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The Hidden History of Big Brother in America: How the Death of Privacy and the Rise of Surveillance Threaten Us and Our Democr acy - Paperback | Diverse Reads

The Hidden History of Big Brother in America: How the Death of Privacy and the Rise of Surveillance Threaten Us and Our Democr acy

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America’s most popular progressive radio host and New York Times bestselling author Thom Hartmann reveals how the government and corporate America misuse our personal data and shows how we can reclaim our privacy.

Most Americans are worried about how companies like Facebook invade their privacy and harvest their data, but many people don’t fully understand the details of how their information is being adapted and misused. In this thought-provoking and accessible book, Thom Hartmann reveals exactly how the government and corporations are tracking our every online move and using our data to buy elections, employ social control, and monetize our lives.

Hartmann uses extensive, vivid examples to highlight the consequences of Big Data on all aspects of our lives. He traces the history of surveillance and social control, looking back to how Big Brother invented whiteness to keep order and how surveillance began to be employed as a way to modify behavior. As he states, “The goal of those who violate privacy and use surveillance is almost always social control and behavior modification.”

Along with covering the history, Hartmann shows how we got to where we are today, how China—with its new Social Credit System—serves as a warning, and how we can and must avoid a similarly dystopian future. By delving into the Constitutional right to privacy, Hartmann reminds us of our civil right and shows how we can restore it.

ISBN-13: 9781523001026

Media Type: Paperback

Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers

Publication Date: 03-08-2022

Pages: 184

Product Dimensions: 4.90(w) x 6.90(h) x 0.70(d)

Series: Thom Hartmann Hidden History

Thom Hartmann is a four-time winner of the Project Censored Award, a New York Times bestselling author of thirty-three books, and America’s #1 progressive talk radio show host. His show is syndicated on local for-profit and nonprofit stations and broadcasts nationwide and worldwide. It is also simulcast on television into nearly 60 million US and Canadian homes.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Big Picture of Social Control vs. Democracy 1

Part 1 Big Brother and Social Control 13

Big Brother and the Puritans 14

Big Brother in the Slave Trade 19

Big Brother Invents "Whiteness" to Keep Power 23

Frederick Douglass: Mental Emancipation Leads to Social Emancipation 28

Why the Founders Didn't Explicitly Protect Our Privacy 31

Privacy Evolves in US Law 35

Surveillance and Social Control in East Germany 37

US Federal and State Big Brothers 42

Democracy Requires Trust; Authoritarianism Requires Fear 44

Part 2 Big Brother and the Emergence of Surveillance Capitalism 49

The Surveillance Industry Is Booming 50

Big Brother Goes Commercial 52

Commercial Big Brother: So, You Want to Rent an Apartment? 53

Commercial Big Brother: So, You're Looking for a Job? 54

Commercial Big Brother: So, You Want to Return a Product You Bought? 55

Commercial Big Brother: So, You Want to Call Customer Service? 56

Commercial Big Brother: So, You Want to Shop for the Best Deal? 58

The Bottom Line? Your Life Is Profitable 60

Surveillance and Social Control: We Change When We're Watched 68

Social Control and Social Cooling 71

Big Data: Surveillance Monopolists 73

Part 3 Big Brother and the Real Global Info Wars 81

Privacy, Cybersecurity, National Security, and the Future of Warfare 82

How Trump Undermined Our Cybersecurity 89

When Big Brother's Marketing Is Concentrated to Lethal Levels 94

When Big Brother Trades Your Privacy for Its Own Power and Security 104

Are We Living with de Tocqueville's Kinder and Gentler Big Brother? 110

The Trump Era: A High-Water Mark of Big Brother Lies for Social Control 112

Beyond Elections: Big Brother in Social Media Can Kill 116

Part 4 Putting the Reins on Surveillance Capitalism 119

Software or Spyware? 120

Biometrics 124

The "Right to Be Forgotten" 127

YouTube, Facebook, and Porn: Regulate Social Media 130

How Much Big Brother Will Modern People Tolerate? 134

The Fourth Amendment Is Not for Sale Act of 2021 140

Are We Doomed to Live under Big Brother's Watchful Eye? 142

Notes 149

Acknowledgments 159

Index 161

About the Author 169