We are entering a new state of global hypersurveillance, one that risks making our understanding of privacy completely obsolete. As we increasingly resort to technology for our work and play, our electronic activity leaves behind digital footprints that can be used to track our movements. In our cars, telephones, even our coffee machines, tiny computers communicating wirelessly via the Internet can serve as miniature witnesses, forming powerful networks whose emergent behaviour can be very complex, intelligent ¿ and invasive. The question is: how much of an infringement on privacy are they? Could these intelligent networks be used by governments, criminals, or terrorists to undermine privacy or commit crimes? Or is it worth trading away our privacy for the immense benefits of the new technologies?
Realistic, insightful, and informed, The Spy in the Coffee Machine exposes the true extent to which our privacy has been invaded by everything from
closed-circuit televisions to blogs, and explores what ¿ if anything ¿ we can do to prevent it from disappearing forever in the digital age.
