The Spy in the Coffee Machine [Paperback]

Kieron O'Hara (Author), Nigel Shadbolt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 3, 2008

What do you know about the new surveillance state that has been created in the wake of pervasive computing - the increasing use of very small and simple computers in all sorts of host - from your computer to your coat? Well, these little computers can communicate via the web and form powerful networks whose emergent behaviour can be very complex, intelligent, and invasive. The question is: how much of an infringement on privacy are they?

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Timely and balanced, their book The Spy in the Coffee Machine is a scary treatise about the way technology has eroded privacy and continues to do so ... The chief lesson of this excellent and potent short book is that we have to learn how to live with these actualities." -- A. C. Grayling, The New Scientist

"Offering a wealth of recent detail, O'Hara and Shadbolt provide a singular update and perspective on the accelerating predicament of privacy in the modern age." -- David Brin, Science fiction writer, futurist, and author of Transparent Society: Will Technology Force Us to Choose Between Privacy and Freedom?

"Kieron O'Hara and Nigel Shadbolt have offered an engaging and thought provoking roadmap for the emerging field of Web Science. They crisply survey what lies ahead as the Web becomes ubiquitous, and they invite everyone -- not just academics and experts -- to think about how to preserve the Web's magic while avoiding its most unsettling prospects." -- Jonathan Zittrain, Professor of Internet Governance and Regulation, Oxford University

"This book will give anyone concerned about the growing number of CCTV cameras in our streets or the way young people expose their secrets on Facebook a sound appreciation of the wider issues. It will also arm them with a better ability to judge the trade-offs that we are asked to make on a daily basis between public and private." -- Bill Thompson, BBC Focus Magazine

"While critics have variously demanded control over the internet, the practical means have been ignored; O'Hara and Shadbolt readdress this, offering detailed accounts of how technology that threatens privacy can be used to protect it." -- Times Literary Supplement, May 27, 2008

About the Author

Kieron O'Hara is Senior Research Fellow in Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton, UK. He is the author or co-author of nine other books about technology, politics and society, including Inequality.com: Power, Poverty, and the Digital Divide, also published by Oneworld.Nigel Shadbolt is Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Southampton, UK, and was President of the British Computer Society in its 50th anniversary year 2006-2007. He is Chief Technology Officer of internet security firm Garlik, and a director of the Web Science Research Initiative. He is both a chartered psychologist and a chartered engineer, and sits on a number of UK national science and technology committees.

Product Details

• Paperback: 294 pages
• Publisher: Oneworld (March 3, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1851685545
• ISBN-13: 978-1851685547
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,497,194 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Watching the detectives, infuriatingly., April 30, 2009

By 

Luke Martin (Sydney, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Spy in the Coffee Machine (Paperback)

I found this in a charity shop and wondered how it ended up there. I mean, it was only published last year, came from a reputable academic press and discussed something that's particularly important to our lives today.

Then I read it.

There's not anything wrong with this book per se. As an overview of privacy and of the possible ramifications of technology on our privacy, it's fine. But it seems to never really become much more than an overview.

The authors are unquestionably knowledgeable about the subject of privacy, and about how communication and browsing behaviour on the Internet affect personal (and community) privacy - but it seems that they are hamstrung by the book's attempt to appeal to as wide an audience as possible. The chapters on case-studies of other nations' handling of the Net seem particularly light-on, in my view.

There's some interesting thoughts provoked by this book; the exploration of Moore's Law and the ramifications on personal surveillance, and the possible ways of ensuring government transparency on surveillance are discussion-starters. But on the whole, the book left me feeling a little unsatisfied.

That said, I suppose this is a rapidly moving area; perhaps this work would be better served in an online, easily-updated format? It's funny - something printed last year can already seem out of date, so quickly are privacy and censorship debates moving.