| | |  | Manager's Guides to Computing | Home » » » American Privacy: The 400-Year History of Our Most Contested Right | | | | | | | Description: | | An examination of privacy and the evolution of communication, from broken sealing wax to high-tech wiretapping
A sweeping story of the right to privacy as it sped along colonial postal routes, telegraph wires, and even today’s fiber-optic cables, American Privacy traces the lineage of cultural norms and legal mandates that have swirled around the Fourth Amendment since its adoption. Legally, technologically, and historically grounded, Frederick Lane’s book presents a vivid and penetrating exploration that, in the words of people’s historian Howard Zinn, “challenges us to defend our most basic rights.”
From the Trade Paperback edition. | | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| Frederick S. Lane | | Hardcover:
| 304 pages | | Publisher:
| Beacon Press | | Publication Date:
| November 01, 2009 | | Language:
| English | | ISBN:
| 0807044415 | | Product Length:
| 6.3 inches | | Product Width:
| 1.02 inches | | Product Height:
| 9.27 inches | | Product Weight:
| 1.4 pounds | | Package Length:
| 9.1 inches | | Package Width:
| 6.2 inches | | Package Height:
| 1.1 inches | | Package Weight:
| 1.4 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 4 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 4 customer reviews )
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
American Privacy is a Great ReadOct 20, 2011
By BMG
American Privacy is a rich and enlightening history of how Americans and our federal government have treated and debated the right to privacy. Lane shows how changing perspectives as well as new technology has increased the conflict between an individual's desire to publicize personal information and his or her need to maintain a "zone of privacy" in order to secure that basic privacy right. The federal government's need to collect data for the census along with the rise of computer technology triggered a further interest in establishing data systems to track and compare information for a variety of government functions, most recently under the guise of national security. Corporate America has followed the same data extraction model with the use of credit cards and has been able to use this information for massive marketing campaigns, targeting consumers with specific interests and tastes.
Lane's treatment of this topic is intriguing and disturbing in its implications. It makes clear the dangers and reality of an Orwellian "big brother" data infrastructure. It also gives the reader much to think about as to how our daily actions may lend tacit approval to such practices by both the federal government and corporations. This is a fascinating and compelling book for all readers and another great read by Fred Lane.
Making HIstory and Law EntertainingAug 07, 2011
By David R. Wellens
Fred Lane has managed to make the history and law behind issues of privacy entertaining and memorable. As I read about life in American before the telephone, I could imagine what it must have been really like to live in that era. Fred Lane's writing is just that good. In fact, the writing is consistent throughout. The book is seamless with a smooth style of exposition, what historical writing should be. I thoroughly enjoyed the way Fred Lane was able to take 400 years of American History and view it from the point of view that seems like privacy is what America is all about. The way Fred Lane outlines our lemming-like surrender of personal information in this internet age is certainly convincing that we are on our way, as Americans, to our worst legal nightmare, where Big Brother really does control our lives beyond the scope of what was ever intended.
This was a great read -- entertaining and informativeJun 09, 2011
By Derekhep
I really enjoyed American Privacy. In particular, the early history covering the founding of the USPS. And the Nixon/Ford era, as that was the time I was growing up, and those sections helped me better understand what was really going on behind the scenes. The birth and growth of the credit card industry -- and credit bureaus -- were also fascinating. Well done !! (Kindle edition on iPad.)
An absorbing account, grounded in solid research yet written with an alert tone warning the readerFeb 13, 2010
By Midwest Book Review
American Privacy: The 400-Year History of Our Most Contested Right is more than just a historical chronicle of the right to privacy in America; it is also an alarming wake-up call to governmental and non-governmental threats to the level of privacy that previous American generations considered an inalienable right. From privacy in state courts and legislatures, to how the Red Scare of the McCarthy era led to unconscionable attacks on privacy, to the surprising persistence and "durability" of data once it gets into modern online networks, and more, American Privacy is an absorbing account, grounded in solid research yet written with an alert tone warning the reader to take heed of deleterious current trends. Highly recommended. "The modern-day epidemic of identity theft stems from the toxic combination of an intrinsically insecure Social Security number that has become a de facto national identification number, massive computer databases vulnerable to hacking, a rapidly growing global data and communications network, and lax security procedures that allow databases and data processing reports to be stored on laptops. Together these elements have helped the crime of identity theft become one of the fastest-growing problems for law enforcement."
| | |
|
