Saturday, January 6, 2018

#6 / American Spies


This coming Tuesday, January 9th, is going to be my first day of teaching during this Winter Quarter at UCSC. I will be teaching a lower division class in the Legal Studies Program, "Introduction to Legal Process," as well as a "Capstone" course for fourth-year students. That course is titled, "Privacy, Technology, And Freedom." 

Over the holiday break, I read a very good book that definitely relates to that last-named topic: American Spies, by Jennifer Stisa Granick. The cover is pictured to the left. 

Granick has just ended a term as the Director of Civil Liberties at Stanford Law School, and is a residential fellow in the Law School's Center for Internet and Society. Granick's background includes almost a decade practicing criminal defense law in California, as well as a stint at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, one of my very favorite nonprofit groups. EEF lists its mission as "defending civil liberties in a digital world."

Sometimes, I comment on books without having actually read them. This is a book I have read! If you are at all interested in the kind of spying and surveillance that our government is doing - and I do mean the kind of spying and surveillance that includes YOU - then this is one of those "must read" books. 

You can't take my course at UCSC unless you are a graduating, fourth-year student in the Legal Studies Program. If you read American Spies,  you will pretty much have the course wrapped up, anyway. I recommend it!



Image Credit:
https://www.amazon.com/American-Spies-Modern-Surveillance-Should/dp/1107501857

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