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When Gadgets Betray Us

The Dark Side of Our Infatuation with New Technologies
When Gadgets Betray Us: The Dark Side of Our Infatuation with New Technologies. Basic Bks: Perseus. Apr. 2011. c.240p. index. ISBN 9780465019588. $26.95. TECH
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Security has become a more prevalent theme in our lives as the quantity of technology in our world continues to increase. You'd think the tech folks would be able to secure the data held in various devices we use daily, but Vamosi, IT security analyst and contributing editor to PCWORLD, strongly and meticulously suggests otherwise. He exposes a technology-development landscape chock-full of inadequately guarded data and programming. New, unforeseen privacy incursions are the norm, not the exception, with many new technology deployments. The security promised by marketing and PR campaigns is nothing more than spin, argues Vamosi. The book reviews ATMs, GPS, smart electricity meters, RFID-tagged systems, electronic road tolling, embedded computer systems in cars, contactless payment systems, mobile banking, online photo sharing, retail reward programs, parking meters, smart transit card systems, and various biometric identification technologies to support arguments that security issues continue to plague our society long after one would expect.
VERDICT Read this, and you'll never again ignore the default security settings on accounts or your devices again. Gadget geeks and lay readers would benefit from Vamosi's information.
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