McSweeney's first and only (so far) nonfiction issue is devoted to an investigation of surveillance in its many forms in our modern society. What is the price we pay for modern conveniences and a sense of security, in terms of our privacy? How is all the information we surrender to corporations and the government, both locally and nationally, being used? Is the oversight sufficient given that the technology advances so quickly and our largely un-tech savvy leaders let those holding our data frame the discussion and set the rules?
The issues are presented fairly clearly, with the exception of Edward Snowden's essay explaining how cryptocurrency and block chains work. Try as I might I still can't work my head around digital dollars. Especially helpful are the fantastic graphics and book design, all exceptionally well-constructed and presented. While I was familiar with some of these topics, the sections on use of image capture by law enforcement agencies was new and alarming to me. The ways these technologies are used to surveil poor and non-white people deserves much more attention.
The only drawback with the issue is that quite a few of the pieces are actual conversations, which leads to repetition of some of the points the book presents in other articles.
The book itself is beautiful; the use of high-quality paper stock gives it a physical weight much like a treasured college textbook. ( )

McSweeney’s first all-nonfiction issue, this one is devoted to issues related to privacy and trust in the modern world, where cameras and all sorts of other surveillance technology are pervasive, and both government and big companies like Facebook and Google are harvesting massive amounts of our personal data. The loss of privacy is real, and the possible negative ramifications are broad, including identity theft, abuses by law enforcement, and the state operating in an Orwellian manner to suppress dissent or nonconformity. It’s all a bit chilling to think about.

There are a total of 19 articles (aggregating the compendium of law enforcement surveillance tools into one, as the table of contents does), and 8 of them focus on surveillance impacting marginalized people, including people of color, far more than Caucasians. It’s a valid point and I was glad to understand it better, e.g. when Malkia Cyril mentions that under the Trump administration, the FBI’s ‘Countering Violent Extremism’ program was changed to ‘Countering Islamic Extremism,’ and that it would no longer target white supremacists (good lord!). However, I just thought that as a whole, the issue had more than it needed of this, and could have used a little more diversity in another way, subject matter.

On the other hand, there were these highlights:
- The letter to the editor from Carson Mell, who at first seems like a crotchety old man complaining about cell phone usage, but who relates some interesting personal anecdotes and makes a powerful observation about the possible effects of excess ‘screen time’ at the expense of engagement (when with others) or introspection (when alone). “What happens to people constantly pacified? You end up with a bunch of goddamned babies. You end up with ghosts,” he writes.

- “The Economics of Mistrust” by Ethan Zuckerman. He points out the pros and cons of centralized vs. decentralized places trust, such as Google mail (pro: obviates the considerable difficulty to set up one’s own mail server; con: Google has your private correspondences on their servers and may abuse your trust), and Bitcoin (pro: completely removes the idea of a trusted central bank; con: extraordinary amount of energy is being consumed worldwide to mine bitcoins, currently as much as the entire country of Colombia). Note the cost of mistrust in both cases. He also points out the significant erosion of trust in institutions (branches of government, newspapers, banks, etc), and the cost of what’s come along with that (a demagogue reaping the benefit), reminding us along that way that “When Americans look nostalgically to a period of post-WWII prosperity and growth, they are looking back at a movement when people trusted the government to build highways and bridges, to support college educations and mortgages, and to use the powers of taxation and spending to build public goods and reduce inequality.”

- “Search Queries of Visitors Who Landed at the Online Litmag ‘The Big Ugly Review,’ but Who, We Are Pretty Sure, Were Looking for Something Else,” by Elizabeth Stix. Because her website uses Google Analytics, she’s able to see (among several other things) what their Google search query was that took them to her site. The results she shares are funny, disturbing, and often just really strange. I loved this pondering of hers: “They shared their most poignant fears and insecurities. They were turning to Google the way people used to kneel down before an oracle, humble and beseeching. To a generation that can type any question, any time, with the illusion of privacy, perhaps Google is the new God.”

- “Edward Snowden Explains Blockchain to His Lawyer – and the Rest of Us” by Ben Wizner. Educational as an overview of bitcoin/blockchain, and also intelligent in its speculation of where the technology might lead. I probably would have rather had an article talking about the NSA leak, e.g. patriot or traitor, and the pros/cons of what he did, but this one was pretty interesting too.

- “The Digital Blues” by Jennifer Kabat. She spent quite a long period pondering the color blue and all of its varying shades in digital spaces, and at first I was thinking (as those in her life did), why? But along the way in her article, as she touched on areas related to trust and had insights into the rise of personal computing and the internet, she also mentioned things relating to culture, the arts, language, human biology etc … and won me over with the breadth of what she was talking about, as well as her intelligent writing. The ending sections are very strong, relating just how utopian the early computer scientists were and how this shifted over time with the internet’s inevitable monetization, and then referring to the balance between the individual (the “American ideal” and “core of capitalism”) with the collective good without preaching for one side or the other.

- “The Postcards We Send – Tips on Staying Vigilant in the Information Age” by Soraya Okuda. Lots of solid tips here as well as great primers and explanations for why she suggests them: using HTTPS Everywhere, Privacy Badger, Signal, public keys, ensuring backups are also encrypted, keeping software updated, not plugging your phone into USB ports without a power adapter, being wary of phishing messages, using two-factor authentication, and a password manager such as Diceware. This article is the most direct about the things we can actual do as device users, and is essential.

- “The Media Virus, My Problem Child” by Douglas Rushkoff. Very perceptive on the trends in the media, misinformation and manipulation on the internet, and political polarization that got us to our sorry state of current affairs. Interestingly, he also relates it back to earlier periods of history - for example, citing Howard Lippmann, who argued in his 1922 book ‘Public Opinion’ that people were too uneducated to make the best decisions, politicians couldn’t be trusted, and therefore a ‘council of experts’ should be employed to craft public policy. Rushkoff isn’t advocating this view, he just points out that the idea of complete trust in democracy has been challenged before. He also points out how much the outrageous stories that serve to further divide America act like real viruses in the body. The possible avenues for fighting back? He argues that to attack bad memes with good ones or to try to insulate people are inherently flawed, and that a better approach is to “strengthen the cultural immune response of the society under attack,” through education and better dialogue. Essentially, to increase our collective resiliency to these things, and to understand that when trust in others (who are online strangers) is threatened, to realize that it’s the low fidelity of the digital medium we should be wary of, and not necessarily the other person. Perhaps this article was the best of the bunch, and it was very interesting to ponder his points about strengthening our resiliency in connection with those made in the book “The Coddling of the American Mind” by Lukianoff and Haidt. ( )

Informative and enlightening. For those who value privacy, anonymity, and equal treatment even online, this book is a must read not just for the various discussions of the current world situation, but also a look to the future and steps to take right now. ( )