When Gadgets Betray Us: The Dark Side of Our Infatuation With New Technologies

Summary

Technology is evolving faster than we are. As our BlackBerry devices, tablets, and digital capabilities become more and more complex we understand less and less about how they work. we no longer read the instruction manual before powering on, and we demand intuitive interfaces that get us up and running right away. But how many of us actually stop to think about potential threats to our privacy? Our passports broadcast our personal information and could allow terrorists to target us by nationality. Keyless entry systems in many high-tech car models make auto theft easier than ever. Commercial photocopiers are equipped with hard drives that can document everything we ever copied on it. And our digital photos, even after they’re cropped, can expose the entire original image (hope you weren’t doing anything naughty in that facebook profile picture). In When Gadgets Betray Us, Robert Vamosi, a technology reporter and analyst who has been covering the internet age for over a decade, investigates the dark side of digital capability and convenience. He uncovers a secret world of privacy loss that most of us never consider— that is, until something goes terribly wrong. From iPads to BlackBerry devices, online banking to keyless entry systems, we’re increasingly giving over the management of our crucial information to the latest and greatest electronic gadgets. Vamosi helps us comprehend the technology in our everyday lives and develop a common sense about how to protect ourselves. An essential guide for understanding what we’re really signing up for every time we log-in, When Gadgets Betray Us reveals the secret lives of our electronic devices so that we can all better manage the real risks.