Mark Andrejevic, Neil Selwyn: Facial Recognition (2022)

From the book description: “In this timely book, Neil Selwyn and Mark Andrejevic provide a critical introduction to facial recognition. Outlining its complex social history and future technical forms, as well as its conceptual and technical underpinnings, the book considers the arguments being advanced for the continued uptake of facial recognition. In assessing these developments,…

Orly Lobel: The Equality Machine: Harnessing Digital Technology for a Brighter, More Inclusive Future (2022)

From Science Magazine: “A masterful analysis…Lobel expertly describes both the opportunities and the discrimination engendered by new technologies, particularly Artificial Intelligence (AI).” From Kirkus: “Enthusiastic yet measured argument for technology’s potential to promote equality across many facets of culture and industry.” From Daniel Solove: “[A}n exuberant and insightful account of the bright side of AI and related…

Amy Gajda: Seek and Hide: The Tangled History of the Right to Privacy (2022)

From The New York Times: “Wry and fascinating…Gajda is a nimble storyteller [and] an insightful guide to a rich and textured history that gets easily caricatured, especially when a culture war is raging.” From The Atlantic: “Gajda’s chronicle reveals an enduring tension between principles of free speech and respect for individuals’ private lives. But it also throws into sharp…

Amy B. Zegart: Spies, Lies, and Algortihms: The History and Future of American Intelligence (2022)

From Dina Temple-Raston, Washington Post: “Zegart provides not just a sweeping history of the U.S. intelligence community but also nuggets that help place events in a new context. . . . A perfect primer for anyone trying to understand how the intelligence community is meeting the challenges of the digital age.” From Harvey Klehr, Wall Street Journal:  “A lucid…

Josh Chin, Liza Lin: Surveillance State: Inside China’s Quest to Launch a New Era of Social Control (2022)

From Evan Osnos, The New Yorker: “A truly groundbreaking investigation . . . The global scope and deep detail of [Chin and Lin’s] account retires the notion of an ‘all-seeing’ surveillance as some future scenario; it is happening already. They will open your eyes to the astonishing intersection of data, politics, and the human body. Anyone who cares…

David Lyon: Pandemic Surveillance (2022)

From Evan Selinger, LA Review of Books: “Since future pandemics will undoubtedly occur, it is essential that we establish trustworthy institutions to conduct public health surveillance. Hopefully Lyon’s insights will help shape the hard conversations that lie ahead…By integrating some of the core insights from privacy theory, data justice, and care ethics, he creates a novel conceptual toolkit…

Brian Hochman: The Listeners: A History of Wiretapping in the United States (2022)

From Andrew Lanham, New Republic: “Smart, entertaining, and occasionally alarming. . . Hochman narrates a century and a half of wiretapping, from the Civil War to the War on Terror. What emerges is a powerful prehistory of today’s private sector and government surveillance regimes. Hochman reveals the surprising strength of public resistance to all forms of electronic surveillance…

Sarah Lamdan: Data Cartels: The Companies That Control and Monopolize Our Information (2022)

From the book description: “In this book, Lamdan contends that privatization and tech exceptionalism have prevented us from creating effective legal regulation. This in turn has allowed oversized information oligopolies to coalesce. In addition to specific legal and market-based solutions, Lamdan calls for treating information like a public good and creating digital infrastructure that supports…

Viktor Mayer-Schönberger, Thomas Ramge: Access Rules: Freeing Data from Big Tech for a Better Future (2022)

From Georgetown Public Policy Review: “This book. . . .offered insights, regardless of the reader’s familiarity levels with technology policy. Access Rules offers concrete solutions and poses critical open-ended questions. We live in an increasingly digital age, and this book is truly a must-read for all policy students and policymakers.” From Frank Pasquale, author of The Black Box Society: “Access Rules is…