Exploding Data: Reclaiming Our Cyber Security in the Digital Age - Hardcover

Chertoff, Michael

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0802127932 ISBN 13: 9780802127938

Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2018

Synopsis

The most dangerous threat we―individually and as a society and country―face today is no longer military, but rather the increasingly pervasive exposure of our personal information; nothing undermines our freedom more than losing control of information about ourselves. And yet, as daily events underscore, we are ever more vulnerable to cyber-attack.

In this bracing book, Michael Chertoff makes clear that our laws and policies surrounding the protection of personal information, written for an earlier time, need to be completely overhauled in the Internet era. On the one hand, the collection of data―more widespread by business than by government, and impossible to stop―should be facilitated as an ultimate protection for society. On the other, standards under which information can be inspected, analyzed, or used must be significantly tightened. In offering his compelling call for action, Chertoff argues that what is at stake is not so much the simple loss of privacy, which is almost impossible to protect, but of individual autonomy―the ability to make personal choices free of manipulation or coercion. Offering colorful stories over many decades that illuminate the three periods of data gathering we have experienced, Chertoff explains the complex legalities surrounding issues of data collection and dissemination today, and charts a path that balances the needs of government, business, and individuals alike.

About this title

About the Author

Michael Chertoff was the second Secretary of Homeland Security from 2005–2009. He previously served at a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, as a federal prosecutor, as Assistant U.S. Attorney General, and as United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey―one of only two U.S. Attorneys who was not replaced when the Clinton administration took office in 1993. Chertoff is the author of Homeland Security: Assessing the First Five Years. He is today Executive Chairman and Co-founder of The Chertoff Group, a security consulting company, and senior of counsel to the firm of Covington and Burling.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

In our world of big data, we want to give the government the appropriate legal authority to provide security while maintaining a sufficient scope of privacy and autonomy necessary for our human dignity. Citizens seek to enjoy the convenience and efficiency of modern commercial data-driven technology without putting their security and freedom at risk.

With its ability to generate and review massive amounts of data, today’s technology numbs society, creating social acceptance for our loss of privacy. Given the ease with which emails, telephone metadata, and other previously private information are captured by others, Americans have been surrendering control over electronic privacy. Today’s legal framework attempts to protect the right to privacy under a technology assumption that is decades old. We have come to accept the fact that our emails may be read and have become accustomed to our data being collected and used by others.

If privacy means the ability to hide or shield our actions and thoughts from prying eyes, that privacy ship has sailed. The volume of data we generate, and the analytic power that can be applied against that data, mean that few of us can remain opaque. I argue that the focus of our concern should shift to protecting our autonomy. We should maintain some degree of ownership and control over the data that we generate or that relates to us.

What is at stake is individual autonomy―the right to make the personal choices that effect our values and our destiny. A person can be manipulated and coerced many ways, but the most ominous involve the pressure that comes with constant, ongoing surveillance of our actions.

Edition details

• Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press
• Publication date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0802127932
• ISBN 13: 9780802127938
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 288