REVIEW: THE COMPUTER PRIVACY HANDBOOK by Andre Bacard  Peachpit Press 1995

If this book scares you.....good!  That's what it is intended to do.  Andre
Bacard's new book is not exactly a revelation, but a warning of how computers
and databases have created a surveillance environment that George Orwell
would have loved.  Bacard tells us of how our so-called "private" records
like medical files, safety deposit box contents and tax returns are available
to anyone who can pay the price.  TV star Rebecca Schaffer was murdered by
someone who stalked her by computer.  All manner and kinds of privacy 
intrusions, such as National ID cards, the cash-free society, a detailed
sidebar on protecting your Social Security number and e-mail remailers are 
covered. But the most eye-opening disclosure to me personally was the fact 
that an employer has more right to infringe on their employees' privacy 
than I am comfortable with.

THE COMPUTER PRIVACY HANDBOOK does not propose to have all the answers, but
Andre Bacard gives us some preliminary non-technical lessons on data 
encryption, including a discussion on the proposed Clipper Chip encryption
that would give you some measure of computer security.  However, this
controversial plan allows for a "back door" that can be accessed and
unscrambled by law enforcement agents under court order.

The second half of THE COMPUTER PRIVACY HANDBOOK is devoted to PGP (which
stands for Pretty Good Privacy by Phil Zimmermann and has become the de
facto e-mail encryption and authentication system in world-wide use.  PGP's
history is an interesting tale in itself.  Finally, Andre Bacard provides
us with an easy-to-read user's manual that will show you how to take advantage
of this powerful privacy program (available free of cost for non-commercial
use) on your personal computer.  PGP is a command-line driven program and
like other such user interfaces, tends to be intimidating to those not used
to them.  Andre Bacard's tutorial is succinct and the commands are well
explained.  He even gives us several "aide memoirs" to remember the
command-line switches.

I found Andre Bacard's unique writing style particularly suitable for the
subject.  I enjoyed reading THE COMPUTER PRIVACY HANDBOOK very much.  Merci
Andre - c'est un bon job!

%T      Computer Privacy Handbook
%A      Andre Bacard
%I      Peachpit Press
%C      Berkeley California
%D      1995
%O      $24.95
%G      ISBN: 1-56609-171-3 
%P      274 pages paperbound
%K      privacy, e-mail, PGP. encryption


(C) 1995
Michael Crestohl
Nahant Massachusetts  USA
mc@shore.net

DISCLAIMER:  I have no interest, financial or otherwise, in the success or 
failure of the book or materials reviewed herewith, nor have I received any 
compensation (other than a review copy requested by me) from anyone who has.  
All opinions expressed are strictly my own.

Other Internet and Aviation book/software reviews by me can be obtained 
by anonymous FTP from:  x2ftp.oulu.fi in the /pub/books/crestohl directory.