Recognized internationally as a landmark work of law and political economy.Nothing to Hide: The False Tradeoff between Privacy and Security Configuring the Networked Self: Law, Code, and the Play of Everyday Practice The Black Box Society , tries to come to grips with the dangers of ‘runaway data’ and ‘black box algorithms’ more comprehensively than any other book to date…It’s an important read for anyone who is interested in the hidden pitfalls of ‘big data’ and who wants to understand just how quantified our lives have become without our knowledge.The Black Box Society , Pasquale finds reason to believe that even some of the most secretive and unresponsive institutions can be held to account. Elucidating the problem is a first step.The Black Box Society is a frightening portrait of the ever more powerful shadowy world that blocks light from reaching our everyday lives. It is also a call to action, with a range of suggestions that inevitably pale in comparison to the gargantuan task at hand. But small steps sometimes have outsize consequences. Just ask the folks who control what we see, influence what we buy, and determine whether we can pay for it.The Black Box Society offers a good dose of fresh thinking and may advance our debates over privacy. It also helps greatly that it is a good read, not just for those who are curious about privacy but also for those who are already familiar with the privacy literature.The Black Box Society is a tour of how computational intelligence has come to dominate three important parts of American life: reputation, search, and finance.The Black Box Society , ultimately, is a radical and political work that deserves wide attention… The Black Box Society includes, for example, a fine explanation of the way that corporate and government surveillance work in concert and why we should be concerned about both… [Pasquale’s] brutal on the subject of the NSA, but devastating in his critique of Facebook, Twitter and Google and the myths that continue to surround them: myths of neutrality, myth about the ephemeral nature of their power and more. His analysis of search is pointed and poignant, underlining that we need to understand it better and treat search results more critically and sceptically… Pasquale’s detailed analyses, and his recipes not just for transparency but also for accountability, for more rigour in regulation and harder-hitting enforcement, deserve a careful read—and then action.The Black Box Society (along with his Twitter feed) is a great—if discomfiting—place to start. You’ll come away overwhelmed by the speed and recklessness of data compilation and its uses and abuses.The Black Box Society is a first-rate work of synthesis, combining ideas from law and economics, interpretive social science, science studies, and the philosophy of technology into an essential study of the political economy of information.
A timely and important book about the algorithmic processes that play such central roles in our emerging information society. Pasquale explores the abuses that have resulted from insufficient transparency and exposes the inability of either markets or regulators to instill appropriate levels of accountability. He is not a reflexive technology-basher, however, but instead offers judicious reform proposals.
The algorithmic control that law scholar Frank Pasquale eloquently and intelligently details and analyzes goes beyond money information and into almost every aspect of our lives. For this reason, although it might appear merely to be a book about technology and finance, The Black Box Society , ultimately, is a radical and political work that deserves wide attention… The Black Box Society includes, for example, a fine explanation of the way that corporate and government surveillance work in concert and why we should be concerned about both… [Pasquale’s] brutal on the subject of the NSA, but devastating in his critique of Facebook, Twitter and Google and the myths that continue to surround them: myths of neutrality, myth about the ephemeral nature of their power and more. His analysis of search is pointed and poignant, underlining that we need to understand it better and treat search results more critically and sceptically… Pasquale’s detailed analyses, and his recipes not just for transparency but also for accountability, for more rigour in regulation and harder-hitting enforcement, deserve a careful read—and then action.
Times Higher Education - Paul Bernal
Required reading in many law school and computer science courses… Details how secret databases and little-known applications of AI algorithms have had harmful effects on finance, business, education, and politics. These opaque practices violate personal privacy, lower credit ratings, and make unfair or biased decisions on parole, mortgage, and job applications.
Issues in Science and Technology - Ben Shneiderman
An exhilarating read, brimming with passion. Pasquale’s bold and ambitious book lifts the lid on the ‘black box society’ by tackling a wide array of issues, from secrecy in finance to credit scoring, from search engines to automated decision-making, from institutional transparency to the relationship between government and big corporations. Writing with urgency and utter conviction, he paints a compelling—and devastating—picture of the world that we are building.
Frank Pasquale’s new book on the secret algorithms that motor the monstrous heart of big data is a timely work of non-fiction, a ‘true conspiracy’ about regulatory weakness in the face of technological hubris and greed.
Flavorwire - Jonathon Sturgeon
Frank Pasquale’s notable new book, The Black Box Society , tries to come to grips with the dangers of ‘runaway data’ and ‘black box algorithms’ more comprehensively than any other book to date… It’s an important read for anyone who is interested in the hidden pitfalls of ‘big data’ and who wants to understand just how quantified our lives have become without our knowledge.
Everyone who uses the Internet for entertainment, education, news or commerce is implicated in a web of data collection whose breadth surpasses ordinary awareness… As [Pasquale’s] exposé…shows, this is a society in which basic functions are performed in deliberate obscurity through the collection and algorithmic manipulation of personal data… In The Black Box Society , Pasquale finds reason to believe that even some of the most secretive and unresponsive institutions can be held to account. Elucidating the problem is a first step.
Nature - Steven Aftergood
The Black Box Society is a frightening portrait of the ever more powerful shadowy world that blocks light from reaching our everyday lives. It is also a call to action, with a range of suggestions that inevitably pale in comparison to the gargantuan task at hand. But small steps sometimes have outsize consequences. Just ask the folks who control what we see, influence what we buy, and determine whether we can pay for it.
Reading the Markets - Brenda Jubin
If you are a person in America, then there are equations trying to learn more about you… Some of these equations work for private companies and some of them work for the government, but they all generate correlations based on your behavior… Frank Pasquale’s new book The Black Box Society is a tour of how computational intelligence has come to dominate three important parts of American life: reputation, search, and finance.
New Republic - Malcolm Harris
Recognized internationally as a landmark work of law and political economy.
The Black Box Society offers a good dose of fresh thinking and may advance our debates over privacy. It also helps greatly that it is a good read, not just for those who are curious about privacy but also for those who are already familiar with the privacy literature.
Science - Viktor Mayer-Schönberger
The Black Box Society offers a good dose of fresh thinking and may advance our debates over privacy. It also helps greatly that it is a good read, not just for those who are curious about privacy but also for those who are already familiar with the privacy literature.
Science - Viktor Mayer-Schönberger
