Eli Pariser, The Filter Bubble (2011)
An interesting critique of the personalization of the Internet. We often don’t see the Internet directly, but through tinted goggles designed by others who determine what we want to see.
Jeff Jarvis, Public Parts: How Sharing in the Digital Age Improves the Way We Work and Live (2011)
I strongly disagree with a lot of what Jarvis says, but the book is certainly provocative and engaging.
Daniel J. Solove, Breached! Why Data Security Law Fails and How to Improve It (2022)
A novel account of how the law contributes to the insecurity of our data and a bold way to rethink it. Digital connections permeate our lives—and so do data breaches. It is alarming how difficult it is to create rules for securing our personal information. Despite the passage of many data security laws, data breaches…
Viktor Mayer-Schonberger, Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age (2009)
An interesting discussion of the “right to be forgotten.” Some of the ground in this book appears to be already well-trodden, but Mayer-Schonberger’s keen insights on data retention and destruction make it a worthy addition to the literature.
David Kirkpatrick, The Facebook Effect (2010)
A fascinating account of the rise of Facebook. There are times when Kirkpatrick seems too sympathetic to Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, but overall, this book is illuminating and engaging.
Robin D. Barnes, Outrageous Invasions: Celebrites’ Private Lives, Media, and the Law (2010)
There are some very interesting parts of this book, but it at times seems like a grab bag of topics relating to celebrities and its central argument could use more development. Nevertheless, it is worth reading because it discusses some interesting cases and explores comparative legal perspectives on the issues.
Shane Harris, The Watchers: The Rise of America’s Surveillance State (2010)
An engaging narrative that chronicles the surveillance and security measures the United States undertook after 9/11. Filled with interesting facts, the book reads like a story.
Bill Bryson, At Home: A Short History of Private Life (2010)
An extensive history of the home, which as I’ve explored in some of my own writings, plays an important role in the history of privacy. Bryson’s narrative reads well, but he only supplies a bibliography at the end — no endnotes or indications of the sources of particular facts and details. I find this practice…
Hal Niedzviecki, The Peep Diaries: How We’re Learning to Love Watching Ourselves and Our Neighbors (2009)
This book is an extended essay on self-exposure online. It is filled with many interesting anecdotes. The book has a journalistic style and raises observations and questions more than it proposes solutions or policies. The “notes” at the end consist only of a brief bibliography for each chapter, and there are no indications of which…
Christena Nippert-Eng, Islands of Privacy (2010)
A fascinating sociological account of people’s attitudes toward privacy and their behaviors with regards to preserving their privacy. It contains numerous interviews, quoted copiously, of people in their own voices discussing how they conceal their secrets. Engaging and compelling reading.