Fifty years ago, in 1984, George Orwell imagined a future in which privacy was demolished by a totalitarian state that used spies, video surveillance, historical revisionism, and control over the media to maintain its power. Those who worry about personal privacy and identity — especially in this day of technologies that encroach upon these rights — still use Orwell's "Big Brother" language to discuss privacy issues. But the reality is that the age of a monolithic Big Brother is over. And yet the threats are perhaps even more likely to destroy the rights we've assumed were ours.

Database Nation: The Death of Privacy in the 21st Century shows how, in these early years of the 21st century, advances in technology endanger our privacy in ways never before imagined. Direct marketers and retailers track our every purchase; surveillance cameras observe our movements; mobile phones will soon report our location to those who want to track us; government eavesdroppers listen in on private communications; misused medical records turn our bodies and our histories against us; and linked databases assemble detailed consumer profiles used to predict and influence our behavior. Privacy — the most basic of our civil rights — is in grave peril.

Simson Garfinkel — journalist, entrepreneur, and international authority on computer security— has devoted his career to testing new technologies and warning about their implications. This newly revised update of the popular hardcover edition of Database Nation is his compelling account of how invasive technologies will affect our lives in the coming years. It's a timely, far-reaching, entertaining, and thought-provoking look at the serious threats to privacy facing us today. The book poses a disturbing question: how can we protect our basic rights to privacy, identity, and autonomy when technology is making invasion and control easier than ever before?

Garfinkel's captivating blend of journalism, storytelling, and futurism is a call to arms. It will frighten, entertain, and ultimately convince us that we must take action now to protect our privacy and identity before it's too late.

"If you want a good scare, you could go on-line and download the latest Stephen King, or you could read this book, which explains how corporations keep track of things like — well, what you've just downloaded....Other writers have raised alarms, but no on has revealed the encroachments of technology on privacy in such exacting detail. Living in a global village, it seems, is like living in a real one: you have to deal with a lot of busibodies." The New Yorker

"Database Nation by Simson Garfinkel is a graphic and blistering indictment of the burgeoning technologies used by business, government, and others to invade the self — yourselves — and restrict both your freedom to participate in power and your freedom from abuses of power. The right of privacy is a constitutionally protected right and its erosion or destruction undermine democratic society as it generates in one circumstance after another a new kind of serfdom. This book is one that you're entitled to take very personally." Ralph Nader, Consumer Advocate

"Garfinkel has captured the depth and breadth of our ever-increasing privacy problems demonstrating their insidious nature and the extreme difficulties it represents for all of us. This book is hugely important. It should be read by everyone. Wonderfully readable. Five stars." Peter G. Neumann, author of Computer-Related Risks

This journalistic summary of the current state of privacy rights and violations at the beginning of the 21st century is a call to arms, pleading the case for privacy in the same way as Rachel Carson's 1962 text "Silent Spring".

"Database Nation" is a compelling account of how invasive technologies will affect peoples lives in the coming years. It's a timely and thought-provoking look at the serious threats to personal privacy. The book poses a disturbing question: how can citizens protect their basic rights to privacy, identity, and autonomy when technology is making invasion and control easier than ever before?

As the 21st century begins, advances in technology endanger our privacy in ways never before imagined. Marketers track our every purchase; surveillance cameras observe our movements; misused medical records turn our bodies and our histories against us. Privacy--our most basic civil right--is in grave peril. Simson Garfinkel--journalist, entrepreneur, and international authority on computer security--has devoted his career to testing new technologies and warning about their implications. This newly revised update of the popular hardcover edition of "Database Nation is his compelling account of how invasive technologies will affect our lives in the coming years. It's a timely, far-reaching, entertaining, and thought-provoking look at the serious threats to privacy facing us today. Garfinkel's captivating blend of journalism, storytelling, and futurism is a call to arms. It will frighten, entertain, and ultimately convince us that we must take action now to protect our privacy and identity before it's too late