I heard Jeffrey Rosen, of George Washington University, speaking on the Diane Reem show about his new book, The Naked Crowd. I haven't read it yet, but it sounds like a fascinating view of the encroaching of real-time surveillance in our wired world.

I found an interesting review at sp!ked-IT by Sandy Starr:

'The risk-averse democracies of the West continue to demand ever-increasing levels of surveillance and exposure in a search for an illusory and emotional feeling of security.'

This is the provocative charge levelled by Jeffrey Rosen, in his new book The Naked Crowd: Reclaiming Security and Freedom in an Anxious Age. Rosen, professor of law at George Washington University and legal affairs editor of The New Republic, argues that risk-aversion - particularly since the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 - is eroding our freedom. He sees 'politicians, the media, interest groups, and an adversarial legal system' all contributing to an unhealthy climate of panic, and calls for us to 'overcome the paralysing fears that threaten our liberties...rather than demanding salvation from judges or technologists or other illusory protector.'

The Naked Crowd takes in sociological, psychological, technological and legal perspectives on the relationship between risk and freedom. It opens with an unsettling account of a world where surveillance intrudes unchecked into every conceivable public space, and where society's predominant emotion is suspicion. No, it isn't some far-fetched science fiction dystopia - it's a case study of the UK.