Transparent Society

The Transparent Society. David Brin. Addison-Wesley. 1999.

• http://www.davidbrin.com/transparent.htm

Abstract

In New York and Baltimore, police cameras scan public areas twenty-four hours a day. Huge commercial databases track you finances and sell that information to anyone willing to pay. Host sites on the World Wide Web record every page you view, and “smart” toll roads know where you drive. Every day, new technology nibbles at our privacy.Does that make you nervous? David Brin is worried, but not just about privacy. He fears that society will overreact to these technologies by restricting the flow of information, frantically enforcing a reign of secrecy. Such measures, he warns, won’t really preserve our privacy. Governments, the wealthy, criminals, and the techno-elite will still find ways to watch us. But we’ll have fewer ways to watch them. We’ll lose the key to a free society: accountability.

The Transparent Society is a call for “reciprocal transparency.” If police cameras watch us, shouldn’t we be able to watch police stations? If credit bureaus sell our data, shouldn't we know who buys it? Rather than cling to an illusion of anonymity-a historical anomaly, given our origins in close-knit villages-we should focus on guarding the most important forms of privacy and preserving mutual accountability. The biggest threat to our freedom, Brin warns, is that surveillance technology will be used by too few people, now by too many.A society of glass houses may seem too fragile. Fearing technology-aided crime, governments seek to restrict online anonymity; fearing technology-aided tyranny, citizens call for encrypting all data. Brins shows how, contrary to both approaches, windows offer us much better protection than walls; after all, the strongest deterrent against snooping has always been the fear of being spotted. Furthermore, Brin argues, Western culture now encourages eccentricity-we’re programmed to rebel! That gives our society a natural protection against error and wrong-doing, like a body’s immune system. But “social T-cells” need openness to spot trouble and get the word out. The Transparent Society is full of such provocative and far-reaching analysis.The inescapable rush of technology is forcing us to make new choices about how we want to live. This daring book reminds us that an open society is more robust and flexible than one where secrecy reigns. In an era of gnat-sized cameras, universal databases, and clothes-penetrating radar, it will be more vital than ever for us to be able to watch the watchers. With reciprocal transparency we can detect dangers early and expose wrong-doers. We can gauge the credibility of pundits and politicians. We can share technological advances and news. But all of these benefits depend on the free, two-way flow of information.

• Chapter 1
• Table of contents

From the author

Our society has one great knack above all others -- one that no other ever managed -- that of holding the mighty accountable. Although elites of all kinds still have many advantages over commonfolk, never before have citizens been so empowered. And history shows that this didn't happen by blinding the mighty -- a futile endeavor that has never worked. It happened by insisting that everybody get to see. By citizens demanding the power to know.

I go into this theme at many levels. The most extensive -- resulting in the most exposure and my becoming "Mr. Openness" -- was my nonfiction book The Transparent Society: Will Technology Force Us to Choose Between Freedom and Privacy?

The Transparent Society: Will Technology Force Us to Choose Between Privacy and Freedom? was published in May '98 by Perseus Press (formerly Addison Wesley). This large nonfiction work concerns threats to privacy and openness in the information age. It won the Obeler Freedom of Speech Award from the American Library Association and was a finalist for the McGannon Public Policy Prize. I have recently spoken on this subject for meetings of the World Bank and other major institutions.

Reviews

Terry Hancock:

This book is a bit of a departure for my Free Software Magazine book reviews, it's a philosophical and social essay by science-fiction writer David Brin, and it's over 13 years old (published in 1998). But as I am reading this now, I'm struck by how prophetic this book is towards events that are going on in the world today.

A central idea of the book is that "privacy" -- at least in public places -- is a thing of the past. There are plenty of people who've made that point, though. The difference is what Brin says we ought to do about it -- which is to embrace it, instead of running away from it.

And then... to demand reciprocity.

Brin argues quite effectively that trying to shut off the flow of information is a hopeless and doomed cause. All it will do in practice is to ensure that only the wealthy and powerful have access to the tools to surveil us all.

Instead, Brin suggests that we accept the ubiquitous cloud of electronic eyes and sensors, but that we also demand democratic and free access to the controls behind the cameras and the information that comes from them. In other words, the problem is not the volume of the flow of information itself, but the assymmetry -- the tendency for information to be horded by the powerful and refused to citizens.

He suggests that the best way to rein in power is for us all to "watch the watchers". Reading it, I'm reminded of the power of cell phone cameras and the issues with recording police and other authorities in the course of their duties -- something that has become a major issue today.

The book touches on free software only in that he does question the concept of "intellectual property" and "copyright" and whether they can survive in the age of the internet.

It's an interesting read.