Rating: 
Summary: Would have been better without the science fiction
Review: This book dashed the high hopes I had for it. There are many very good reasons to be concerned about the ways technology can be used to curtail our civil liberties and constrict our freedoms. I had hoped for a serious discussion laying out the problems, their current state of application and misuse, and some thoughts about how to push back.We do get some of that and to the extent this book is in this scope I like it a great deal (for example, the discussions around eternal copyrights and huge commercial databases gathering everything known about each of us or the sale of drivers license photos to commercial interests). When it is in the middle area of discussing thought crime and brain wiretapping he begins to lose me. It isn't that the issues aren't worthy of discussion, it is simply they way he discusses them has too much of a paranoid science fiction future feel. When he paints the future of conscious machines and whether they will demand civil rights or not, well, I think he spoils this book. That speculative stuff should be in a different book. For me, the inclusion of this material makes it impossible to take seriously the good stuff he does have. The weird apple spoils the barrel kind of thing. It isn't that the book isn't worth reading. It's that the serious stuff is so important that we need to focus on that and not be distracted by paranoid delusions about things that don't even exist. There is plenty to be concerned about in the databases already collected and being sold in commercial markets.
Rating: 
Summary: lacks global perspective, highly misleading
Review: This book has more to do with American politics than negative implication of advanced technology like it is trying to shoot for. Database is merely a tool, and tools can bring hazardous results when held in wrong hands. SSN is another tool to get a grip on personal information for the government and large businesses, and the author is right in pointing out the abuse of SSN. However, one needs to note that use of such numbering system is considered unconstitutional in many countries, because they rob the rights to remain anonymous away from people. Traditionally, the interest of the nation and large businesses took precedence over the rights and freedom of commoners in the United States, and installment and abuse of SSN is just one of the tools they use in order to tap into what they should not. This book blames the tools and development thereof for such negative consequences, without ever blaming those who hold the tool. It's like blaming chain saw itself for the lost forest, without ever considering who used the chain saw. The book never talks about the global trend of the issue. If it did, it would have been clear that most of the worries expressed in the book does not apply in many countries where the government and businesses aren't as nosy as ours. Freedom, individual rights and technology can co-exist, and there are lots of good examples to learn from on our planet, but the author refuses to do so. Most of the worries expressed in this book have to do with the ways of U.S. policymakers than the technology itself. As for the chapter on terrorism - The author might be a knowledgeable person within the boundary of the United States, but he severely lacks international common sense. It fails to address the cause of terrorism, noting, "The terrorist of tomorrow is the irrational terrorist. (pp.211)" - A typical uninformed American take on terrorism. The author needs to learn a few languages, travel every continent and see how the world works for himself before publishing a book on it. The ignorance alone doesn't bother me, but I'm not happy with the fact that it is published in a book that is supposedly informative, ending up with spreading unnecessary fear without presenting any valid solution. Besides, this chapter on terrorism strays from the purpose of this book (technology and privacy). This is another indication that this book is compiled without sense of direction. All positive reviews quoted on the back cover are of domestic sources: I suppose they couldn't get anyone overseas to recognize the value of the book on this supposedly global issue. I think this book should be discontinued, but in case that's impossible, they could at least change the title to "Nightmare in the 21st century America" from "The Death of privacy in the 21st century" and re-compile the book under some sense of direction, instead of simply listing whatever people would be afraid of.
To sum up, this book scores well among those who are uninformed: it is highly engaging because it tickles the fear factor of readers and grabs attention, in a way fictions do. However, the raison d'etre of this book is quite questionable. Like cheap horror movies, it flows without sense of direction, moving from one scare to another. I'm afraid I cannot recommend this book to anyone as an informative source.
Rating:
Summary: Half-baked paranoia
Review: This book is filled with a lot of paranoid ramblings, fear-mongering, and technical inaccuracies. It does contain a lot of interesting stories, but they seem to serve mostly to mask Garfinkel's lack of technical understanding. He obviously didn't follow the old adage to "write about what you know".
Rating: 
Summary: The less you care about privacy, the more you need this book
Review: This book is important, and it deserves to be big. Simson Garfinkel has nailed the history, the present circumstances, and the nightmare future scenarios as the remaining shreds of privacy in American life circle the drain at the new century's dawn. Garfinkel shows the future we're heading toward in pictures no-one can mistake. The book is aimed at a general reader -- the author doesn't dwell on the technical details, and Database Nation should be a non-threatening read for anyone who is literate. Like good dystopian science fiction, Database Nation bids not to predict a future but to prevent one. Garfinkel is longer on description than on prescription for the problem of privacy under attack. Many of the remedies he sketches suggest government intervention to wrest back some control of private information for the individual. This emphasis on government action will be the most controversial aspect of Database Nation, spurring automatic resistence in overlapping circles of Net culture from the libertarian to the privacy-aware. But the fact is that in the privacy arena, Big Brother may not be the biggest threat -- it's thousands of Little Brothers, private actors in a capitalist free-for-all. Database Nation's dust jacket sports a killer array of blurbs from a who's-who of privacy advocates: Ralph Nader, Marc Rotenberg, Peter Neumann, Sen. Edward Markey. I hope they convince the people who need to read this book to buy it -- that majority of the population in this consumer society who see nothing wrong with selling their most private data for a $5 coupon. If you're a regular reader of Tasty Bits from the Technology Front, RISKS, the PRIVACY Forum, or the newsletters of EPIC or the EFF, you probably don't need to read Database Nation. But I hope you will; you'll learn more than you might imagine, I guarantee it. When you're done, loan the book to a friend who needs to get a clue about privacy. When it comes back, loan it again.
Rating: 
Summary: Awesome walk through privacy past and futures
Review: This is a fantastic book; a fascinating read through the history of privacy, with many colorful stories. Do you know how the DEA does data shadowing to find pot growers? Do you know about CFIP from 1973 and why it is incredibly relevant 30 years later? Do you know what you can do to protect yourself? Buy this book to find out.
Rating:
Summary: how Much IS Big Brother Watching?
Review: This is an older book, but one that I specifically requested after reading books like Myth of Homeland Security by Marcus Ranum and Beyond Fear by Bruce Schneier. While those books related directly to homeland or national security in the wake of the 9/11 attack this book predates the attack but describes an Orwellian society where Big Brother monitors everything and privacy is a facade.
When I was in high school I read George Orwell's 1984. It is a work of fiction, but in many ways present society and technology have surpassed Orwell's vision. Simson Garfinkel paints a chilling picture of the complete lack of privacy today because we have the technology to store and retrieve almost every transaction and occurrence that goes on in our lives.
When you make a cell phone call records are kept of the area you called from and the number you called. When you make a purchase with a credit card or ATM/Debit card you create a record of where you were at a specific time and date as well as what you purchased. Medical records tell a lot about a person and are not as protected as people believe. A recent Supreme Court decision essentially states that an ISP can legally intercept and view your email without violating wiretap laws. Common, everyday activities capture and store minute details about your life.
This book offers few solutions, but does an excellent job of describing the problem in a compelling way. Everyone should read this book to learn what a facade your privacy really is.
Tony Bradley is a consultant and writer with a focus on network security, antivirus and incident response. He is the About.com Guide for Internet / Network Security (http://netsecurity.about.com), providing a broad range of information security tips, advice, reviews and information. Tony also contributes frequently to other industry publications. For a complete list of his freelance contributions you can visit Essential Computer Security (http://www.tonybradley.com).
Rating:
Summary: Simson at his best
Review: To many people, George Orwell's 1984 epitomizes loss of privacy, in which a totalitarian state uses complete control of the media to maintain its power over the populace. Today's actual usurpation of privacy, which is arguably greater than Orwell could ever have imagined, is much more subtle and incremental. Bits and bytes of personal information are collected by credit bureaus, government agencies, financial institutions, insurance companies, and other organizations, the compilation of which is a dossier of valuable personal information on any given person. As author Simson Garfinkel puts it, the future isn't one dominated by Big Brother but by "a hundred kid brothers that constantly watch and interrupt our daily lives." Database Nation is one of those rare books that comes along every few years and gives its readers pause to think about the effects of the massive computing infrastructure that Western society has laid down. The book explains in great detail how personal privacy has slowly been eroding and the effects of this erosion. Garfinkel details today's myriad threats to privacy, the most notable of which may be the systematic capture of everyday events in our lives. Nearly every purchase we make, every place we travel, every word we say, and every page we read is routinely recorded and made available for later analysis. The result is an unprecedented amount of data surveillance, the effect of which we have just begun to grasp. Database Nation is an important book for two reasons. For the individual, it details the countless ways in which our privacy is slowly yet relentlessly being worn away. For the security professional, the book details the responsibilities that must be assumed to ensure that the Orwellian society envisioned in 1984 doesn't become a reality. This review of mine originally appears at http://www.securitymanagement.com/library/000874.html
Rating:
Summary: Integrity
Review: What cyberspace requires is authors who are willing to interrogate "what we all know is true" to see, in fact, whether what we all know *is* true. This book has an extraordinary integrity to it, as it reopens a set of questions that most of us thought closed. You won't agree with everything, there are many questions left unresolved, but there is no doubt that in places this book will change you mind. It is the best book on privacy and the internet that I have seen.
Rating:
Summary: A must read for every American
Review: Why every American? Because, as Garfinkel points, out Europeans are better protected than we are. In every way, on virtually every page of the book, Garfinkel shows not only how our private information is being used without our knowledge, consent, or ability to correct it, but how it is being associated. In fact, I would argue that his collection of details of how the smallest pieces of your personal, financial, medical, and employment history can be connected easily by businesses to deny you credit, a job, or insurance makes the strongest case for regulation. The kind of regulation Garfinkel argues is necessary - and which mirrors existing laws in the EU that American companies flaunt over the Web in their dealings with EU citizens - would provide the right kinds of control and redress for citizens without requiring government involvement and ownership of data. (One of the odd recurring points in the book is that Garfinkel views it as a missed opportunity that a monolithic data center wasn't built in the 60s to collate all individual information. I see his point, but imagine if Nixon had that resource at his disposal? Even without it, he had people's tax returns pulled. I may, perhaps, misunderstand Garfinkel's message there, as he felt a central storage point would have provided a nationwide opt-out control for individuals and the use of their data by any company.) It's fascinating reading and a relatively quick read for a nonfiction title. As I read it, I had prickles at the back of my neck as I discovered how my own information is being used without my knowledge. (Ever heard of the MIB? Not Men In Black - read the book...it's almost as insidious.) Database Nation paints a picture of the dangers of leaving our lives in data in the hands of business instead of our own hands. Hopefully, technology and policy will meet politics for a solution described in his book providing the kind of ownership and rights we need.
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