I loved this book. I think it’s a good, solid read for anyone who is concerned about their privacy and data but not sure what that means. The concepts in this book were well thought out and written so that it was easy to understand and the call to action for the reader definitely felt inspiring. The one thing I do wish this book talked more about was the concepts of things like revenge p*rn, blackmail, and stalking as well as data brokers because I feel that discussing the very real world scenarios of those and talking about how easy it is for that to happen would hammer the goal of this book even more and connect the concepts in a more personal way. Otherwise this is a great book, well worth the read.

There are too many books on privacy, but Carissa Véliz's Privacy is Power renews and extends the arguments in a very tight, focused and direct condemnation of Big Tech. Her argument is not merely that Big Tech abuses its users, but that its power is unnatural, and must eventually be reversed. Privacy will at some point become the norm again. Future generations, she says, will look at this period in history as a bizarre anomaly. That would be a hopeful turn of events. That's how bad it is today.

Her main point is that privacy is a basic human right, and Big Tech should not be allowed to invade and invalidate it at all, but certainly not without clarity and permission. No one should have to opt out, and it most definitely should not be a difficult process, let alone impossible. Most people don't even know what is being done to them, their privacy and their rights. But Véliz is here to tell everyone.

It's a newspeak world for the abusers: "Privately owned advertising and surveillance networks are called 'communities', citizens are 'users', addiction to screens is labelled 'engagement', our most sensitive information is considered 'data exhaust' or 'digital breadcrumbs', spyware is called 'cookies', documents that describe our lack of privacy are titled 'privacy policies', and what used to be considered wiretapping is now the bedrock of the internet economy."

Facebook is the poster child for bad behavior. It is continually being fined all over the world for its unending abuses of personal data. Facebook has been logging all Android-based phone calls and texts since 2015. It has given Netflix and Spotify permission to see and delete private messages. All its fun little quizzes and surveys have only one objective - get the user to give up more personal data. What cannot be had can instead be inferred from things like zip code, purchase history, schools. friends, posts and searches. Microtargeting allows big spenders to send specific ads to specific users, based on personal biases or prejudices in their data.

Donald Trump spent $44 million on Facebook in 2016. He presented six million different ads, making it seem like Trump had the reader personally nailed. Véliz says "Having one of the most powerful corporations in the world know so much about us and allowing it to show us messages that can influence our voting behavior during elections is insane, particularly if we didn't even audit it." "Facebook has not only allowed lies and fake news, it has prioritized them, given that paid ads get access to tools, such as microtargeting that maximize influence."

Data scouring is abusive everywhere: in browsers, on social media, on any site that asks questions, in healthcare, in surveys, elections, and schools. Recently, French President Emmanuel Macron visited Vladimir Putin to try to defuse the Ukraine situation. Putin sat 15 feet away at the other end of a conference table, and stood 15 feet away for their joint news conference. Why? Macron refused to take a required COVID test at the Kremlin. His handlers feared the Russians would use it to obtain Macron's DNA, and who knows what they might do with it. The rest of us mere mortals don't get to turn down such demands. DNA libraries are growing fast. Véliz fears people might one day be required to wear smartwatches. By law. At that point, every heartbeat, drop of sweat and location will be recorded by government, not just Apple.

DNA has proven to be problematic, sending the innocent to prison and making outrageous predictions on health and longevity. In the hands of advertisers, it can become obnoxiously invasive. It is pooled and sold, over and over again. It is available for any purpose the buyer wants.

US courts have shut down government attempts to obtain very personal data without reason or warrants, but no matter. They can just purchase it legally from data brokers, complete with obscene levels of detail. It saves them the effort required, and money is no object.

Smart speakers spy on their owners, sending household conversations back to Amazon and Google. This can include criticizing the neighbors or elected officials, life choices, arguments, financial difficulties, medical issues, plans to be away - everything. Véliz says people should have the minimal manners to let visitors know they have smart speakers.

But the speakers are just the obvious tools. Smart TVs do the same thing - they are always listening. Véliz says: "It tries to identify everything you watch on TV, and sends the data to the TV maker, third parties, or both. Researchers found that one Samsung smart TV had connected to more than 700 distinct internet addresses after being used for fifteen minutes. That’s the least of it. If you had time to read the privacy policies of the objects you buy, you would have noticed that your Samsung TV included the following warning: ‘Please be aware that if your spoken words include personal or other sensitive information, that information will be among the data captured and transmitted to a third party.'"

Smart appliances can be hacked, telling criminals when owners might not be home. Smart thermostats are obvious repositories of that kind of data. if the coffee maker didn't get used this morning, there's an excellent chance no one was there to use it. Smart doorbells add visuals. If you can see it over the internet, so can anyone who wants something from your home.

How can this be allowed? Véliz comes straight to the point; this is theft and coercion. No one should be allowed to gather this level of data on unwitting victims. She says "Bad tech is using us much more than we are using it." The profits from it are colossal. Google, which lives almost entirely off targeted ads, already profited about $10 from each of its more than a billion users back in 2013. Nine years later, it has set new profitability records.

It has long been known that personal data is toxic. National registries were the first target of invading Nazis, seeking lists of all Jews in the country, for example. Today, that level of knowledge is laughably simplistic. Far more depth is available to all who can pay. Even individuals can pay for reports and the victim will have no knowledge of it - until their bank account starts showing unauthorized charges. In an age when elected officials were the targets of nearly ten thousand death threats in 2021, this is worrisome.

Back on the internet, trackers can be planted on the systems of anyone without them having to download a program or app. They can come from single pixels in an email or in an ad. Those sites that even allow users to refuse trackers often make it close to impossible to do so, in a neverending list of checkboxes that must be unchecked individually, while still allowing the content through. Worse, it can happen every time the user visits. There are hot new companies who set up these systems, designed precisely to be discouraging or impossible for the user to opt out of, while fulfilling the legal requirement of notification.

Worse yet, children are being indoctrinated into thinking this is the way life is. Schools monitor internet traffic, record e-mails, and rate children on their conformity. Independence, curiosity and experimentation are issues to be dealt with. Instead of encouraging children to be children, they are teaching them to keep a low profile. Véliz says "Young children depend on their families and schools to protect their privacy. And the current trend is to monitor them from the time they are conceived with the excuse of keeping them safe."

The safety nonsense has really gotten out of hand. It seems to have started with Eric Schmidt, longtime CEO of Google. In discussing privacy for its users, Schmidt wondered "What have you got to hide?" as if it was privacy that was suspicious. But what everyone has to hide is login information, bank account numbers, medical histories, personal relationships, school records, and social media contributions, travel plans and social events among many other things. None of it anyone else's property. In an era when private property is paramount, it is astonishing that Big Tech has got off scot-free with its ever-increasing (if not boundless) abuse.

Where can it lead? Véliz looks to China, where everything is data to be used against you. E-mails, posts, and chats join DNA banks, iris scans, fingerprints, blood samples, outdoor camera networks, cameras and microphones inside people's homes, and local spying to award social points. "By the end of 2019, China had banned almost 27 million people from buying air tickets, and almost 6 million people from using the high-speed rail network."

There is, of necessity and inevitability, a long conclusion of advice, which most readers could probably guess by now. Don't take DNA tests. Don't fill out surveys. Use longer passwords, never the same one twice, and change them often. Clear cookies, opt out of trackers. Keep a separate e-mail account for all the sites that require e-mail addresses. Disclose Smart appliances, particularly speakers and TVs, to visitors. Disclose tagging of photos to the people you intend to tag. Use stickers to block the camera and the microphone on computers.

And protest. Ensure they all understand you object to data collection. Eventually, even Congress might take notice. "Privacy is about being able to keep certain intimate things to yourself – your thoughts, your experiences, your conversations, your plans. Human beings need privacy to be able to unwind from the burden of being with other people. We need privacy to explore new ideas freely, to make up our own minds. Privacy protects us from unwanted pressures and abuses of power. We need it to be autonomous individuals, and for democracies to function well we need citizens to be autonomous."

David Wineberg

This is an important addition to the surveillance literature that has blossomed over the last several years, available now in paperback format (first published in April 2021 in hardback). I would recommend this book over a large swath of others because it doesn't feel grossly slanted (Cyber Privacy), it delvers deeper than the most well-known work in the genre right now (The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, which is cited here numerous times and is an excellent introduction on the subject) and it offers practical applications. Veliz is an excellent writer and academic, so Privacy is Power automatically earns the nod over certain other books in the genre that come across as being very dry. Veliz writes in second person for segments of the book and, given her philosophy background, it is easy to see why: to offer the reader a chance to imagine scenarios, and then offer arguments.

It is true that this isn't a dry recitation of facts in a journalistic manner (although the book does have journalistic merit, as the author thoroughly cites her facts with a massive section of footnotes in the back of the book). The author does offer the reader guidance on how to have better control of privacy. She makes it clear early on that we all should be horrified by the massive erosion of privacy we allow in our capitalist societies. Big tech uses our data for their own profits. Often, people are too naive to realize the levels of the invasion of privacy after agreeing to the terms and conditions, for which one needs to be a lawyer to even be able to read to completion. I like how Veliz says at least when you are arrested in a democracy you are told "you have the right to remain silent," as no such promise is made when using technology. Big tech "allows" you to use their applications and in return, offers every last detail you offer to third parties for profit. Again, the fact that scientists have discovered your "anonymous" information can be revealed essentially with two to three easy data points ought to be scary. We are talking credit card information, medical records and much, much more.

Veliz offers practical solutions in limiting the amount of data you provide others (hint: smart appliances and to a lesser extent, social media). It should make people feel icky when they have a private conversation with a spouse while logged in to Facebook and discover shortly after a targeted ad for how to build a better marriage. This is beyond creepy and yet, some would trade in convenience for privacy. Veliz uses her background as a Professor of Philosophy with expertise in ethics for why you should be concerned and why we all need to make changes for a better future. Rest assured, her writing style is not overly dry. She coherently outlines her arguments and writes in an easy-to-follow manner. Highly recommended.

Thank you to both #NetGalley and Melville House Publishing/Melville House for providing me a copy of Carissa Veliz’s latest edition of, Privacy is Power, in exchange for an honest review.

I first learned about Carissa Veliz’s work through a privacy podcast and immediately purchased the 2021 edition of #PrivacyisPower. The 2022 version of #PrivacyisPower contains a new afterword that discusses geopolitics and data. Whether you work in data privacy or are a novice when it comes to the field, I highly recommend this book to anyone who cares about the surveillance landscape, the future of our democracy, and/or is generally interested in technology. Most importantly, I would gift this book to anyone who is a skeptic and thinks people who care about privacy are delusional and have joined the tinfoil hat-wearing crew.

The author builds a timeline that illustrates the erosion of consumers’ data privacy rights over the last five decades. She offers succinct explanations of some of the most egregious privacy violations in recent times (Hi #Facebook!) as well as illuminates less widely known facts about information privacy and consumer personal data (e.g., consumer scoring systems).

The book is divided into six main sections—some of which contain shorter segments on the primary topic. Part one offers a fictional account that demonstrates how often the average ordinary consumer loses privacy expectations and is a victim to data vultures on a daily basis. It is simultaneously hilarious and horrifying.

Part two delves into how society arrived at our bleak destination, beginning with the invention of the #PageRank algorithm (aka Google). Before the FIPs could be converted into law and regulate companies collecting consumer data, however, a tragic historical event intervened that gave rise to one of the most invasive government surveillance programs in the U.S. (that we know of). The section concludes with a summary of what and why certain aspects of privacy matter.

Part three captures the essence of the book’s namesake. It outlines the different powers that one can wield over other entities when they gain access to private data. Part four describes why data is a toxic substance and how it can be used to poison society, institutions, and individuals. Part five provides recommendations on how we might be able to stop the data economy through policy and regulation.

Personally, I found parts four and five to be the most fascinating sections, especially when the author explains the various threats that stem from mass processing of personal data. I also liked the fact that the author presented several solutions to address different data privacy issues, and also that she has an optimistic outlook. Oftentimes, it is too easy to depict privacy problems in negative terms.

Finally, part six wraps-up with tips on how individuals can help ensure that we gain back some of our privacy rights. The book ends, leaving the reader with a resounding and encouraging message: if we fail to act now, it is more than likely that the concept of privacy will completely vanish in the future. “Refuse the unacceptable. Take back control of your personal data, and privacy will prevail.”