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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Attempts to keep an eye on Americans are nothing new, Parenti argues in this well-researched albeit pedantic history of ways people have been controlled in the U.S. Relying on the theories of scholar Michel Foucault-who used surveillance and control as two of his central themes-Parenti begins with slavery, focusing on the slave passes that slaveowners used to keep their human property in place. He then moves on to new crime controls, like fingerprinting, that accompanied increased urbanization. Throughout, he emphasizes how new technology has always increased the government's ability to spy on its citizens. So it's no surprise that the current rise in technology comes in for special criticism. Credit cards, ATMs, highway toll passes such as E-ZPass are all tools that the government can employ to curtail freedom. There's a lot of food for thought here (and some troubling aspects of American history brought to light). But Parenti's lens is too sharp and his antigovernment animus too apparent. As he himself admits, most Americans seem to think that some liberties are worth trading in if they bring more security. There's no doubt that books focusing on this topic can be helpful contributions to the national discourse, but when Parenti sees post-September 11 not as a shift toward cracking down on civil liberties but as more of the same, many readers will likely feel he is a bit off base.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Concerns about the tension between national security and privacy rights are as old as the nation itself. Parenti explores the historical and sociological roots of government surveillance, what he calls the soft cage, in the name of national interests, from slave owners' attempts to control slaves to modern police efforts to control crime. Social security cards, drivers' licenses, and credit cards all provide digital tracers for surveillance. Parenti exposes the threat to individual privacy posed by government efforts to maintain security and corporate efforts to gather market research. Surveillers can use technology from the monitoring potential of e-mail and cookies to the global positioning capabilities of cellular phones to the black boxes in the latest car models that record the driver's actions. Parenti overlays analysis of class and race with concerns about surveillance of individuals to produce an absorbing look at how we are being watched, observed, and analyzed, with implications beyond concerns for privacy rights. Vernon Ford
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
See all Editorial Reviews
Attempts to keep an eye on Americans are nothing new, Parenti argues in this well-researched albeit pedantic history of ways people have been controlled in the U.S. Relying on the theories of scholar Michel Foucault-who used surveillance and control as two of his central themes-Parenti begins with slavery, focusing on the slave passes that slaveowners used to keep their human property in place. He then moves on to new crime controls, like fingerprinting, that accompanied increased urbanization. Throughout, he emphasizes how new technology has always increased the government's ability to spy on its citizens. So it's no surprise that the current rise in technology comes in for special criticism. Credit cards, ATMs, highway toll passes such as E-ZPass are all tools that the government can employ to curtail freedom. There's a lot of food for thought here (and some troubling aspects of American history brought to light). But Parenti's lens is too sharp and his antigovernment animus too apparent. As he himself admits, most Americans seem to think that some liberties are worth trading in if they bring more security. There's no doubt that books focusing on this topic can be helpful contributions to the national discourse, but when Parenti sees post-September 11 not as a shift toward cracking down on civil liberties but as more of the same, many readers will likely feel he is a bit off base.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Concerns about the tension between national security and privacy rights are as old as the nation itself. Parenti explores the historical and sociological roots of government surveillance, what he calls the soft cage, in the name of national interests, from slave owners' attempts to control slaves to modern police efforts to control crime. Social security cards, drivers' licenses, and credit cards all provide digital tracers for surveillance. Parenti exposes the threat to individual privacy posed by government efforts to maintain security and corporate efforts to gather market research. Surveillers can use technology from the monitoring potential of e-mail and cookies to the global positioning capabilities of cellular phones to the black boxes in the latest car models that record the driver's actions. Parenti overlays analysis of class and race with concerns about surveillance of individuals to produce an absorbing look at how we are being watched, observed, and analyzed, with implications beyond concerns for privacy rights. Vernon Ford
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
See all Editorial Reviews
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