Automating Inequality 1

Virginia Eubanks, Automating Inequality: How High-Tech Tools Profile, Police, and Punish the Poor (2018)

From Henry Giroux (McMaster University): “Startling and brilliant… As Eubanks makes crystal clear, automation coupled with the new technologies of ethical abandonment and instrumental efficiency threaten not only the lives of millions who are viewed as disposable but also democracy itself. If you want to understand how this digital nightmare is reaching deep into the…

Habeas Data

Cyrus Farivar, Habeas Data: Privacy vs. the Rise of Surveillance Tech (2018)

From Robyn Greene (The Open Technology Institute at New America): “Cyrus Farivar pulls back the curtain on how the government has transformed everyday technologies into surveillance machines, and public and private places into surveillance traps—part deep-dive into how everything from your smartphone to your home can be used as a surveillance tool, and part crash-course…

Privacys Blueprint 1

Woodrow Hartzog, Privacy’s Blueprint: The Battle to Control the Design of New Technologies (2018)

From Danielle Citron (University of Maryland School of Law): “With deep insight, passion, and humor, Woodrow Hartzog demands that we see what has been in front us all along yet never meaningfully reckoned with. As Hartzog makes clear, we can design apps, social media, and networked clothing (underwear!) with privacy in mind but we need…

Re Engineering Humanity 1

Brett Frischmann and Evan Selinger, Re-Engineering Humanity (2018)

From Tim Wu (Columbia Law School): “A magnificent achievement. Writing in the tradition of Neil Postman, Jacque Ellul and Marshall McLuhan, this book is the decade’s deepest and most powerful portrayal of the challenges to freedom created by our full embrace of comprehensive techno-social engineering. A rewarding and stimulating book that merits repeated readings and…

The Cambridge Handbook of Consumer Privacy

Evan Selinger, Jules Polonetsky, and Omer Tene, The Cambridge Handbook of Consumer Privacy (2018)

From Danielle Citron (University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law): “For a well-rounded and deeply-informed discussion of the pressing consumer privacy issues of our time, read The Cambridge Handbook of Consumer Privacy. This volume is a rare find. It brings together thought leaders from business, government, and different disciplines in academia to explore…