• Book Review: The Soft Cage

    by  • August 20, 2009 • Blog

    I try not to be a conspiracy theorist or paranoid about “Big Brother” government spying on me. A book like this one makes you wonder though. The Soft Cage by Christian Parenti manages to make the subject of surveillance a compelling read. Parenti covers a history of surveillance in America from the mid-1800′s through post 9/11. 

    It gives a chilling look into how some of the gadgets we use to simplify our lives and some of the changes made under the auspices of providing better homeland security after the 9/11 terrorist attacks can also be used to track and monitor your actions. The book was written in 2003, but offers insight into things like the warrantless wiretapping by the Bush Administration or recent privacy concerns from Palm Pre or iPhone users. Book Review: The Soft Cage.

    About

    Tony has driven security policies and technologies for antivirus and incident response for Fortune 500 companies, and he has been network administrator and technical support for smaller companies. He has written for a variety of other Web sites and publications, including BizTech Magazine, PC World, SearchSecurity.com, WindowsNetworking.com, Smart Computing magazine, and Information Security magazine. Tony is a CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional) and ISSAP (Information Systems Security Architecture Professional). He is Microsoft Certified as an MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer) and MCSA (Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator) in Windows 2000 and an MCP (Microsoft Certified Professional) in Windows NT. Tony has been recognized by Microsoft as an MVP (Most Valuable Professional) in Windows security since 2006. In addition to his Web site and magazine contributions, Tony was also tech editor of PCI Compliance (ISBN: 1597491659 ) and author of Essential Computer Security: Everyone’s Guide to E-mail, Internet, and Wireless Security (ISBN: 1597491144), coauthor of Hacker’s Challenge 3 (ISBN: 0072263040) and a contributing author to Winternals: Defragmentation, Recovery, and Administration Field Guide (ISBN: 1597490792), Combating Spyware in the Enterprise (ISBN: 1597490644) Syngress Force 2006 Emerging Threat Analysis: From Mischief to Malicious (ISBN: 1597490563), Botnets: The Killer Web Applications (ISBN: 1597491357), and AVIEN Malware Defense Guide for the Enterprise (ISBN: 1597491640).

    http://www.tonybradley.com