Database Nation

Database Nation PDF Author: Simson Garfinkel
Publisher: "O'Reilly Media, Inc."
ISBN: 0596550642
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 339

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Book Description
Fifty years ago, in 1984, George Orwell imagined a future in which privacy was demolished by a totalitarian state that used spies, video surveillance, historical revisionism, and control over the media to maintain its power. Those who worry about personal privacy and identity--especially in this day of technologies that encroach upon these rights--still use Orwell's "Big Brother" language to discuss privacy issues. But the reality is that the age of a monolithic Big Brother is over. And yet the threats are perhaps even more likely to destroy the rights we've assumed were ours.Database Nation: The Death of Privacy in the 21st Century shows how, in these early years of the 21st century, advances in technology endanger our privacy in ways never before imagined. Direct marketers and retailers track our every purchase; surveillance cameras observe our movements; mobile phones will soon report our location to those who want to track us; government eavesdroppers listen in on private communications; misused medical records turn our bodies and our histories against us; and linked databases assemble detailed consumer profiles used to predict and influence our behavior. Privacy--the most basic of our civil rights--is in grave peril.Simson Garfinkel--journalist, entrepreneur, and international authority on computer security--has devoted his career to testing new technologies and warning about their implications. This newly revised update of the popular hardcover edition of Database Nation is his compelling account of how invasive technologies will affect our lives in the coming years. It's a timely, far-reaching, entertaining, and thought-provoking look at the serious threats to privacy facing us today. The book poses a disturbing question: how can we protect our basic rights to privacy, identity, and autonomy when technology is making invasion and control easier than ever before?Garfinkel's captivating blend of journalism, storytelling, and futurism is a call to arms. It will frighten, entertain, and ultimately convince us that we must take action now to protect our privacy and identity before it's too late.

The World Factbook 2003

The World Factbook 2003 PDF Author: United States. Central Intelligence Agency
Publisher: Potomac Books
ISBN: 9781574886412
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 712

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Book Description
By intelligence officials for intelligent people

The Global Findex Database 2017

The Global Findex Database 2017 PDF Author: Asli Demirguc-Kunt
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 1464812683
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 148

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Book Description
In 2011 the World Bank—with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation—launched the Global Findex database, the world's most comprehensive data set on how adults save, borrow, make payments, and manage risk. Drawing on survey data collected in collaboration with Gallup, Inc., the Global Findex database covers more than 140 economies around the world. The initial survey round was followed by a second one in 2014 and by a third in 2017. Compiled using nationally representative surveys of more than 150,000 adults age 15 and above in over 140 economies, The Global Findex Database 2017: Measuring Financial Inclusion and the Fintech Revolution includes updated indicators on access to and use of formal and informal financial services. It has additional data on the use of financial technology (or fintech), including the use of mobile phones and the Internet to conduct financial transactions. The data reveal opportunities to expand access to financial services among people who do not have an account—the unbanked—as well as to promote greater use of digital financial services among those who do have an account. The Global Findex database has become a mainstay of global efforts to promote financial inclusion. In addition to being widely cited by scholars and development practitioners, Global Findex data are used to track progress toward the World Bank goal of Universal Financial Access by 2020 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The database, the full text of the report, and the underlying country-level data for all figures—along with the questionnaire, the survey methodology, and other relevant materials—are available at www.worldbank.org/globalfindex.

The Death of Privacy

The Death of Privacy PDF Author: Gini Scott
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 1462048323
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 404

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Book Description
Today, personal privacy is becoming a thing of the past due to the information revolution, the intrusive gossip hungry media, and other social and technological developments making everyone's life an open book. As a result, individuals and organized groups have been fighting to create more privacy protections from those seeking to invade their privacy and learn information about them, which can quickly be spread worldwide due to the power of the Internet. The Death of Privacy raises intriguing questions about an individual's desire for the right to privacy versus Big Brother's "right to know". For example: May an employer inquire about an employee's personal history beyond details that may affect job performance? Just how far can the press go in revealing anything about anyone? Can the police demand to search your home or car as part of an official investigation in your neighborhood? What privacy protection exists if your name and address are obtained by marketers and mailing list companies? How do the "new technologies"-cellular phones, faxes, e-mail, computer bulletin boards-influence the overall future of privacy? Dr. Gini Graham Scott, a nationally recognized expert on personal privacy and other related issues, gives a thoughtful overview of privacy battles in and out of the courtroom that have directly influenced what can remain private. In addition, this book shows the growing impact of print and broadcast media from the early privacy skirmishes generated by the press back in the late 1800s through the mid1990s, which turned today's media into tabloid journalism. The Death of Privacy steers an objective course in explaining the varying views on both sides of the battles, while advocating the right of individuals to maintain as much personal privacy protection of possible. This book will be of importance to anyone who wants to understand the decline of personal privacy today, and will be of special interest to sociologists, legal and medical professionals, politicians, historians, and individual rights' advocates, still fighting for personal privacy today.

Status of the Nation's Highways, Bridges and Transit: Conditions and Performance

Status of the Nation's Highways, Bridges and Transit: Conditions and Performance PDF Author: Barry Leonard
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 1437931219
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 622

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Book Description
This Conditions and Performance (C&P) report is intended to provide decision makers with an objective appraisal of the physical conditions, operational performances, and financing mechanisms of highways, bridges, and transit systems based both on the current state of these systems and on the projected future state of these systems under a set of alternative future investment scenarios. This report offers a comprehensive, data-driven background to support the development and evaluation of legislative, program, and budget options at all levels of government. This report consolidates conditions, performance, and financial data provided by States, local governments, and mass transit operators to provide a national-level summary. Illus.

Expanding Access to Research Data

Expanding Access to Research Data PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309100127
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 133

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Book Description
Policy makers need information about the nationâ€"ranging from trends in the overall economy down to the use by individuals of Medicareâ€"in order to evaluate existing programs and to develop new ones. This information often comes from research based on data about individual people, households, and businesses and other organizations, collected by statistical agencies. The benefit of increasing data accessibility to researchers and analysts is better informed public policy. To realize this benefit, a variety of modes for data accessâ€" including restricted access to confidential data and unrestricted access to appropriately altered public-use dataâ€"must be used. The risk of expanded access to potentially sensitive data is the increased probability of breaching the confidentiality of the data and, in turn, eroding public confidence in the data collection enterprise. Indeed, the statistical system of the United States ultimately depends on the willingness of the public to provide the information on which research data are based. Expanding Access to Research Data issues guidance on how to more fully exploit these tradeoffs. The panel's recommendations focus on needs highlighted by legal, social, and technological changes that have occurred during the last decade.

Evolving the High Performance Computing and Communications Initiative to Support the Nation's Information Infrastructure

Evolving the High Performance Computing and Communications Initiative to Support the Nation's Information Infrastructure PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309052777
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 134

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Book Description
Maintaining the United States' strong lead in information technology will require continued federal support of research in this area, most of which is currently funded under the High Performance Computing and Communications Initiative (HPCCI). The Initiative has already accomplished a great deal and should be continued. This book provides 13 major recommendations for refining both HPCCI and support of information technology research in general. It also provides a good overview of the development of HPCC technologies.

Children's Health, the Nation's Wealth

Children's Health, the Nation's Wealth PDF Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309166608
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
Children's health has clearly improved over the past several decades. Significant and positive gains have been made in lowering rates of infant mortality and morbidity from infectious diseases and accidental causes, improved access to health care, and reduction in the effects of environmental contaminants such as lead. Yet major questions still remain about how to assess the status of children's health, what factors should be monitored, and the appropriate measurement tools that should be used. Children's Health, the Nation's Wealth: Assessing and Improving Child Health provides a detailed examination of the information about children's health that is needed to help policy makers and program providers at the federal, state, and local levels. In order to improve children's health-and, thus, the health of future generations-it is critical to have data that can be used to assess both current conditions and possible future threats to children's health. This compelling book describes what is known about the health of children and what is needed to expand the knowledge. By strategically improving the health of children, we ensure healthier future generations to come.

Improving the Nation's Water Security

Improving the Nation's Water Security PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309105668
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 170

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Book Description
Concern over terrorist attacks since 2001 has directed attention to potential vulnerabilities of the nation's water and wastewater systems. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which leads federal efforts to protect the water sector, initiated a research program in 2002 to address immediate research and technical support needs. This report, conducted at EPA's request, evaluates research progress and provides a long-term vision for EPA's research program. The report recommends that EPA develop a strategic research plan, address gaps in expertise among EPA program managers and researchers, and improve its approaches to information dissemination. The report recommends several high-priority research topics for EPA, including conducting empirical research in behavioral science to better understand how to prepare people for water security incidents.

Status of the Nation's Highways, Bridges and Transit

Status of the Nation's Highways, Bridges and Transit PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Bridges
Languages : en
Pages : 348

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Book Description