Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
The release date for this book has been revised to … TBD.
(As of November 20, 2019, according to Amazon Product Details “This title has not yet been released.” The release date has been pushed back at least twice during 2019.)
By Hal Abelson, Ken Ledeen, Harry Lewis, & Wendy Seltzer
ISBN-13: 978-0134850016
ISBN-10: 0134850017
Blown to Bits, Second Edition is the brilliant, plain-English guide to digital technology, how it’s changing the world, and what you need to know to survive in tomorrow’s digital world. A best-seller when it was first published in 2010, the issues it addresses are more crucial than ever. Now, its expert authors have thoroughly updated Blown to Bits to demystify the social, political, and personal issues everyone is talking about: from social media and big data to fake news, cyberattacks, and privacy. Both authoritative and accessible, this guide doesn’t just reveal the workings of the technologies that are central to your life: it also illuminates the policy decisions citizens need to make about these technologies… because you can try to ignore them, but they won’t ignore you!
Blown to Bits, Second Edition answers questions like:
- Who owns all that data about you? What (if anything) do they owe you?
- How private is your medical information?
- Is it possible to send a truly secure message? How close can you come?
- How do you figure out who to trust for accurate news these days?
- What should you know about free speech on the Internet?
- Who’s watching you, what do they know about you, and what can they do with that knowledge?
- Do you have to say goodbye forever to privacy — and even to your personal identity?
- How can you protect yourself against out-of-control technologies — and the powerful organizations that wield them?
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Blown to Bits: Your Life, Liberty, and Happiness After the Digital Explosion (1st Edition)
Published by Pearson Tech Group, 2008
By Hal Abelson, Ken Ledeen & Harry Lewis
ISBN-13: 978-0137135592
ISBN-10: 9780137135592
Wherever you go‚ whatever you say, write, photograph, or buy‚ whatever prescriptions you take, or ATM withdrawals you make you are generating information. That information can be captured, digitized, retrieved, and copied ‚ anywhere on Earth, instantly. Sophisticated computers can increasingly uncover meaning in those digital traces‚ understanding, anticipating, and influencing you as never before.
Is this utopia? Or the dawning of a 1984/Brave New World horror world? Whatever you call it, it’s happening. What kind of world are we creating? What will it be like to live there? Blown to Bits offers powerful and controversial answers to these questions‚ and give you the knowledge you need to help shape your own digital future, not let others do it for you. Building on their pioneering joint MIT/Harvard course, the authors reveal how the digital revolution is changing everything, in ways that are stunning even the most informed experts.
You’ll discover ten paradoxical truths about digital data, and learn how those truths are overturning centuries-old assumptions about privacy, identity, and personal control.
You’ll view the indelible digital footprints you’re making when you search Google, send emails and text messages‚ write Microsoft Word documents‚ download MP3s‚ make cellphone calls‚ post blog entries‚ pay highway tolls‚ use your supermarket discount card. And you’ll see how others could be following those footprints, in ways you never thought about, and might not like.
Writing in plain English, the authors illuminate the myriad implications of the digital revolution, answering the questions you’ve wondered about‚ or ought to wonder about. Who owns all that data about you? What do they owe you? How private is your medical information? Is it possible to send a truly secure message? Who can you trust for accurate information when traditional media is replaced by thousands of unfiltered Internet sources?
Along the way, they reveal the decisions governments and corporations are making right now that will shape your future‚ and show how to have your say in those decisions. Because you have an enormous stake in the outcome. We all do.
(Note that the Second Edition was due to be published October, 2019.)
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