Exploding Data: Reclaiming Our Cyber Security in the Digital Age

by Michael Chertoff Narrated by Jonathan Yen

Overview

In this bracing book, Michael Chertoff makes clear that our laws and policies surrounding the protection of personal information, written for an earlier time, need to be completely overhauled in the Internet era. On the one hand, the collection of data—more widespread by business than by government, and impossible to stop—should be facilitated as an ultimate protection for society. On the other, standards under which information can be inspected, analyzed, or used must be significantly tightened. In offering his compelling call for action, Chertoff argues that what is at stake is not so much the simple loss of privacy, which is almost impossible to protect, but of individual autonomy—the ability to make personal choices free of manipulation or coercion.

Offering colorful stories over many decades that illuminate the three periods of data gathering we have experienced, Chertoff explains the complex legalities surrounding issues of data collection and dissemination today, and charts a path that balances the needs of government, business, and individuals alike.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

05/14/2018
Chertoff, former federal appeals court judge and secretary of homeland security from 2005 to 2009, argues bluntly in this useful overview of the scope and implications of the data revolution that the general notion of privacy, as “the ability to hide or shield our actions and thoughts from prying eyes” is too narrow a value. In a world governed by data analytics, Chertoff asserts, “what we can and should care about is the broader value of autonomy, which is at the very core of freedom.” He makes clear the alarming extent that personal autonomy—“the freedom to make personal choices that affect our values and our destiny”—is in jeopardy today and the necessary legal changes needed to retain it. He begins with the basics of how digital communications work and then provides a history of surveillance in America. Wireless internet access, smart phones, and cloud storage have rapidly increased the rate of data collection and analysis in the private sector, allowing companies to sell targeted ads and, more significantly, assess the behavior of individual users and then sell that information to other companies for purposes like insurance provider pricing. Chertoff proposes common-sense recommendations as to how laws should change to keep pace with evolving technology, advocating for stronger restrictions on government and corporate “analysis, dissemination and use” of data. This book works as both a Big Data primer and a clear-sighted road map for legislative changes from a previous high-profile proponent of government surveillance. (July)

From the Publisher

Praise for Exploding Data:

“An important and insightful critique . . . [Michael Chertoff] argues that the new legal regime should address the need for Internet service providers to be responsible for policing the security of their networks, including ensuring that extremist websites and the sites that promote ‘fake news’ are carefully monitored and controlled . . . An authoritative guide to understanding the legal and security challenges posed by the rapidly evolving digitally driven cyber landscape.”—Washington Times

“[Chertoff] advocates, for the greater public good, a secure communications infrastructure protected by ubiquitous encryption at the device, server, and enterprise level without building in means for government monitoring. What’s actually at stake isn’t simply loss of privacy but individual autonomy—personal choices unfettered by manipulation and force. A tremendous resource for any reader about ever-shifting threats embedded in data collection and control.”—Library Journal (starred review)

“Timely . . . Chertoff has a unique perspective on data security and its implications for citizen rights as he looks at the history of and changes in privacy laws since the founding of the U.S. . . . Chertoff states that it’s time to shift our priorities from privacy to autonomy as the expansion of data the government collects should be accompanied by a tightening of rules regulating how and when data can be excavated. A serious but accessible book on an important subject that affects us all.”—Booklist

“The former Secretary of Homeland Security surveys the brave new world of data collection and analysis and finds that both the legal system and international relations have yet to keep pace with technology . . . The author’s experience in these areas runs deep, and he shows reasons for concern in areas many readers might not have considered . . . The world of data as illuminated here would have scared George Orwell.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Few people—maybe only Michael Chertoff—could write a book like this. It combines his unique experience as Federal prosecutor, judge, assistant attorney general on 9/11 and then Secretary of Homeland Security to describe in layman’s language the ubiquity of “digital exhaust” we leave for others to learn about us and lawfully or unlawfully track us. This “must read” book describes the barriers to “opting out” and the need to modernize legal authorities if we are to protect both security and privacy.”—Jane Harman, CEO of the Wilson Center and former member of U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence and Homeland Security committees

“When George Orwell wrote 1984, little did he suspect that most of us would willingly carry the tools of our surveillance in our pockets. Michael Chertoff brings his unmatched legal skills and experience to propose tougher restrictions on the use, retention and dissemination of the data that is exploding around us. This important book is a vote for sanity in the midst of chaotic change.”—Joseph S. Nye, Jr., author of The Future of Power

“This important book offers highly intelligent commentary, of a kind I have not read elsewhere, on the challenges posed by the technology revolution and the accompanying ‘explosion’ of data. Michael Chertoff’s experience as a leader in national security, where we worked together, brings exceptional insight to issues we spend so much time talking about and find difficult to understand. He explains the pervasive implications for individual privacy, personal safety, national security and international relations. He highlights key issues often overlooked, notably the role of data analytics. I especially recommend the advice on how best to approach private sector encryption and the balance between privacy and security. This is a ‘must read’ for experts and the general public alike. We all have interests at stake. We must all learn how best to protect them.”—Sir John Scarlett, Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) 2004-2009

“In his characteristic thoughtful and balanced manner, my friend and predecessor Mike Chertoff highlights in this new book not only our eroding privacy in the era of big data, but also the risks of loss of our freedom to make personal choices that this era presents. Those in law enforcement, national security, corporate America and even the public at large should take the time to understand what Mike is saying to us.”—Jeh Johnson, former Secretary of Homeland Security 2013-2017

“Exploding Data: What a great title for a book in an age of surveillance, botnets, digital piracy, the internet of things and now Facebook’s loss of personal data. And former Secretary of Homeland Security Mike Chertoff does not disappoint as he introduces readers to the fundamentals of personal, national and global cyber security. Beyond education, his is also a call to action—to restructure laws, policies and practices in the face of technological disruption.”—General Michael V. Hayden, former Director of the National Security Agency, former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, and author of Playing to the Edge: American Intelligence in the Age of Terror

“For citizens and policymakers who care about privacy in the cyber era, thoughtful illumination from a seasoned practitioner and wise judge.”—Graham Allison, author of Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides’s Trap?

“Exploding Data is a must read, cogent analysis of the impact of the data revolution on our individual safety, privacy and freedom that we are only now reckoning with in light of Cambridge Analytica and the almost daily reports of data breaches and cyber offenses. Michael Chertoff lays out a clear and thoughtful roadmap for policy makers to act with urgency to update our laws to reflect our current cyber reality.”—Senator Kelly Ayotte

“Seems that daily one hears one disturbing and vexing story after another about the theft of personal data, be it highly coveted Social Security numbers, credit card information, crucial national security secrets or other vital personal data that ‘someone’ was meant to securitize but failed. Former Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff frames the complicated and growing problem in Exploding Data. Part digital evolution history, part relatable vignettes of cyber hacks, Chertoff probes the challenges of securing private and government data for anyone using the internet and offers policy and legislative remedies. Must read for policy wonks and internet-phobes alike.”—Ellen Tauscher, former U. S. Representative and Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs

Praise for Homeland Security:

“In terms of insight, intellect, and experience, Michael Chertoff is uniquely placed to undertake diagnosis and offer prescriptions for the range of contemporary dangers to our security. He addresses those threats, both man-made and natural, with a clarity of thought and conviction of purpose that provides an immense service and inspiration to all of us, far beyond the shores of his own homeland.”—John Reid, former UK Home Secretary and Defense Secretary

“A valuable tool for emergency management and homeland security practitioners in all sectors and of all levels. It addresses a wider audience by challenging policymakers to continue crafting workable solutions . . . It also provides a starting point for scholarly research. But, most important, it makes you think.”—Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management

“As memories of 9/11 fade, the nation has required a tough-minded realism against growing complacency. In Michael Chertoff, the nation had a keen thinker, a straight talker, an honest broker, and a diligent doer at the head of the Department of Homeland Security. Michael Chertoff remains driven to inform and persuade. In comprehensive fashion, this book tells America and the world what we’ve been doing and what we still must do to enhance our safety and security.”—Frances M. Fragos Townsend, former homeland security adviser to President George W. Bush

“Michael Chertoff offers a clear-eyed assessment of the threats we face and how to confront them. Among his good ideas are the use of soft power to project and protect America’s values, and improved efforts to prepare—rather than scare—an anxious public. In contrast to the toxic political environment that surrounded him, Chertoff’s pragmatism and lack of partisanship are on full display, and he has written a valuable primer for his very able successor.”—Representative Jane Harman (D., Calif.), chair of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Intelligence and Terrorism Risk Assessment

“America’s response to the 9/11 tragedy was the establishment of a new Department of Homeland Security created from 22 separate federal agencies. Just about every issue imaginable came to this new department, from protecting our borders and ensuring the safety of passengers in the air from terrorist attacks to maintaining defenses against natural disasters. Michael Chertoff, only the second person to serve as secretary in this office, describes with penetrating analysis the strategy that has emerged from this huge challenge, the eyes-open risk-costs analysis that has made it manageable, and the steps that have been taken to turn this gigantic effort into a well-coordinated and effective line of defense for our citizens. What a useful gift to his new successor, former Governor Janet Napolitano.”—William Webster, chairman, Homeland Security Advisory Council, former FBI director, former CIA director

Kirkus Reviews

2018-04-30
The former Secretary of Homeland Security surveys the brave new world of data collection and analysis and finds that both the legal system and international relations have yet to keep pace with technology.Chertoff (Homeland Security: Assessing the First Five Years, 2009), who has also served as a judge and a prosecutor, contrasts the present day with earlier eras when there was more of a strong distinction between public and private. An invasion of privacy once meant encroaching on one's property, but technology has dissolved any expectation of privacy or even a sense of who is doing the encroaching and what is being encroached upon. We share our information freely despite the consequences, we depend on smartphones that track us everywhere and lack adequate safeguards, and we invite devices into our homes to monitor our preferences and activities. In an era of facial-recognition software, laws reflect the days when surveillance was by camera (before every phone had one) or phone tapping (on landlines). "When technology has dramatically expanded the ability to monitor activities in a previously unrecognizable way, we need a new set of laws," writes the author, whose current company offers security consulting. He continues, "Inevitably, this will require tradeoffs between different values: privacy, autonomy, security, and the individual versus the collective interest." Chertoff shows how such an initiative is necessary as well as extremely challenging, as the internet transcends borders of nations that have very different attitudes toward individual rights and as the process involves different stages of collecting and analyzing data, by governments and commercial concerns alike. Though the writing rarely rises above workmanlike, the author's experience in these areas runs deep, and he shows reasons for concern in areas many readers might not have considered. "We frequently trade away our data for a short-term convenience or lower-cost gratification without realizing the long-term consequences," he warns—until our insurance companies start monitoring our grocery purchases and restaurant preferences to determine how healthy our diets are.The world of data as illuminated here would have scared George Orwell.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170215539
Publisher:	HighBridge Company
Publication date:	09/19/2018
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

In our world of big data, we want to give the government the appropriate legal authority to provide security while maintaining a sufficient scope of privacy and autonomy necessary for our human dignity. Citizens seek to enjoy the convenience and efficiency of modern commercial data-driven technology without putting their security and freedom at risk.

With its ability to generate and review massive amounts of data, today’s technology numbs society, creating social acceptance for our loss of privacy. Given the ease with which emails, telephone metadata, and other previously private information are captured by others, Americans have been surrendering control over electronic privacy. Today’s legal framework attempts to protect the right to privacy under a technology assumption that is decades old. We have come to accept the fact that our emails may be read and have become accustomed to our data being collected and used by others.

If privacy means the ability to hide or shield our actions and thoughts from prying eyes, that privacy ship has sailed. The volume of data we generate, and the analytic power that can be applied against that data, mean that few of us can remain opaque. I argue that the focus of our concern should shift to protecting our autonomy. We should maintain some degree of ownership and control over the data that we generate or that relates to us.

What is at stake is individual autonomy—the right to make the personal choices that effect our values and our destiny. A person can be manipulated and coerced many ways, but the most ominous involve the pressure that comes with constant, ongoing surveillance of our actions.

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