Fight for Privacy

Protecting Dignity, Identity, and Love in the Digital Age

by Danielle Keats Citron

English language

Published Nov. 28, 2022 by Norton & Company, Incorporated, W. W..

ISBN:: 978-0-393-88232-2

(3 reviews)

The essential road map for understanding―and defending―your right to privacy in the twenty-first century.

Privacy is disappearing. From our sex lives to our workout routines, the details of our lives once relegated to pen and paper have joined the slipstream of new technology. As a MacArthur fellow and distinguished professor of law at the University of Virginia, acclaimed civil rights advocate Danielle Citron has spent decades working with lawmakers and stakeholders across the globe to protect what she calls intimate privacy―encompassing our bodies, health, gender, and relationships. When intimate privacy becomes data, corporations know exactly when to flash that ad for a new drug or pregnancy test. Social and political forces know how to manipulate what you think and who you trust, leveraging sensitive secrets and deepfake videos to ruin or silence opponents. And as new technologies invite new violations, people have power over one another like never before, from …

The essential road map for understanding―and defending―your right to privacy in the twenty-first century.

A masterful new look at privacy in the twenty-first century, The Fight for Privacy takes the focus off Silicon Valley moguls to investigate the price we pay as technology migrates deeper into every aspect of our lives: entering our bedrooms and our bathrooms and our midnight texts; our relationships with friends, family, lovers, and kids; and even our relationship with ourselves.

Drawing on in-depth interviews with victims, activists, and advocates, Citron brings this headline issue home for readers by weaving together visceral stories about the countless ways that corporate and individual violators exploit privacy loopholes. Exploring why the law has struggled to keep up, she reveals how our current system leaves victims―particularly women, LGBTQ+ people, and marginalized groups―shamed and powerless while perpetrators profit, warping cultural norms around the world.

Yet there is a solution to our toxic relationship with technology and privacy: fighting for intimate privacy as a civil right. Collectively, Citron argues, citizens, lawmakers, and corporations have the power to create a new reality where privacy is valued and people are protected as they embrace what technology offers. Introducing readers to the trailblazing work of advocates today, Citron urges readers to join the fight. Your intimate life shouldn’t be traded for profit or wielded against you for power: it belongs to you. With Citron as our guide, we can take back control of our data and build a better future for the next, ever more digital, generation.

3 editions

bwaber reviewed Fight for Privacy by Danielle Keats Citron

An Ideologically-Tinged, Somewhat Informative Book on Intimate Privacy

3 stars

There's deep, qualitative insight in this book about how intimate privacy has been increasingly compromised by the proliferation of digital tools throughout our lives. This is complemented by the sections Citron devotes to case law and different legal regimes around protecting privacy and intimate privacy specifically.

One of the knocks for me on this book is that the title is misleading - I think if it was called "the fight for intimate privacy" it would be much more clear what was going to be tackled here. As it stands, other privacy topics are barely covered. I would've also liked a lot more on the legal analysis of this topic, given the author's expertise as one of the preeminent legal scholars on the topic. The anecdotes and stories are useful up to a point, but after hearing a number of similar terrible stories of privacy violations I felt like many issues …

From this perspective, I would recommend this book to those looking to understand more around the landscape of intimate privacy harms and possible legal remedies. For those looking for a broader coverage of privacy, you'll probably leave disappointed.

bonkybot reviewed Fight for Privacy by Danielle Keats Citron

A great overview of privacy violations and what to do

4 stars

This book starts off really strong with a very broad enumeration of the personal and social impact privacy violations can have as well as the many different ways our privacy is being systematically and ruthlessly violated. The beginning third of the book was wonderful. However, it then spends a lot of time tip-toeing around definitions and legal minutiae before getting to the crux of her argument, saying privacy needs to be treated as a basic human right. She does a great job again talking about all the various ways we need to be addressing privacy from a societal perspective, law, law enforcement, culture, education.

The biggest qualm I have with this book is that it doesn't seem to have an audience in mind. Her tone is addressing the average woman with no connection to privacy, and that would be fine if she didn't get so hung up on legal details …

For those privacy focused, I'd highly recommending reading at least the first few chapters. The single greatest highlight of this book was in it's ability to show why privacy is important for everyone, not just those "with something to hide". I really appreciated the focus on how devastating certain privacy violations can impact someone's life and that it cannot possibly be each person's responsibility to have perfect digital hygiene.

bwaber

rated it

Sep 4