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Marginal Revolution September 24, 2026 1 min signal 2026-09-24

Fear of Data

Archived text mirror, captured for personal reading when the Signal ran. Formatting is approximate — read the original at the source.

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The author is Omri Ben-Shahar, and the subtitle is How Privacy Panic Led Tech Regulation Astray — and How to Fix It.  I would describe this book as bracing, and full of substantive engagement.  Basically the author wishes to give privacy considerations less weight in social decisions.  Excerpt:

What is the concrete evidence for the benefits of facial recognition technology in investigation of  human-trafficking crimes?  I would love to have found global estimates of the magnitude — of the trafficking victims rescued through the most advanced facial recognition methods — but all I have is a collage of reports [reports are then described].

One chapter is entitled “The Futility of Personal Rights.”  Agree or not, this book is full of actual arguments, so I approve.

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