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Data and Goliath: The Hidden Battles to Collect Your Data and Control Your World by Bruce Schneier
lifepluspreston's review against another edition
4.0
Data and Goliath by Bruce Schneier--Schneier quickly and adeptly dives into the data we leak out every day and the corporate and government vacuums that suck it all up for their own purposes. This is the most strident that I've seen Schneier write, he sees data privacy as the singular issue we are failing at, with what he views as potentially catastrophic consequences. The reforms he proposed are similarly revolutionary (and likely so far out of reach as to be classified as fantasy). He wants, for example, the NSA to disclose zero-day exploits it identifies rather than exploiting them for their own purposes. It's a well-meaning, but ultimately sad book. Thumbs up.
joumana's review against another edition
medium-paced
5.0
I am really enjoying this Bruce Schneier! I learned so much from this book, and I highly recommend it. I need more time to process it and write a proper review!
rodhilton's review
5.0
Data and Goliath is an eye-opening read. I mean, I understand how I'm under constant surveillance due to things like my smartphone or cookies or Facebook, and I understand that the government gets access to a lot of this information via the Snowden leaks, but I guess I never fully connected all the dots enough in a single unified understanding of my world. Bruce Schneier provides it.
Most of the book is somewhat technical, helping the reader understand how data about them is collected and used. It does a good job of disseminating the Snowden whistleblowing information as well, so it's all very informative. That being said, the level of information often made me feel hopeless, like there was nothing that could be done and I almost had to just accept that this is how life is now.
The final few chapters offer some respite from this feeling of hopelessness. It contains sections on what governments ought to do, what people should do in the macro sense, and even what people should do in the micro sense, just for themselves to avoid surveillance. Schneier isn't idealistic about it either, he's pragmatic, and fully admits that there are some data people will be willing to turn over for convenience, security, or usability. There's nothing wrong with that, everyone's got to find their sweet spot.
Mostly though, I just came away feeling like Bruce Schneier is a national treasure. Can I vote for him for some kind of public office? Anything really? In a world of seemingly limitless insanity, he's a consistently sane voice. I highly recommend everyone read Data and Goliath.
Most of the book is somewhat technical, helping the reader understand how data about them is collected and used. It does a good job of disseminating the Snowden whistleblowing information as well, so it's all very informative. That being said, the level of information often made me feel hopeless, like there was nothing that could be done and I almost had to just accept that this is how life is now.
The final few chapters offer some respite from this feeling of hopelessness. It contains sections on what governments ought to do, what people should do in the macro sense, and even what people should do in the micro sense, just for themselves to avoid surveillance. Schneier isn't idealistic about it either, he's pragmatic, and fully admits that there are some data people will be willing to turn over for convenience, security, or usability. There's nothing wrong with that, everyone's got to find their sweet spot.
Mostly though, I just came away feeling like Bruce Schneier is a national treasure. Can I vote for him for some kind of public office? Anything really? In a world of seemingly limitless insanity, he's a consistently sane voice. I highly recommend everyone read Data and Goliath.
lemonsaurus's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
4.5
Data and Goliath is an incredibly interesting, albeit dense and dry, read about the current lack of data protection and privacy, and what changes would need to occur in policy for the Information Age to correct course away from a dystopian cyberpunk future, but like the more boring kind that wouldn't make a popular video game or ttrpg franchise.
kcb263's review against another edition
4.0
I do not agree with everything the author proposes or the way he interprets some findings, however I applaud and appreciate the way he presents his findings without doing so in a heavy handed way. Well researched and a very relevant topic that affects all of us.
tomrrandall's review against another edition
3.0
Good 0verview, and not too long. Suffered a little from too broad a focus but I'm not sure how it could've been narrowed.
kyledhebert's review
3.0
Invaluable. A clear headed well-written book about the cost of mass surveillance.
teagueamania's review
4.0
Events rapidly overtook Schneier's writing. This obviously isn't his fault: the book is carefully researched, well written, and exhaustively describes the predicament we, the internet-using public, created for ourselves. We exchanged essentially every detail there is to know about ourselves to get free access to services; potentially the entire sum of human knowledge, but we lack anything like omnipotence to go with our pseudo-omniscience. We're unable either to keep secrets or tell when advertising or governmenta lie to us. This seems to present no problem for the general public, who reelect pretty much the same politicians, buy more and more from Amazon, and use Facebook at the same rate they did when this book came out in 2015. Yahoo leaked information on over a billion customers, a major credit agency did the same for virtually every adult in the United States, and Facebook was purportedly used to install a US President. None of which seems to have roused us to demand anything close to the measures Schneier tells us are necessary to guard our democratic society.
So read this book to understand the problem, which is diagnosed expertly. Solutions will be more difficult, and remain pipe dreams until the day we tire of being commodities... if that ever happens.
So read this book to understand the problem, which is diagnosed expertly. Solutions will be more difficult, and remain pipe dreams until the day we tire of being commodities... if that ever happens.
jdferron's review
3.0
Couldn't get through the entire book. I love the concern he has for society in general and the amount of data being captured, manipulated, and controlled. I also like some of his suggestions for improvement (as I've skipped ahead in the book).
Would probably need to re-read completely if I decided to get into this topic into more detail.
Would probably need to re-read completely if I decided to get into this topic into more detail.