Copyright © 1998, by David Brin. All rights reserved. No duplication or resale without permission.

The first chapter and reviews, blurbs and commentary are also available on this site.

Chapter One: The Challenge of an Open Society

• The burgeoning of surveillance technology seems unstoppable, but this may not mean the end of freedom or privacy. The most common prescription for preventing abuse is to limit the flow of information. But a different approach may prove more effective in the long run.

• The End of Photography as Proof of Anything at All: With sophisticated image processing, we may never again be able to rely on photos or videos as perfect evidence. But this may not be as calamitous as some fear.

Chapter Two: The Age of Knowledge

• Transforming Technologies of the Past and Future: Other eras faced upheavals arising from new tools, especially in the use of information. Now change is accelerating at unprecedented rates.

• Projections of Cybernetic Paradise: Pundits gush that new media will transform society more than the printing press or telephone, merging billions into a vast global "village." Critics call these utopian promises "silicon snake oil."

• A Passion To Be Different: A spreading dogma of otherness has begun fostering unusual levels of tolerance and appreciation of diversity. A result: it is no longer as lonely to be eccentric.

• A Century of Aficionados: Even before the Internet, modern wealth and leisure helped a myriad hobbies thrive. New media promote alternative threads of expertise. The next 100 years may be called the Age of Amateurs.

• Citizen Truth Squads: The real news media -- those ultimately responsible for uncovering truth -- may be us.

Chapter Three: Privacy Under Siege

• Embattled Citizens: Bosses spying on employees, our medical records leaked, our supermarket purchases recorded -- new threats to privacy have been provoking calls for action.

• The Story of Privacy: Though not mentioned in the U.S. Constitution, "privacy" enjoys legal and traditional protections. Compromises made in the past may illuminate what we'll see in the future.

• The Accountability Matrix: People covet the power to see others, while controlling who can see us. Are we hypocrites? Or does the issue boil down to what works?

Chapter Four: Can We Own Information?

• Do individuals properly own data about themselves? Will the ease of electronic copying finish off copyright? Does open access mean never having to pay for another book?

• An Open Society's Enemies: Many quarrels revolve around one question -- is government the only potential threat to liberty? Or do other candidates pose danger to an open society?

Chapter Five: Human Nature and the Dilemma of Openness

• The Failure of Exhortation: Admonishing does little good against the urges of emotional, self-interested human beings. What works is when people keep a tolerant but wary eye on each other.

• Virulent Ideas: Can concepts or images harm your children, family, or nation? Most cultures tried to protect their vassals against toxic alien notions. Might free citizens instead critically judge any concept on its merits? Partisans marshal "evidence" for both points of view.

• A Civilization of T-Cells: Modern citizens face a relentless propaganda campaign, barely noted because it works so well, sending forth millions of fierce individualists, eager to uncover errors. Will a social "immune system" keep us from repeating the same mistakes over and over again?

• Essences and Experiments: Can "reason" offer perfect models of human nature? Pragmatic scientists disagree, pointing to data on how our brains actually work.

Chapter Six: Lessons in Accountability

• A New "Commons": Other eras had territories of innocent sharing, somewhat like today's Internet. Can we learn from their mistakes?

• The Risks People Will Endure: Are citizens more worried about what others know about them? Or about loss of control over their own lives? Science offers new evidence.

• Guarding The Guardians: New "eyes" will assist the police... and help us monitor them.

• Hacked to Bits: "Hackers" stretch the limits of accountability, yet the harmful ones are often tracked and neutralized by better hackers, who consider themselves members of a civilization.

• The End of Civility?: Flaming and spamming are just a few of the new "rudeness plagues." Electronic anonymity brings out the worst in some of us.

• Arenas for Fair Debate: The Net already helps advocacy groups -- from environmentalists to gun clubs -- organize and marshal their forces. Might it also bring opponents together for argument, negotiation, or even consensus?

Chapter Seven: The War over Secrecy

• Clipper Chip and Pascal's Choice: Though over-rated as threat or panacea, the "Clipper" rallied defenders of Strong Privacy. Secretive behaviors deemed perilous in public officials are extolled for private persons and multinationals.

• The Allure of Secrecy: Anonymous urban life offers attractions -- at a price. Passionate advocates across the political spectrum defend a right to anonymity. Will the 21st Century fill with a blinding fog of secrecy, where only the rich or talented can see?

• Defeating the Tricks of Tyrants: Are we (as some claim) living in a tyranny? If so, what methods offer hope for eventual freedom? If not, what means will best prevent tyranny from coming about?

• The Devil's Own Dichotomies: Pundits talk of "tradeoffs" between freedom and efficiency, or between liberty and safety. But it is wrong to insist we choose among pairs of things that prosper together ... and that we cannot live without?

Chapter Eight: Pragmatism in an Uncertain World

• Names, Passwords, and Social Security Numbers: Misunderstandings over the nature of a "name" prevent solutions to the Problem of Identification. Encryption, anonymity, and certain forms of deep privacy will all have uses, even in a transparent society.

• Anonymity vs. Pseudonymity: There may be ways to attain legitimate benefits of anonymity, without the drawbacks. People can use assumed names, yet be held accountable if they do harm.

• Pragmatic Transparency: A strategy of mutual deterrence seemed risky during the Cold War ... but it worked. So might mutual accountability in the info-age, among individuals and nations.

• A Tool Kit for the Twenty-First Century: New ideas and creative works may percolate, rising by their own merit. Credibility "tags" may dog those who preach or bring us news. Prediction registries will help separate charlatans from those with real insight.

• The Plausibility Matrix: The debate between transparency and strong privacy involves assumptions about what will be technically possible in the 21st century. Under some conditions transparency will fail to deliver accountability, and secrecy may be the only hope for the "little guy."

Chapter Nine: Humility and Limits

• The Judgement of Mathematics: Chemistry in the 19th Century and physics in the 20th offered new powers and challenges to judgment. Will math be the next revolutionizing field?

• The Judgement of Technology: Even the cleverest cipher code might fall to sly techniques -- planting a virus, sending gnat cameras to spy on you... or the old-fashioned methods of spies.

• How Things Might Go Wrong: A "transparent society" could be implemented in terrible ways. Nightmares can happen if people worry too much, or too little, about control.

• A Withering Away?: Activists have revived an old dream -- of an era without nations or major governments. It may happen, but not in a manner that idealists expect.

Chapter Ten: Global Transparency

• These problems involve more than America -- or even the "neo-west." The implications stretch worldwide, and could make the difference between peace and war.

Chapter Eleven: The Road of Openness

End Notes

Follow-up

Acknowledgements

The first chapter and reviews, blurbs and commentary are also available on this site.