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"Living today means most of us must contend with things like workplace surveillance, cyberstalking, ransomware attacks, and facial recognition. But all is not lost when it comes to our privacy, and it's definitely not too late to do something about protecting yours. Written in blunt, jargon-free prose, On Privacy defines today's privacy landscape while also reminding readers of the joys of keeping things to ourselves: that privacy creates space for intimacy, is essential to mental health, and is a fundamental right in a free society. Explored among the book's twenty brief-but-powerful lessons are concepts like the Nothing-to-Hide Trap, how we become prisoners of our recorded past, and the ways that small data points about us can paint big, revealing pictures. Also included are explanations of how Big Brother is real, why we should insist on privacy by design, and how to make ensuring privacy something that is profitable. Each lesson ends with advice on both how to talk about a given aspect of privacy and how to take actionable steps to safeguard yourself. On Privacy is a small book with a big message about why privacy matters, who profits by invading it, and how best to defend yours in easy, everyday ways"--
List of contents
Introduction
Lesson #1: The Nothing-to-Hide Trap
Lesson #2: Know Where the Battlefields Are
Lesson #3: Privacy Creates Space for Intimacy
Lesson #4: We Are Prisoners of Our Recorded Past
Lesson #5: Apathy is Understandable
Lesson #6: Small Data Paint Big Pictures
Lesson #7: We Can Have Our Cake and Eat It, Too
Lesson #8: Privacy Is Essential to Human Dignity
Lesson #9: What the Constitution Says
Lesson #10: Big Brother Is Real
Lesson #11: Our Bodies Are Sacred
Lesson #12: It’s Not All About You
Lesson #13: The Reasonable Expectation Standard
Lesson #14: Privacy is Essential to Mental Health
Lesson #15: It’s About the Money
Lesson #16: So Make Privacy Profitable
Lesson #17: The Road to Hell Is Paved with Good Intentions
Lesson #18: Governments Need (Some) Privacy, Too
Lesson #19: Insist on Privacy by Design
Lesson #20: Privacy Makes for Unlikely Bedfellows
Acknowledgments
References and Further Reading
About the author
Lawrence Cappello is an award-winning professor of U.S. legal & constitutional history at the University of Alabama and a graduate of New York City Public Schools. He is the author of
None of Your Damn Business: Privacy in the United States from the Gilded Age to the Digital Age (University of Chicago Press) and a certified information privacy professional (CIPP/US & CIPM). His work on the right to privacy has appeared in
The Wall Street Journal,
The Atlantic,
The Economist, The Hill, and other media outlets.
Summary
A short, powerful book with twenty lessons on privacy in the information age, each with practical advice on what you can do right now to protect your own.
