Thom Hartmann on the hidden history of Big Brother in America.

Thom Hartmann visited Politics Done Right to discuss his new book “The Hidden History of Big Brother in America: How the Death of Privacy and the Rise of Surveillance Threaten Us and Our Democracy,” which is quite a take on the subject all should read.

Thom Hartmann speaks

Many Americans are worried about how companies like Facebook invade their privacy and harvest their data, but many people don’t fully understand the details of how their information is being adapted and misused. In The Hidden History of Big Brother in America, Hartmann reveals exactly how the government and corporations are tracking our every online move and using our data to buy elections, employ social control, and monetize our lives.

Hartmann uses extensive, vivid examples to highlight the consequences of Big Data on all aspects of our lives. He traces the history of surveillance and social control, looking back to how Big Brother invented whiteness to keep order and how surveillance began to be employed as a way to modify behavior. 

Hartmann also shows how we got to where we are today, how China—with its new Social Credit System—serves as a warning, and how we can and must avoid a similarly dystopian future. By delving into the Constitutional right to privacy, Hartmann reminds us of our civil rights and shows how we can restore them.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Thom Hartmann is a four-time winner of the Project Censored Award, a New York Times bestselling author of thirty-three books, and America’s #1 progressive talk radio show host. His show is syndicated on local for-profit and nonprofit stations and broadcasts nationwide and worldwide. It is also simulcast on television into nearly 60 million US and Canadian homes. www.hiddenhistorybooks.com