Your Data, Their Billions
Your Data, Their Billions

Author: Jane S. Hoffman

Publisher: Post Hill Press

Published: 2022-04-19

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 1637580754

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THE GUIDE TO USING EVERYDAY TECH—FROM GOOGLE SEARCHES AND AMAZON TO GPS AND FACEBOOK—WITH EYES WIDE OPEN. What if somebody knew everything about you? Your . . . • relationships: work, social, and private • family history, finances, and medical records • even your exact location . . . at any time of the day • personal preferences and purchases Somebody does. That somebody is “Big Tech.” Facebook, Google, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft know more about you than you do. And they make billions of dollars by cashing in on your private data. Our personal data, which Big Tech companies get for free, is the engine that drives the unregulated, free-for-all, Wild West world called the digital marketplace. These corporate giants may bring us information and entertainment, convenience and connection, but they also do a lot of harm by: • threatening our privacy, discovering and disseminating our personal information. • spreading dangerous misinformation from foreign governments and bad actors. • manipulating our behavior, affecting what we see, buy . . . even who we vote for. So, what can we do about it? This eye-opening book provides vital information that has been out of reach to those who need it most—the millions of Facebook, Google, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft users who have come to love and depend upon these digital products. Veteran consumer advocate Jane Hoffman makes the complex world of Big Tech simple to grasp as she reveals exactly how Big Tech uses—and abuses—your personal information. And she proposes a bold blueprint for reforming these corporate behemoths—including a data dividend. Your Data, Their Billions is a guidebook to everything at stake in our digital society, from Big Tech’s overreach into our daily lives to its practices that threaten our democracy. Knowledge is power—and it starts here.

Our Bodies, Our Data
Our Bodies, Our Data

Author: Adam Tanner

Publisher: Beacon Press

Published: 2017-01-10

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 0807033359

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How the hidden trade in our sensitive medical information became a multibillion-dollar business, but has done little to improve our health-care outcomes Hidden to consumers, patient medical data has become a multibillion-dollar worldwide trade industry between our health-care providers, drug companies, and a complex web of middlemen. This great medical-data bazaar sells copies of the prescription you recently filled, your hospital records, insurance claims, blood-test results, and more, stripped of your name but possibly with identifiers such as year of birth, gender, and doctor. As computing grows ever more sophisticated, patient dossiers become increasingly vulnerable to reidentification and the possibility of being targeted by identity thieves or hackers. Paradoxically, comprehensive electronic files for patient treatment—the reason medical data exists in the first place—remain an elusive goal. Even today, patients or their doctors rarely have easy access to comprehensive records that could improve care. In the evolution of medical data, the instinct for profit has outstripped patient needs. This book tells the human, behind-the-scenes story of how such a system evolved internationally. It begins with New York advertising man Ludwig Wolfgang Frohlich, who founded IMS Health, the world’s dominant health-data miner, in the 1950s. IMS Health now gathers patient medical data from more than 45 billion transactions annually from 780,000 data feeds in more than 100 countries. Our Bodies, Our Data uncovers some of Frohlich’s hidden past and follows the story of what happened in the following decades. This is both a story about medicine and medical practice, and about big business and maximizing profits, and the places these meet, places most patients would like to believe are off-limits. Our Bodies, Our Data seeks to spark debate on how we can best balance the promise big data offers to advance medicine and improve lives while preserving the rights and interests of every patient. We, the public, deserve a say in this discussion. After all, it’s our data.

Billions Lost
Billions Lost

Author: Hilarie Gamm

Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Published: 2018-02-18

Total Pages: 378

ISBN-13: 9781985690356

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Industry insider, veteran executive, and working mom Hilarie Gamm pulls the curtain back on the destruction of the American technology industry in her groundbreaking work, Billions Lost: The American Tech Crisis and the Road Map to Change. Gamm connects the dots between seemingly disparate events and facts, and outlines with stunning clarity the perfect storm that created a massive exodus of tech industry jobs from the U.S. Extensively researched and firmly apolitical, Billions Lost explains how the offshoring of millions of U.S. technology jobs opened a gateway that places our economy, our national security, and our educational systems at risk. Gamm succinctly explains the Y2K scare, visa reform, and other factors that snowballed into today's crisis, and identifies the ramifications of outsourcing on our country and its profound impact on America's middle class. To spark a national conversation, Gamm closes with her Road Map to Change: 20 actions that can reverse the trend, improve education, save the middle class, and return growth, security, and prosperity to America.

Blueprint to a Billion
Blueprint to a Billion

Author: David G. Thomson

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2005-12-07

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 0471747475

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Praise for BLUEPRINT TO A BILLION "A wonderful, well thought out analysis of entrepreneurship and leadership of a growth company." —Howard Lester, Chairman, Williams-Sonoma, Inc. "If you dream about growing your business to a billion, this is a fascinating down-to-earth study that you must read. Apply the seven essential principles to your business and you are off and running. Learn about strategy, growth, leadership, team building, and a whole lot more." —Joe Scarlett, Chairman of the Board, Tractor Supply Company "Blueprint to a Billion is a well-researched and thoughtfully written book that quantifies the growth pattern of America's highest growth companies." —Professor John Quelch, Senior Associate Dean, Harvard Business School "Eighty percent of the top-performing stocks in the last twenty years were small entrepreneurial companies that had an IPO in the prior eight years. Blueprint to a Billion tells you the seven key things these innovators did in common to become America's greatest growth companies." —William J. O'Neil, Chairman and Founder Investor's Business Daily, www.investors.com "Thomson has written a masterful work that will catalyze, empower, inspire, motivate, and illuminate entrepreneurs, investors, and policymakers. The world needs this book and will profit from it in manifold ways." —David M. Darst, Managing Director, Individual Investor Group Chief Investment Strategist, Morgan Stanley

Billions & Billions
Billions & Billions

Author: Carl Sagan

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Published: 1998-05-12

Total Pages: 322

ISBN-13: 0345379187

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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In the final book of his astonishing career, Carl Sagan brilliantly examines the burning questions of our lives, our world, and the universe around us. These luminous, entertaining essays travel both the vastness of the cosmos and the intimacy of the human mind, posing such fascinating questions as how did the universe originate and how will it end, and how can we meld science and compassion to meet the challenges of the coming century? Here, too, is a rare, private glimpse of Sagan’s thoughts about love, death, and God as he struggled with fatal disease. Ever forward-looking and vibrant with the sparkle of his unquenchable curiosity, Billions & Billions is a testament to one of the great scientific minds of our day. Praise for Billions & Billions “[Sagan’s] writing brims with optimism, clarity and compassion.”—Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel “Sagan used the spotlight of his fame to illuminate the abyss into which stupidity, greed, and the lust for power may yet dump us. All of those interests and causes are handsomely represented in Billions & Billions.”—The Washington Post Book World “Astronomer Carl Sagan didn’t live to see the millennium, but he probably has done more than any other popular scientist to prepare us for its arrival.”—Atlanta Journal & Constitution “Billions & Billions can be interpreted as the Silent Spring for the current generation. . . . Human history includes a number of leaders with great minds who gave us theories about our universe and origins that ran contrary to religious dogma. Galileo determined that the Earth revolved around the Sun, not the other way around. Darwin challenged Creationism with his Evolution of Species. And now, Sagan has given the world its latest challenge: Billions & Billions.”—San Antonio Express-News “[Sagan’s] inspiration and boundless curiosity live on in the gift of his work.”—Seattle Times & Post-Intelligencer “Couldn’t stay awake in your high school science classes? This book can help fill in the holes. Acclaimed scientist Carl Sagan combines his logic and knowledge with wit and humor to make a potentially dry subject enjoyable to read.”—The Dallas Morning News

Millions, Billions, Zillions
Millions, Billions, Zillions

Author: Brian W. Kernighan

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2020-11-10

Total Pages: 176

ISBN-13: 069120909X

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"Numbers are often intimidating, confusing, and even deliberately deceptive--especially when they are really big. The media loves to report on millions, billions, and trillions, but frequently makes basic mistakes or presents such numbers in misleading ways. And misunderstanding numbers can have serious consequences, since they can deceive us in many of our most important decisions, including how to vote, what to buy, and whether to make a financial investment. In this short, accessible, enlightening, and entertaining book, leading computer scientist Brian Kernighan teaches anyone--even diehard math-phobes--how to demystify the numbers that assault us every day. With examples drawn from a rich variety of sources, including journalism, advertising, and politics, Kernighan demonstrates how numbers can mislead and misrepresent. In chapters covering big numbers, units, dimensions, and more, he lays bare everything from deceptive graphs to speciously precise numbers. And he shows how anyone--using a few basic ideas and lots of shortcuts--can easily learn to recognize common mistakes, determine whether numbers are credible, and make their own sensible estimates when needed. Giving you the simple tools you need to avoid being fooled by dubious numbers, Millions, Billions, Zillions is an essential survival guide for a world drowning in big--and often bad--data"--Jacket

Billions of Entrepreneurs
Billions of Entrepreneurs

Author: Tarun Khanna

Publisher: Harvard Business Press

Published: 2008-02-01

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 142216327X

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China and India are home to one-third of the world's population. And they're undergoing social and economic revolutions that are capturing the best minds--and money--of Western business. In Billions of Entrepreneurs, Tarun Khanna examines the entrepreneurial forces driving China's and India's trajectories of development. He shows where these trajectories overlap and complement one another--and where they diverge and compete. He also reveals how Western companies can participate in this development. Through intriguing comparisons, the author probes important differences between China and India in areas such as information and transparency, the roles of capital markets and talent, public and private property rights, social constraints on market forces, attitudes toward expatriates abroad and foreigners at home, entrepreneurial and corporate opportunities, and the importance of urban and rural communities. He explains how these differences will influence China's and India's future development, what the two countries can learn from each other, and how they will ultimately reshape business, politics, and society in the world around them. Engaging and incisive, this book is a critical resource for anyone working in China or India or planning to do business in these two countries.

Your Data, Their Billions
Your Data, Their Billions

Author: Jane S. Hoffman

Publisher: Post Hill Press

Published: 2022-04-19

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 9781637580745

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“Big tech” knows all your secrets and sells them to the highest bidder—this guide for the everyday tech user explains how it happens, why it matters, and how to protect yourself and your most precious commodities, your identity and privacy. THE GUIDE TO USING EVERYDAY TECH—FROM GOOGLE SEARCHES AND AMAZON TO GPS AND FACEBOOK—WITH EYES WIDE OPEN. What if somebody knew everything about you? Your . . . • relationships: work, social, and private • family history, finances, and medical records • even your exact location . . . at any time of the day • personal preferences and purchases Somebody does. That somebody is “Big Tech.” Facebook, Google, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft know more about you than you do. And they make billions of dollars by cashing in on your private data. Our personal data, which Big Tech companies get for free, is the engine that drives the unregulated, free-for-all, Wild West world called the digital marketplace. These corporate giants may bring us information and entertainment, convenience and connection, but they also do a lot of harm by: • threatening our privacy, discovering and disseminating our personal information. • spreading dangerous misinformation from foreign governments and bad actors. • manipulating our behavior, affecting what we see, buy . . . even who we vote for. So, what can we do about it? This eye-opening book provides vital information that has been out of reach to those who need it most—the millions of Facebook, Google, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft users who have come to love and depend upon these digital products. Veteran consumer advocate Jane Hoffman makes the complex world of Big Tech simple to grasp as she reveals exactly how Big Tech uses—and abuses—your personal information. And she proposes a bold blueprint for reforming these corporate behemoths—including a data dividend. Your Data, Their Billions is a guidebook to everything at stake in our digital society, from Big Tech’s overreach into our daily lives to its practices that threaten our democracy. Knowledge is power—and it starts here.

Billions of Missing Links
Billions of Missing Links

Author: Geoffrey S. Simmons

Publisher:

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780736917469

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The author of "What Darwin Didn't Know" presents his second work which focuses on evidence that millions of structures and systems on the Earth came about all at once with no preceeding, subsequent, or RsidewaysS links.

Code Red
Code Red

Author: E. J. Dionne

Publisher: Macmillan + ORM

Published: 2020-02-04

Total Pages: 162

ISBN-13: 1250256488

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"An exquisitely timed book ... Code Red is a worthwhile exploration of the shared goals (and shared enemies) that unite moderates and progressives. But more than that, it is a sharp reminder that the common ground on which Dionne built his career has been badly eroded, with little prospect that it will soon be restored.” —The New York Times Book Review New York Times bestselling author and Washington Post columnist E. J. Dionne, Jr. sounds the alarm in Code Red, calling for an alliance between progressives and moderates to seize the moment and restore hope to America’s future for the 2020 presidential election. Will progressives and moderates feud while America burns? Or will these natural allies take advantage of the greatest opportunity since the New Deal Era to strengthen American democracy, foster social justice, and turn back the threats of the Trump Era? The United States stands at a crossroads. Broad and principled opposition to Donald Trump’s presidency has drawn millions of previously disengaged citizens to the public square and to the ballot boxes. This inspired and growing activism for social and political change hasn’t been seen since the days of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal policies and the Progressive and Civil Rights movements. But if progressives and moderates are unable—and unwilling—to overcome their differences, they could not only enable Trump to prevail again but also squander an occasion for launching a new era of reform. In Code Red, award-winning journalist E. J. Dionne, Jr., calls for a shared commitment to decency and a politics focused on freedom, fairness, and the future, encouraging progressives and moderates to explore common ground and expand the unity that brought about Democrat victories in the 2018 elections. He offers a unifying model for furthering progress with a Politics of Remedy, Dignity, and More: one that solves problems, resolve disputes, and moves forward; that sits at the heart of the demands for justice by both long-marginalized and recently-displaced groups; and that posits a positive future for Americans with more covered by health insurance, more with decent wages, more with good schools, more security from gun violence, more action to roll back climate change. Breaking through the partisan noise and cutting against conventional wisdom to provide a realistic look at political possibilities, Dionne offers a strategy for progressives and moderates to think more clearly and accept the responsibilities that history now imposes on them. Because at this point in our national story, change can’t wait.