Code System

Award-winning journalist and TV commentator Dan Tynan has been writing about technology and it privacy implication for 20 years. In his book, Computer Privacy Annoyances, Dan offers practical solutions for protecting your personal information both on the Net and in the physical world. And does so in a surprisingly entertaining way. The following interview with Dan Tynan provides a behind-the-scenes look at Computer Privacy Annoyances.David: What attracted you to the privacy issues addressed in your book?Dan Tynan: I’m concerned about where our society is going in terms of respect for privacy and civil liberties in general. I feel like most people are asleep at the wheel, and the ship is being steered by people who do not have our best interests at heart — out-of-control (and largely unsupervised) data brokers and an increasingly encroaching federal government, to name two. We are at an absolutely crucial and unprecedented point in our history where technology can enable the kinds of snooping even Orwell couldn’t have dreamed up in his worst nightmares. We’ve always had government eavesdropping, we’ve always had people who would sell us out for a nickel. Computers