Published by Addison-Wesley Professional (March 17, 2021) © 2021
Hal Abelson | Ken Ledeen | Harry Lewis | Wendy SeltzerWhat you must know to protect yourself today
The digital technology explosion has blown everything to bits—and the blast has provided new challenges and opportunities. This second edition of Blown to Bits delivers the knowledge you need to take greater control of your information environment and thrive in a world that's coming whether you like it or not.
Straight from internationally respected Harvard/MIT experts, this plain-English bestseller has been fully revised for the latest controversies over social media, “fake news,” big data, cyberthreats, privacy, artificial intelligence and machine learning, self-driving cars, the Internet of Things, and much more.
• Discover who owns all that data about you—and what they can infer from it
• Learn to challenge algorithmic decisions
• See how close you can get to sending truly secure messages
• Decide whether you really want always-on cameras and microphones
• Explore the realities of Internet free speech
• Protect yourself against out-of-control technologies (and the powerful organizations that wield them)
You'll find clear explanations, practical examples, and real insight into what digital tech means to you—as an individual, and as a citizen.
Preface xvii
Chapter 1 Digital Explosion
Why Is It Happening, and What Is at Stake? 1
The Explosion of Bits, and Everything Else 4
The Koans of Bits 7
Good and Ill, Promise and Peril 17
Endnotes 19
Chapter 2 Naked in the Sunlight
Privacy Lost, Privacy Abandoned 21
1984 Is Here, and We Like It 21
Location, Location, Location 27
Big Brother, Abroad and in the United States 32
The Internet of Things 42
Endnotes 48
Chapter 3 Who Owns Your Privacy?
The Commercialization of Personal Data 51
What Kind of Vegetable Are You? 51
Footprints and Fingerprints 57
Fair Information Practice Principles 64
Always On 70
Endnotes 71
Chapter 4 Gatekeepers
Who's in Charge Here? 75
Who Controls the Flow of Bits? 75
The Open Internet? 76
Connecting the Dots: Designed for Sharing and Survival 79
The Internet Has No Gatekeepers? 85
Links Gatekeepers: Getting Connected 86
Search Gatekeepers: If You Can't Find It, Does It Exist? 94
Social Gatekeepers: Known by the Company You Keep 104
Endnotes 112
Chapter 5 Secret Bits
How Codes Became Unbreakable 117
Going Dark 117
Historical Cryptography 122
Lessons for the Internet Age 131
Secrecy Changes Forever 135
Cryptography Unsettled 147
Endnotes 148
Chapter 6 Balance Toppled
Who Owns the Bits? 153
Stealing Music 153
Automated Crimes, Automated Justice 155
The Peer-to-Peer Upheaval 160
No Commercial Skipping 167
Authorized Use Only 168
Forbidden Technology 172
Copyright Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out of Balance 177
The Limits of Property 183
Endnotes 187
Chapter 7 You Can't Say That on the Internet
Guarding the Frontiers of Digital Expression 193
Child Sex Trafficking Goes Digital 193
Publisher or Distributor? 198
Protecting Good Samaritans—and a Few Bad Ones 205
Digital Protection, Digital Censorship, and Self-Censorship 215
What About Social Media? 219
Takedowns 221
Endnotes 222
Chapter 8 Bits in the Air
Old Metaphors, New Technologies, and Free Speech 227
Censoring the Candidate 227
How Broadcasting Became Regulated 228
The Path to Spectrum Deregulation 241
The Most Beautiful Inventor in the World 245
What Does the Future Hold for Radio? 255
Endnotes 261
Chapter 9 The Next Frontier
AI and the Bits World of the Future 265
Thrown Under a Jaywalking Bus 266
What's Intelligent About Artificial Intelligence? 267
Machine Learning: I'll Figure It Out 268
Algorithmic Decisions: I Thought Only People Could Do That 273
What's Next 277
Bits Lighting Up the World 282
A Few Bits in Conclusion 287
Endnotes 288
Index 293