In January 2009, a mysterious software developer, Satoshi Nakamoto, exchanged a specially designed code with another developer. The code was a digital currency that Nakamoto had proposed several months before in a paper titled Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System. This was the first Bitcoin transaction.
Since then, Bitcoin has become the face of a tech revolution in digital cryptocurrencies based on blockchain technology. Its success has sparked a tech revolution that could fundamentally change global economics. Author Brendan January delves into the world of coders, libertarians, criminals, financial regulators, and crypto-detectives to understand what digital cryptocurrencies have to offer, their limitations and potential pitfalls, security issues, and how they may affect government and financial regulations in the future.
The Internet gives us information, communication options, shopping opportunities, entertainment, and much more--all at the touch of a fingertip and much of it for free. But in exchange for these benefits, we may be losing a basic right: the right to privacy.
By clicking to accept website user agreements, we often allow companies to track our activities online and to share our data with outside groups. In addition, the police and government agencies can also track people online--and this tracking is sometimes done secretly, without user agreements or search warrants.
Privacy laws and the US Constitution are supposed to protect privacy in the United States, as are laws and conventions in other parts of the world. But judicial and legal systems have not kept pace with technology. And until laws catch up, users enter a legal gray area when they communicate digitally--an arena in which their most private conversations might not be protected from intrusion. Such intrusion can be dangerous: government agencies can use information obtained via digital spying to harass, arrest, or imprison citizens. Other groups can use private digital data to discriminate in banking, housing, and other businesses.
Around the world, critics are sounding the alarm about digital privacy. Many have called for stricter controls on data tracking. What rights do you have when it comes to privacy online? How can you be a smart cyber citizen and protect your personal digital data? These questions are at the heart of the Internet privacy debate.
The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, emerged in the Middle East during the first decade of the 2000s. The group vows to wage violent jihad, or holy war, on those who do not adhere to its extremist interpretation of Islamic law. ISIS conquers territory and rules savagely. ISIS terrorists manipulate social media brilliantly, shocking viewers around the globe with brutal video footage. Government leaders and agencies all over the world are working to prevent the next ISIS attack. How can nations combat ISIS? Can it be defeated with military force? This in-depth investigation tackles these and other thorny issues related to the twenty-first-century face of global terrorism.