Privacy in Peril: How We Are Sacrificing a Fundamental Right in Exchange for Security and Convenience - Softcover

Rule, James B.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0195394364 ISBN 13: 9780195394368

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2009

Synopsis

This provocative book offers a probing account of the erosion of privacy in American society, that shows that we are often unwitting, if willing, accomplices, providing personal data in exchange for security or convenience. The author reveals that in today's "information society," the personal data that we make available to virtually any organization for virtually any purpose is apt to surface elsewhere, applied to utterly different purposes. The mass collection and processing of personal information produces such tremendous efficiencies that both the public and private sector feel justified in pushing as far as they can into our private lives. And there is no easy cure. Indeed, there are many cases where privacy invasion is both hurtful to the individual and indispensable to an organization's quest for efficiency. And as long as we willingly accept the pursuit of profit, or the reduction of crime, or cutting government costs as sufficient reason for intensified scrutiny over our lives, then privacy will remain endangered.

About this title

About the Author:

James B. Rule is Distinguished Affiliated Scholar at the Center for the Study of Law and Society at the University of California, Berkeley.

Review:

"An unsentimental exploration of one of the pressing issues of our time. Global in scope and precise in detail, with insights equally deep in theory and practice, Rule offers a vision of how, even at this late date, we can avoid becoming a surveillance society."--James X. Dempsey, Policy Director, Center for Democracy and Technology

"Jim Rule's Privacy in Peril is a thoughtful and challenging exploration of a critical social issue that touches nearly every aspect of modern life."--Marc Rotenberg, Executive Director, Electronic Privacy Information Center

"Privacy in Peril is a smart, subtle and elegantly written analysis of a complex subject. Rule is superb at drawing the line between acceptable and unacceptable practices in today's high-speed information world and then explaining the reasoning behind his distinctions in a balanced but persuasive way. With Rule's blue print as a guide, it is possible to imagine how our society just might begin to sort out the competing demands of the corporation, the state and the individual."--David Burnham, Director, Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0195394364
• ISBN 13: 9780195394368
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256