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Feed
by M. T. Anderson
In this future world, most people have computer implants which "feed" them information, media, and advertisements. Consumerism is the natural order. Violet received her implant as a teen, instead of as an infant as most people do. When she joins a group of teens on a spring break trip to the moon, she and Titus start to fall in love, despite their differences. However, a hacker disrupts the feeds, damaging everyone. Although the feed is repaired, Violet and Titus will never be the same again. Feed works especially well as an audiobook since Listening Library animated the commercials and media announcements. The effect is exactly as if the content was being "fed" into your head by a force outside your control!
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The Boost
by Stephen Baker
While he has written several nonfiction books about technology, The Boost is Baker's fiction debut. Most of the world's population now have "boosts" or computer chips implanted into their brains to help with their daily lives. But after the United States lost the chip war, most of the chips are imported from China. When the lowly government worker Ralf discovers China has left a back-door in their chips which allows them to monitor anyone with the implants, this techno-thriller takes off. Ralf heads to Mexico to live among the only "wild" communities of humans without chips and to create a base from which to make a stand. While the premise isn't new, Baker's characters, plot twists, and innovative ideas create a unique and interesting page-turner.
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Little Brother
by Cory Doctorow
Seventeen-year-old master hacker Marcus (aka w1n5t0n) makes a habit of evading school security with a combination of his cellphone, laptop, WifFnder, resourcefulness, and friends. But while skipping school one day, he is caught near the site of a terrorist attack. After six days of harsh interrogation by the Department of Homeland Security, Marcus is released into an ominous San Francisco with a new awareness. Marcus organizes all his hacker friends to fight for their civil liberties and to throw DHS out of his town. Marcus is a wonderful hero fighting to change society, defend principles, and rebel against oppression -- in the spirit of The Hunger Games and Divergent. Doctorow's homage to Orwell raises questions in our post-9/11 and post-PATRIOT ACT world.
The afterword includes materials from an acclaimed cryptologist and a well-known hacker as well as bibliography of resources on intellectual freedom, information access and technological enhancements. Little Brother makes a great discussion book for teens and adults alike.
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The Circle
by Dave Eggers
Mae Holland is hired to work for The Circle, the world's largest Internet company, which is the successor to Facebook, Google, Twitter, and more. Mae is absorbed into the feel-good atmosphere of the Silicon Valley campus full of open office plans, glass dining facilities, and cushy dorms for those all-nighters. As she works to help The Circle create single online identities for everyone and an omnipresent surveillance system, the world outside The Circle melts away. The Circle continues to enhance security for the people while providing for their every need. While the tone is breezy, Eggers allows the reader to follow the "slippery slope" arguments right off the edge of the cliff -- in the tradition of Jonathan Swift's political treatises.
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Super Sad True Love Story
by Gary Shteyngart
This satiric look at the future centers around a May-December romance. Middle-aged Lenny, with a Peter-Pan complex, works for Post-Human Services, a life-extension company, and is obsessed with staying young. He is also obsessed with Eunice, a young Korean immigrant more interested in shopping and trying to survive her dysfunctional family than in Lenny. The story is revealed in alternating chapters from Lenny's old style diary entries and Eunice's digital messages. Through their eyes, we see an America where that has only one political party -- the Bipartisan Party, that is owned by China, and where the waiting list to move to Canada exceeds 23 million. While technology is a fundamental part of the collapse of and existing with this society, the story looks deeper into the human condition.
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Future Crimes: Everything is connected, everyone is vulnerable and what we can do about it
by Marc Goodman
As more and more products contain computer chips, the opportunities for cybercrime have exploded. Not only do cellphones and computers allow for users to be tracked but also cars, household appliances, and medical devices allow for surveillance as well. As digital information is collected by data brokers, social media, corporations, and countries, it creates an ever tempting target for criminals. Goodman calls for a paradigm shift in how we think about and fight crime, especially cybercrime. Marc Goodman is a senior adviser to INTERPOL, has worked with various United States law enforcement agencies, and founded the Future Crimes Institute.
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No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. surveillance state
by Glenn Greenwald
After receiving the top-secret documents from contractor Edward Snowden, The Guardian's investigative reporter Greenwald broke the story of the NSA's surveillance activities. No Place to Hide retains the fast-paced action of a spy-thriller while giving the complete narrative of events pre- and post- release of the Snowden documents. Greenwald does an excellent job of reporting and explaining the cooperation between private corporations and government agencies which made the surveillance feasible. He suggests the NSA's unofficial motto should be "Collect It All." Overall, Greenwald, like Snowden, argues against the NSA's actions.
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Big Data: A revolution that will transform how we live, work, and think
by Viktor Mayer-Schönberger
These authors argue that in the era of Big Data, the idea of privacy is obsolete. We click, we search, we call, we charge it, and computers can process all that data faster than we imagine. While it takes the CDC doctors weeks to verify the outbreak of a flu epidemic, Google can detect the increase the the number of flu related Internet searches almost immediately! Their ability to categorize and even identify people with the immensity of anonymous data will jolt the reader. Their enthusiasm comes through in the writing, whether you are a businessman hoping to use Big Data or a citizen concerned about the changing digital landscape.
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Dataclysm: Who we are when we think no one's looking
by Christian Rudder
As the co-founder of the dating site OKCupid, Rudder has a unique perspective on utilizing personal electronic information. Rudder delves into OKCupid, Twitter, Craigslist, Reddit, Google, Facebook, and others to explore how people define themselves as individuals and as groups. With an eccentric and humorous take, Rudder shows how "Big Data" is more than numbers and statistics -- its people. This book will appeal to everyone from sociologists to average folk trying to understand the new reality of a data driven world.
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Data and Goliath: The hidden battles to collect your data and control your world
by Bruce Schneier
Technology writer Schneier focuses on the societal costs of saving large amounts of electronic information and the surveillance such unrestricted saving allows. With corporations and the United States government storing vast quantities of data, even if they never examine specific pieces, Schneier worries about the future. Human communications and interplay all become part of a permanent record, thus changing social norms and emotional dynamics. With a historic record that can be retroactively accessed at any point, invasion of privacy also takes on a whole new meaning. Schneier highlights the legal, corporate, and governmental issues winding up with a list of suggestions to curb the potential dangers.
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