a range of theoretical questions. The case studies provided vary in terms of the durability of their democratic systems, level of economic development and the severity of the threats with which they have been confronted. The volume is divided into three thematic parts: Strong democracies: United States, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Australia, New Zealand and Israel Challenged democracies: India, South Africa, Brazil, Argentina and Romania Fragile democracies: the Philippines and Nigeria. This book will be of much interest to students of democracy, security studies, political philosophy, Asian politics, Middle Eastern politics, African politics, West European politics and IR in general.

Download or read book Authoritarian Police in Democracy written by Yanilda María González and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-11-12 with total page 375 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In countries around the world, from the United States to the Philippines to Chile, police forces are at the center of social unrest and debates about democracy and rule of law. This book examines the persistence of authoritarian policing in Latin America to explain why police violence and malfeasance remain pervasive decades after democratization. It also examines the conditions under which reform can occur. Drawing on rich comparative analysis and evidence from Brazil, Argentina, and Colombia, the book opens up the 'black box' of police bureaucracies to show how police forces exert power and cultivate relationships with politicians, as well as how social inequality impedes change. González shows that authoritarian policing persists not in spite of democracy but in part because of democratic processes and public demand. When societal preferences over the distribution of security and coercion are fragmented along existing social cleavages, politicians possess few incentives to enact reform.

Download or read book Securing Democracy written by Glenn Greenwald and published by Haymarket Books. This book was released on 2021-04-06 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2019, award-winning journalist Glenn Greenwald writes in this gripping new book, "a series of events commenced that once again placed me at the heart of a sustained and explosive journalistic controversy." New reporting by Greenwald and his team of Brazilian journalists brought to light stunning information about grave corruption, deceit, and wrongdoing by the most powerful political actors in Brazil, his home since 2005. These stories, based on a massive trove of previously undisclosed telephone calls, audio, and text shared by an anonymous source, came to light only months after the January 2019 inauguration of Brazil 's far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, an ally of President Trump. The revelations "had an explosive impact on Brazilian politics" (The Guardian) and prompted serious rancor, including direct attacks by President Bolsonaro himself, and ultimately an attempt by the government to criminally prosecute Greenwald for his reporting. "A wave of death threats--in a country where political violence is commonplace--have poured in, preventing me from ever leaving my house for any reason without armed guards and an armored vehicle," Greenwald writes. Securing Democracy takes readers on a fascinating ride through Brazilian politics as Greenwald, his husband, the left-wing Congressman David Miranda, and a powerful opposition movement courageously challenge political corruption, homophobia, and tyranny. While coming at serious personal costs for himself and his family, Greenwald writes, "I have no doubt at all that the revelations we were able to bring to the public strengthened Brazilian democracy in an enduring and fundamental way. I believe we righted wrongs, reversed injustices, and exposed grave corruption." The story, he concludes, "highlights the power of transparency and the reason why a free press remains the essential linchpin for securing democracy."

Download or read book Freedom for Sale written by John Kampfner and published by ReadHowYouWant.com. This book was released on 2010-11 with total page 454 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Democratic liberalism v. authoritarianism the ideological divide that defined the twentieth century. But when the cold war ended' the end of history was proclaimed. Soon the fire of freedom would burn worldwide' the experts said. And where markets were freed' human rights would inevitably follow. Or not. In the last twenty years' nations including India' Russia' China and the United Arab Emirates have disproved the idea that capitalism and democracy are inextricably linked. Emerging middle classes have proven themselves all too willing to sacrifice certain democratic rights including free speech' an open media' and free elections in exchange for prosperity. But they are not alone. We are all doing it. Alarmingly' Western democracy has adopted some of the attributes of that authoritarianism. Combining boots on the ground reporting with incisive analysis' award - winning journalist John Kampfner describes this alarming trend one which has only been exacerbated by the global economic meltdown and what citizens must do to counter it.