In The Transparent Society, David Brin takes Sun executive Scott MacNealy's famous statement, "There is no privacy anymore," and explores what it may mean in the future.

He focuses not just on the internet, but also on the increasing pervasiveness of the surveillance devices like cameras and electronic toll collectors. His concern is that privacy is disappearing for everyone except the government and large corporations.

There is a battle being fought, right now, between privacy advocates who want to protect people from government and corporate surveillance through encryption technology, and government, especially law enforcement, who fear the loss of their ability to tap conversations and documents. Brin believes there is a third point of view--one that focuses on mutual trust and honest dealing. Such a society, a transparent society, where people and organizations are accountable for their actions, is one that will have less crime, less fear and more freedom. If all arrests are videotaped, policy brutality will decline. If everyone identifies themselves honestly in their email, there will be no more email viruses. If there are surveillance devices on every street corner and everyone knows that they are there (as they are in Baltimore), crime will go down.

That is the trade-off Brin asks you to consider, in a variety of settings. Will you let yourself be monitored as long as everyone else agrees to as well? If we lived in such a world, wouldn't it be a freer, more honest world? And aren't most of us honest? It is at the heart of an open society, that we obey laws not out of fear of arrest, but our of respect for our society and our fellow citizens.

The book is a little loosely structured. He starts by providing background and history of the internet, security devices, and other threats to privacy, and shows that privacy is doomed, that we are going to have to get used to the fact that our movements on-line and off, can be and will be tracked. Rather than lose heart, he suggests that we have a unique opportunity to create a society that's open and free.

Criminals fear the light. Corrupt government officials fear the light. So, he says, let's shine that light on everyone. Make government data available on the web. Classify less. Tell citizens what is known about them. Mutual trust and transparency will make it



Recommended: Yes