The Surveillance State - Big Data, Freedom, and You

by Paul Rosenzweig

Length: 12 hrs and 8 mins

A man shoots down a drone that is flying over his private property. A retail store uses predictive data analytics to send pregnancy-related advertising to a teenager who has not told her parents about her condition. A police officer places a GPS device on a suspected criminal's car to follow him and build a case against him.

The news is full of such stories, in which new technologies lead to dilemmas that could not have been imagined just a few decades ago. The 21st century has seen remarkable technological advances, with many wonderful benefits. But with these advances come new questions about privacy, security, civil liberties, and more.

Big Data is here, which means that government and private industries are collecting massive amounts of information about each of us - information that may be used in marketing, to help solve criminal investigations, and to promote the interests of national security. Pandora's box has been opened, but in many ways the government is behind the times, relying on legislation from the 1970s to inform its stance on regulating the collection and use of this information.

Taught by Professor Rosenzweig, JD, esteemed legal expert and professorial lecturer at The George Washington University School of Law, these 24 revealing lectures tackle the tough questions about surveillance and data in the 21st century. With Professor Rosenzweig's guidance, you'll scrutinize our system of oversight for intelligence agencies, and you'll consider the ways in which the information that is collected impacts (or potentially impacts) our civil liberties.

This is your reliable source for all the facts you need to make your own reasonable choices - and take a first step toward an empowered future.

Genres: Technology, Politics, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Law, Business, Internet

Audio CD

Published January 1, 2016

Reviews

[Clif Hostetler · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are two kinds of people.
1. Those who've been hacked and know it.
2. Those who've been hacked and don't know it.

The above aphorism was not taken from these twenty-four lectures. However, it does partly explain why I was motivated to listen to these lectures. I have a sneaking suspicion that it's true.

I read and listen to the news so I feel reasonably well informed about the perils of modern life related to issues of privacy and on-line identity in particular. But when I first came across these lectures it occurred to me that there may be a few more things to learn about the subject.

In general I've had the attitude of not being concerned about the government or private companies collecting information about me. I'm not a criminal so I shouldn't need to worry about the government, and I perceive having private companies provide advertisements tailor made to match my interests gleaned from my past on-line searches to be a beneficial service. However, having my credit cards or bank accounts hacked is something I want to avoid. I have acquaintances who have experiences considerable inconvenience from having the on-line identities stolen, and I sure don't wanted it to happen to me.

But these lectures are not "how to" lessons on how to protect on-line identity. It is rather a description of the legal aspects of data collection and rights to privacy. This is to be expected since the lecturer is a professor of law. I still found the lectures interesting even though I don't usually find the subject jurisprudent all that interesting.

The following are three interesting bits of trivia that I happen to remember from these lectures.

1. Nazi surveillance of the German population in the 1930s and 40s was done by a subsidiary of IBM. This included compiling data on Jewish citizens.

2. With just seven clicks of the mouse through existing databases, all 19 of the 9/11 terrorists could have been identified and linked to one another.

3. Local police are the biggest collectors of surveillance data.

A list of the twenty-four lecture titles and a short description of each are included in the following spoiler link:


The following descriptions are copied from the guidebook that accompanied the lectures:

Lecture 1
Security, Liberty, or Neither?

This first lecture will outline the themes that will be addressed throughout this course. First, you'll learn about how technology often trumps the law: In everyday life, legal rules often trail the development and application of technology, and as a consequence, private actors—by introducing new technologies and applications—frequently establish our standards for their use. Second, you'll learn about how the public relies on certain delegated protectors of their liberties rather than rely on themselves. Third, you'll learn about the clash of institutions: Much of what passes for the law is more the product of conflicting institutional imperatives than of legal controls through statutes, regulations, or court decisions.

Lecture 2
The Charlie Hebdo Tragedy

This lecture will use the Charlie Hebdo events to frame some questions about how the surveillance state can, and should, operate. First, you'll learn about the Hebdo attack in the context of the challenges that surveillance agencies face. Next, you'll learn about the several types of surveillance, including physical surveillance, electronic surveillance, and “dataveillance.” Finally, you'll discover the possible uses—and abuses—of surveillance by learning about two polar cases: the hunt for Osama bin Laden and the routine scrutiny of air passengers by the Transportation Security Administration.

Lecture 3
East Germany’s Stasi State

The subject of this lecture is the Stasi surveillance state of East Germany. First, you'll learn about the Nazi precursor to the Stasi system. Against this background, it is easy to see how surveillance came to pervade Communist East Germany after World War Il and why contemporary Germans so highly value privacy and limits on state surveillance. Next, you'll discover how Stasi surveillance functioned. The lecture will close with a short consideration of why (if at all) the Stasi history is relevant to contemporary debates.

Lecture 4
Surveillance in America

In East Germany, the Stasi internal security apparatus advanced the Communist Party's interests over those of individual citizens. What can a liberal Western nation do to prevent that sort of repression from occurring? America faced this question during the early 1970s, when the U.S. government was discovered to have engaged in illegal and often-immoral surveillance activities. Scrutiny focused on the CIA, the NSA, and the FBI. As the revelations grew, public concern became so acute that Congress and the executive branch each undertook extensive reviews. In the end, the entire structure of federal covert operations was transformed. This lecture is the story of that transformation.

Lecture 5
Failing to Connect the Dots on 9/11

In October 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed into law Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act legislation that established a new framework for American policy, mandating a strict separation of the CIA and the FBI—or, more broadly, between criminal law and espionage. In effect, the Congress erected a “wall” between intelligence gathering and law enforcement after the Senate Church Committee uncovered Cold War-era abuses in U.S. intelligence agency practices. The new law was a procedural mechanism to restrain the surveillance state. Did this wall imperil—rather than protect—American democracy in September 2001? Some think so, but others have their doubts.

Lecture 6
The U.S. Spy Network in Action

The big intelligence organizations that you are probably familiar with—the CIA and the NSA—are only two of at least 17 standalone offices of what we call the Intelligence Community. The goal of this lecture is to help you get a sense of the breadth of the intelligence enterprise: how it is structured, how it functions, how it relates to the rest of government, and maybe even why it is the way it is.

Lecture 7
Big Data’s Shadow

Every click you take in cyberspace can be tracked, your cell phone broadcasts your geolocation, and all of your purchases and phone calls are cataloged somewhere. Taken together, this information can be analyzed to paint a picture of you—one that, increasingly, others can see. It might define who you are and let users predict what you will do in the future. The result is a loss of privacy. After all, the problem with such data—so-called big data—is the magnification of its effect by how pervasive it is.

Lecture 8
Some Problems with Privacy

Our current privacy rules are simply not up to the task of anticipating and accommodating every demand for interpretation and application presented to them in the privacy debate. They are, to a very real degree, relics of the last century. Many of the relevant federal statutes and Supreme Court precedents date from the 1970s. So, rather than focus on law, this lecture will discuss privacy as a defined set of practices and processes.

Lecture 9
Under Observation: The Panopticon Effect

British philosopher Jeremy Bentham proposed erecting a hotel, or a jail, in circular form—with a watchman at the center and the resident guests on the periphery. In this way, one person could keep a careful eye on everyone else. Bentham called this building the Panopticon, and the reaction of those under observation came to be known as the Panopticon effect. In this lecture, you'll learn about the effects—both positive and negative—that observation has on our conduct. You'll also learn about the effects of social behavior when it is anonymous. Furthermore, you'll learn about the effects that observation has on the watchman.

Lecture 10
Drones, Drones Everywhere

Manufacturers call them unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)—or, more grandly, unmanned aircraft systems (UASs)—but the rest of the world calls them drones. As drone applications proliferate, rules on their use and boundaries that should apply remain unclear. In this lecture, you'll learn about drone technology so that you might better understand how drones works and what they are capable of. Then, you'll examine some domestic uses of drones. Furthermore, you'll consider some unique legal and policy issues, asking how we, as a society, are going to deal with this technology.

Lecture 11
Biometrics: Eyes, Fingers, Everything

In a post-9/11 world, we want to link the biographic information we have available to us about risks associated with an individual to a verifiable biometric characteristic—that is, a physical characteristic that is impossible to change. As a basic building block of risk assessment, we think it is imperative
that we can have confidence that people are who they say they are. In this lecture, you'll discover what biometrics is, how it works, and what makes it useful. You'll also consider how the technology might threaten civil liberties.

Lecture 12
Hacking, Espionage, and Surveillance

The subject of this lecture is the surveillance of American citizens by a foreign government through cyber means. In this lecture, you'll learn about three aspects of this issue. First, you'll consider why foreign surveillance might be more common today in cyberspace. What is it about the domain that enables surveillance? Second, you'll learn about how cyber intrusions and surveillance happen. Third, you'll consider what this all means in terms of the surveillance of Americans.

Lecture 13
Local Police on the Cyber Beat

Local police are the biggest collectors of surveillance data. In this lecture, you'll learn about the most prevalent forms of police surveillance today: the use of video cameras for anticrime surveillance and license plate readers, which are used for more prosaic things, such as the enforcement of red lights and speed limits. Then, you'll learn about the newest issue of police surveillance—body cameras—and some of the privacy issues they pose. Furthermore, you'll learn about how the New York Police Department, the largest in the nation, is pulling all of its data collection together.

Lecture 14
Geolocation: Tracking You and Your Data

Geolocation is a tracking phenomenon that identifies where a person is physically. As this lecture surveys the field of geolocation, it will identify three separate concepts that form a useful framework for the discussion. They relate, broadly, to the manner in which geolocation information is collected. In some instances, we volunteer that information to the world around us. In others, geolocation data is collateral information that is necessarily collected as part of some other process, such as making a phone call. A third way of collecting geolocation data is through surreptitious means.

Lecture 15
Internet Surveillance

The topic of this lecture is how individuals are tracked on the web. In this lecture, you'll learn about how the web surveillance program works in the United States, why it was set up the way it was, and how the government says it is protecting privacy and civil liberties through its surveillance. Along the way, you'll learn what some critics of the program say about it, as well as what some of its defenders say.

Lecture 16
Metadata: Legal or Not

The U.S. government has collected the telephone records of everybody in the world, including Americans. One government surveillance program that you'll learn about in this lecture collects something called metadata (data about data)—whom you call, when you call, and for how long you talk—instead of the actual content of the communication, such as what you say to the person. The program is known as the Section 215 program, after the section of U.S. law that authorizes it. Or does the law authorize the program? The legal jury, as you'll learn, is still out.

Lecture 17
Technology Outruns the Law

Courts are frequently unwilling (and perhaps even unable) to adapt—in real time—to new questions that technology raises. This expresses the limitations of hierarchical means of analysis. The courts move slowly because they do not want to get the answers wrong. However, pressure is growing, and soon the courts might be obliged to act. In this lecture, you'll learn about the constitutional law system, including such aspects as expectation of privacy and consent.

Lecture 18
Your Personal Data Is the Product

Like government spy agencies, commercial data aggregators are involved in a form of surveillance. And some people think that the commercial firms are more of a threat to privacy than the government. What are the risks (and advantages) of commercial data collection and analysis? Does your answer change when it is the government that obtains this private sector commercial data for its own uses? This lecture will explore both issues: the commercial collection of data and how the government uses data that is originally collected for commercial reasons.

Lecture 19
The Internet of Things

There are, it seems, an endless number of ways in which information is now collected—new ways that didn’t exist 20 years ago. Biometric scanners and facial-recognition cameras are a few of the newer smart devices that we collectively refer to as the “Internet of Things.” In this lecture, you'll learn about the proliferation of these devices. Eventually, they will profoundly change how we manage our lives—and create even greater challenges to our privacy and civil liberties.

Lecture 20
Anonymity: Going off the Grid

In a world of ever-more pervasive surveillance systems—and decreasing public capacity to control them—it's no wonder that some people want to live off the grid. Around the globe, we have new and innovative ways of capturing information and data, ranging from license-plate readers and closed-circuit television cameras to drones and biometric identification. We are at a precipice, uncertain whether democracy and surveillance can coexist. Faced with this challenge, many people want to simply cloak themselves in the veil of anonymity and become invisible. In this lecture, you'll learn about identity and the anonymity phenomenon.

Lecture 21
Code Breaking versus Code Making

To avoid surveillance, some people turn to encryption. They code their communications into undecipherable gibberish to hide it from government scrutiny. But they aren't always successful. In this lecture, you'll learn about how encryption works and why it is important. In addition, you'll discover some of the legal and policy issues at the intersection of surveillance and civil liberties that surround encryption, making it a complicated issue for the government, service providers, and individuals.

Lecture 22
Europe’s Right to Be Forgotten

In discussions of surveillance, civil liberty, and privacy, many of us often limit ourselves to American concepts of law and liberty, the American experience of spying by U.S. intelligence agencies, and commercial surveillance by American companies. But the American approach to these issues is not universal. And as you'll learn in this lecture on European views, America is something of an outlier on these issues compared with other Western nations. That being said, the West generally is aligned on the concepts of privacy, civil liberties, and autonomy—values that we all honor, albeit in different ways.

Lecture 23
National Security and the First Amendment

Court cases involving the news media provide a host of interesting questions concerning policy and law, not all of which come with satisfactory answers. There are three questions to consider in this lecture: What is the proper role of the news media in covering government intelligence-collection and surveillance activities? How should the government respond to press coverage of intelligence collection—with tolerance or with criminal prosecution? Who is a journalist?

Lecture 24
The Privacy Debate Needs You

This course is not aimed at resolving the fundamental tensions that exist permanently in American democracy. It’s about managing them, living with them, and accommodating the competing values to the maximum extent practicable. The discussion—and the tensions—you've learned about in this course are emblematic of the value of competing ideas; they reflect a living, breathing aspect of a functioning democracy. In the realm of policy and law, we continually attempt to square the circle of security and liberty, never succeeding and, quite possibly, never really expecting that we can succeed. Rather, this unending tension calls for us to continually rebalance and reexamine fundamental values, trying our best to give effect to both as circumstances permit.

[H (trying to keep up with GR friends) Balikov · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are plenty of issues in this lecture series that are currently in the news. Should governments, big business etc. read your email, tap your phone, use facial recognition software or trade in your data without your knowledge and/or assent?
https://apnews.com/5ee4450df46d2d96bf...
Is frustrating a terrorist act sufficient justification?
Is spreading a pandemic virus sufficient justification?

This series of lectures should be considered a “survey course” not a technical tome on surveillance or cyber-security. Rosensweig is very skilled in giving us enough historical background and technical information that we can come to some conclusions about the bigger questions such as:
What is the proper balance between secrecy and transparency?
How should autonomous learning machines be regulated and controlled?
Who should bear the legal and practical responsibility for their operation?

Though this series of lectures is several years old, that has not diminished its value. We still need to be thinking through the implications of big data and artificial intelligence. Weapons systems are discussed in detail. Particularly, Rosensweig goes into the subject of weapons systems augmented by autonomous learning machines. He discusses why they are attractive and what dangers they could pose. And what is true of weapons systems seems to be equally true of any autonomous learning machine with surveillance capability. It is a real risk to society if we remove the element of human control from our machines.

This list of topics should help you sense the breadth of what is being covered:


Lecture 1
Security, Liberty, or Neither?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Lecture 2
The Charlie Hebdo Tragedy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Lecture 3
East Germany’s Stasi State. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Lecture 4
Surveillance in America. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Lecture 5
Failing to Connect the Dots on 9/11. . . . . . . . . . .
Lecture 6
The U.S. Spy Network in Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Lecture 7
Big Data’s Shadow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Lecture 8
Some Problems with Privacy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Lecture 9
Under Observation: The Panopticon Effect
Lecture 10
Drones, Drones Everywhere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Lecture 11
Biometrics: Eyes, Fingers, Everything. . . . . . . . . . .
Lecture 12
Hacking, Espionage, and Surveillance. . . . . . . . . .
Lecture 13
Local Police on the Cyber Beat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Lecture 14
Geolocation: Tracking You and Your Data. . . . . . . . .
Lecture 15
Internet Surveillance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Lecture 16
Metadata: Legal or Not. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Lecture 17
Technology Outruns the Law. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Lecture 18
Your Personal Data Is the Product. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Lecture 19
The Internet of Things. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Lecture 20
Anonymity: Going off the Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Lecture 21
Code Breaking versus Code Making. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Lecture 22
Europe’s Right to Be Forgotten. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Lecture 23
National Security and the First Amendment. . . . . . . . . . .
Lecture 24
The Privacy Debate Needs You. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4.5* I learned a great deal about the many issues involved.

These lectures challenge us to consider and reconcile two values cherished by many in the USA: limited government and effective government. Here are some quotations that go to related points:

"Americans value limited government because humans value freedom
and frequently think that government is as much a threat to freedom
as it is an enabler of it. So, we value checks on government excess so
highly that, for example we have the First Amendment’s guarantees.
The converse of this—distrust of government—is a foundational insight
of the Declaration of Independence, which is an assertion that the rights
to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are inalienable and belong
to us by virtue of our humanity—and are not, in any way, derived from or
granted by government. Likewise, we see rights of privacy and security
against governmental intrusion as critical components of our rights as
citizens...At the same time, we want a government that works, and works well.
The desire for order and government protection from threats stretches
at least as far back as the Hobbesian concern that without communal
security, life is “nasty, mean, brutish, and short.” That concern finds
strong echoes in the constitutional preamble, which sets as one of the
priorities that the new government “provide for the common defense.”

"Some of the greatest thinkers of our time, such as Stephen Hawking,
Bill Gates, and Elon Musk, all share similar concerns. They worry that
artificial intelligence is a grave threat to humanity. They might or might
not be right, but it certainly seems that the surveillance, data collection,
and analytical capabilities you’ve learned about in this course are,
in effect, a force multiplier. Even under human control, such powerful
systems shift the balance of authority toward those who control them.
That’s what generates such a significant counterreaction from the public."

"One does not need to be a Luddite—or an apocalyptic visionary—to
see that if these various systems of surveillance were under autonomous
control outside of the capability of human intervention, the shift in
practical authority would be magnified."

[Zach · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good, if US-centric overview, but neither dives deep enough to feel like a revelation or high-minded enough to tackle the philosophy/ethics of the issues at hand.

If you're going to fall down a well, you should find a deeper one than this.

[Michael Coulson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bit outdated even a few years later.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

An informative but fairly dry series of 24 lectures about the legal and political aspects of government surveillance, with an emphasis on digital technologies. The focus is on the US, though other parts of the world are mentioned, particularly Europe. There are almost no practical tips for how to defend your digital privacy.

Author Rosenzweig is a professorial lecturer in law at George Washington University Law School, where he lectures on cybersecurity law and policy. He formerly served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy in the US Department of Homeland Security and is the founder of a homeland security consulting company.

I read this to increase my knowledge of digital security and privacy.

Here are the titles of the 24 half-hour lectures:
1. Security, Liberty, or Neither?
2. The Charlie Hebdo Tragedy
3. East Germany's Stasi State
4. Surveillance in America
5. Failing to Connect the Dots on 9/11
6. The U.S. Spy Network in Action
7. Big Data's Shadow
8. Some Problems with Privacy
9. Under Observation: The Panopticon Effect
10. Drones, Drones Everywhere
11. Biometrics: Eyes, Fingers, Everything
12. Hacking, Espionage, and Surveillance
13. Local Police on the Cyber Beat
14. Geolocation: Tracking You and Your Data
15. Internet Surveillance
16. Metadata: Legal or Not
17. Technology Outruns the Law
18. Your Personal Data Is the Product
19. The Internet of Things
20. Anonymity: Going off the Grid
21. Code Breaking versus Code Making
22. Europe's Right to Be Forgotten
23. National Security and the First Amendment
24. The Privacy Debate Needs You

Notes
The Charlie Hebdo Tragedy
Public wants to know if intelligence services are doing enough, and doing right thing. They also want to know enough about what government is doing to set balance between effectiveness and accountability. Tension between transparency and secrecy.

Failing to Connect the Dots on 9/11
In US, periods of little oversight and regulation of national security during which executive branch freely conduct surveillance and searches are often followed by periods of backlash, public critique, and imposition of new controls. These periods are often followed by a national security crisis that again broaden executive powers.

Some Problems with Privacy
Constitution doesn't apply to private commercial actors. 4th Amendment only limits government activity, so it doesn't protect privacy from commercial actors.

Most people want to live in neither a Panopticon world of surveillance, nor a world where someone can live invisibly, possessing a Ring of Gyges. Privacy requires a balance.

Local Police on the Cyber Beat
The reason people are typically less worried about police data collection is perception that police generally don't aggregate or massage info. Local police tend to use data retrospectively, to solve crimes, rather than prospectively, to prevent them. People perceive local police as having limited resources. People can easily recognize benefits of local police having more surveillance abilities.

In London, a city full of surveillance cameras that cost hundreds of millions of dollars a year, only 1 crime was solved for every 1000 cameras. Urban Institute reviewed use of public surveillance cameras in Baltimore, Chicago, Washington, D.C. and found mixed results. In Baltimore, cameras reduced violent crime by 23%. In 1 of 2 Chicago communities studied, crime dropped, but there was no effect in the other. In Washington, D.C., there was no appreciable change.

Technology Outruns the Law
Third-party doctrine: an individual has no Constitutional protection of info voluntarily given to, or lawfully collected by, a third party. Also, an individual's 4th Amendment rights don't protect individual from government using data it receives from a third-party data collector.

In general, 4th Amendment doesn't protect non-content portions of intercepted traffic (address on outside of envelope, phone number you called, other metadata, etc.).

Code Breaking versus Code Making
Law provides better protection against government when you hold your own encryption key rather than letting your service provider do so (because of 5th Amendment).

Most security professionals think biometric identification is more secure than passwords, but 5th Amendment provides more protection against your being compelled to reveal your password (testimony from the mind) than it provides against being compelled to give up biometric data (physical evidence from the body).

If US companies were to build in backdoors for US government, that would make the rest of the world leery of using US products, and would allow hackers to exploit the backdoors. Greek government was hacked this way.

Europe's Right to Be Forgotten
Europe has more comprehensive commercial privacy protection rules than the US. Europe and US are similar in levels of government surveillance. US law and oversight of its intelligence agencies is more robust than that of Europe.

National Security and the First Amendment
Rosenzweig tells journalists to protect their sources, they must communicate offline, because of the likelihood of leaving a trail when using digital tools.

The Privacy Debate Needs You
Fundamental tension: perpetual and unsteady equilibrium between secrecy and transparency, between security and freedom. These tensions are inherent in structure of American government. Americans value both limited government (because they value freedom) and effective government (because they value order and protection against threats).

[Rafael Rosa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much less right wing than I expected, but still a voice from the establishment. He presented the topic clearly and striving for neutrality, and I'm glad I didn't dismiss it after the opening, which was a bit scary.

He's obviously knowledgeable and a very good lecturer, as usual for The Great Courses. His coverage of the technical stuff was pretty good, as were his pop culture references.

I'm sure we would not agree on many topics, and there is a constant smell of jingoism, but I guess this is unavoidable from a former company man.

In the end, it's a good overview of the subject and an interesting pairing with a book like No Place to Hide by Greenwald.

[Jari Pirhonen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Introduction to surveillance spiced up with well-known cases from the past. Pretty up-to-date including discussion about drones, big data and biometrics. Mostly U.S. point of view, some EU privacy regulation (pre-GDPR) included.

[Alex Shrugged · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good information on internet privacy and the government position on why they want to spy on citizens. They make a good case for a good government to do so. Unfortunately government is not always good, and even if it is good now, it doesn't always stay good. At this point there is not much a person can do to shield themselves from government nosiness if they decide to focus on you.

I was already familiar with the issues of internet privacy so I learned only a little. Nevertheless, I recognize that most people are not paying attention, so this course would definitely benefit those who have been paying only a little attention. That is why I gave it an extra star to encourage those who know only a little to learn more.

Other books to consider are:
The Art of Invisibility: The World's Most Famous Hacker Teaches You How to Be Safe in the Age of Big Brother and Big Data:

Little Brother, a novel that generally shows what can be done to avoid detection. Don't believe everything it says, but in general it is a good overview with an appendix that is real. The sequel is Homeland.

And for old-timers and those wanting to know how internet security became a thing worth having, read:
The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage

I doubt I will go through this audio course again except for review of the information.

[Robert Federline · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have long maintained, and taught my students, that there are no secrets, if you know where to look. After finishing this Great Lecture, I find that I am naive. My statement is correct. I just had no idea how very little (if anything) the government knows about us, and the complicity of private industry.

The electronic trail left by the average person in this society is astonishingly revealing. More people actually have access to that information, and may well lie about it, than can make anyone comfortable. Even those who are charged with the safety of the public lie about the extent of their access and what they may have collected. There is virtually no oversight of the amassing of data and the uses to which it may be put.

Supposed curtains of privacy which are erected in legislation (such as prohibitions of spying on US citizens and on US soil, are, at best, made of gauze. The methods of getting around these restrictions are astonishingly easy and frequently and consistently employed.

Constitutional scholars know that the U.S. Constitution doe not explicitly grant a right of privacy. It was discovered by the Supreme Court in "the penumbras" of the Constitution. In actual practice, however, there seems to be almost no limitation on the ability of the government to examine even the most private areas of an individual's life.

This is a powerful course and is masterfully presented. it should also be a wake-up call to individuals on how they should guard their data, and to legislators as to how to protect their constituents.

[Elwin Kline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfectly balanced. Lots of praise and a high level of respect for the author for not picking a side and delivering fair and impartial content.

This has been a discussion I have had with friends, family, fellow classmates, and co-workers many, many times. I will be crystal clear, I support surveillance.

I have absolutely nothing to hide and if law enforcement or data analysts want to deep dive into my Google searches on mostly video game content, cyber/it stuff, and hunting... go for it. If data scraping leads towards preventing crimes against children, saving a life, or combating terroristic acts... I am all for it. "What if it was your son/daughter?" is a question that is commonly thrown around on the pro side.

I'll stop there. I know the other perspective on this has plenty of counter statements and we can return fire back and forth, but in any case... on to the Great Course.

Dr. Rosenzweig covers it all and this course has great flow. From asking the big question of what side you are on, to Nazi Germany, to 9/11, countries spying on each other, drones, IoTs, biometrics, Internet surveillance, metadata, so on and so forth... again, the content creator did an amazing job covering this subject.

No matter if you are for or against, or if you've been exposed to other books/audio content about this subject, give this one a go.

Very well done Great Course that deserves a 5/5.

[Mark Hamlett · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like nonfiction and I like the fact that sometimes real life is more surprising and More adventurous more intriguing than fiction.
Freedoms and privacy are something highly valued by the American people and it amazes me how easily we give those up to Big tech companies to our cell phone companies because they've made it a practice to deceive Us in that fine print. I mean what other choice do we have but to sign our freedoms in our privacy away to them if we want their service do they give us an option for that? No they do not.
So don't let it be a surprise when we realize that that metadata that they're collecting falls into the hands of the CIA or the FBI or Homeland security or am I six or the KGB... For we signed it away.
This is a good read and Mike shock some for others it will place everything in a larger perspective overall it might make you feel a little helpless. But not hopeless and not afraid.
M

[Dennis Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Surveillance State: Big Data, Freedom, and You by Paul Rosenzweig is a very good course, but is a little uneven in judging its audience and the information it should convey. This is a survey course, but some lectures come across as way too basic, while others were completely fantastic. I think this would be better served if it was able to get in depth, because as it stands it is when it started to go in depth this course shined through. Instead, this course is an introduction to a series of policy and legal debates, and is meant to ensure that you have some basic literacy to understand the basics of what is being debated. I just wish that you would hear a little more than that.

I think being a grad student at Johns Hopkins spoiled me a little bit when it comes to getting in depth.

88/100

[Meredith Goins · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the variety of lenses covered in this 2019 lecture series. Cybercrime, personal information, and the global competitiveness of cybersecurity were discussed with multiple news stories interlaced between the chapters. Very informative and worth the effort of downloading and listening to during my commutes. This series is just the beginning of where AI and big data are going and will help you understand more of what the news is or isn't sharing with you. Consider this a beginner session on cyberinfrastructure. It's just enough to get you interested to read more on the topic.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to the audio version narrated by the author. I thought the material covered was extremely interesting and relevant, although sometimes the author seems to stumble over his words a little. So, the delivery could have been better. However, anyone interested in topics of big data, cyber security, democracy and privacy issues should check out this lecture series.

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent presentation on privacy, security, law, technology and the degree to which we are surveilled by government, commercial entities and bad actors. It is an eye opener. Very good discussions on the trade offs between privacy, national security and personal security. Real life examples from the past as well as from today’s news. Really worthwhile.

[Siim · Rating 4 out of 5]

An up-to-date primer on what we talk about when we talk about surveillance. Big brother analysed by a lawyer and someone who knows the system from the inside. The accounts are US-centric, but I felt their stance was balanced.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent lecture series that explains some of the history of electronic and digital surveillance, how it’s done, why it’s done (for businesses and government), as well as some great moral arguments on the need for the right balance between using and abusing the technology.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A balanced exploration of concerns regarding abuse, national security, and privacy raised by surveillance applications of (primarily) new and emerging technology. This was an enlightening series to listen to, and I'm happy to have spent my time with it.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 for first 1/3; 4 for last 2/3

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great audio lectures. The first few were a little slow but once I got into it I loved every one.

[Rob Nichols · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started this book to learn about the subject, not to be entertained... although I was at times. Recommend to civil libertarians or anyone concerned about privacy.

[Allan Butler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone using the internet should take this course!

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

90% of the web is on the dark net ? lol wtf

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good lecture series that helped me think about the various ramifications of how I / we define privacy.

These lectures will be helpful for a small group discussion.

[Umar Khan · Rating 4 out of 5]

We’re all concerned about privacy.
More than we should.
I like the fact that collection of my personal data doesn’t directly transform ME into direct target. It’s collective data of nearly everyone that puts everyone at risk. There’s a difference.

Data is huge. And we’re practically anonymous in this collection. Practical anonymity as claimed in the lecture. We don’t have to worry too much about privacy.

Second problem with collection is connection. Data being collected are separately profiled and is not linked to each other to be made of any use.