My new book Containing Big Tech is now available for pre-order! This book — which experts are calling “prescient,” “very timely,” and “essential reading” — delivers a clear path forward to rein in online surveillance, AI, and tech monopolies.
You can pre-order this book on Amazon today.
Below is an executive summary as written up by my publisher and a chapter-by-chapter breakdown of the book.
Executive Summary
Technology is a gift and a curse. The five big tech companies — Meta, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Google — have built innovative products that improve many aspects of our lives. But their intrusiveness and our dependence on them have created pressing threats to our civil rights, economy, and democracy.
Coming from an extensive background building Silicon Valley-based tech startups, Tom Kemp eloquently and precisely weaves together the threats posed by Big Tech:
- The overcollection and weaponization of our most sensitive data
- The problematic ways Big Tech uses AI to process and act upon our data
- The stifling of competition and entrepreneurship due to Big Tech’s dominant market positions
This richly detailed book exposes the consequences of Big Tech’s digital surveillance, exploitative use of AI, and monopolistic and anticompetitive practices. It offers actionable solutions to these problems and a clear path forward for individuals and policymakers to advocate for change. By containing the excesses of Big Tech, we will ensure our civil rights are respected and preserved, our economy is competitive, and our democracy is protected.
Chapter Synopsis
Tom Kemp has combined his Silicon Valley experience and policy work to comprehensively identify and correlate all the significant issues associated with Big Tech and provide straightforward guidance on how to fix the problems. In the book, he has identified eight central and interlocking topics that are covered in a chapter. These topics share common themes, including the overcollection of our data, the often-problematic ways Big Tech uses AI to process and act upon our data, and the adverse side effects of Big Tech’s dominant market positions.
The Overcollection of Our Data
The first three chapters focus on the mining and collecting of our data and the negative consequences that have emerged because of this.
Chapter 1 looks at what Big Tech’s DIGITAL SURVEILLANCE–based business model means for us, including the impact of the overturn of Roe.
Chapter 2 then covers DATA BROKERS — shadowy participants in the digital advertising ecosystem that much of Big Tech facilitates — that is an equal source of concern regarding privacy in post–abortion America.
Finally, chapter 3 examines the impact of having so much information collected about us that it increases the chances of DATA BREACHES and our identity being stolen.
The Problematic Ways Big Tech Uses AI
Chapters 4 through 7 analyze how Big Tech consumes and processes this data via AI and how that has created its own unique threats.
Chapter 4 will describe what ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) is, why Big Tech is placing significant bets on it, how bias can seep into AI, and how it can be used for exploitative purposes.
Chapter 5 discusses the harmful effects of how Big Tech’s AI-based PERSUASIVE TECHNOLOGIES attempt to change our behavior and can facilitate screen addiction.
Chapter 6 examines the impact of Big Tech’s use of AI on KIDS’ ONLINE SAFETY.
Finally, chapter 7 considers how Big Tech’s use of AI has enabled EXTREMISM AND DISINFORMATION on their platforms, which has exacerbated polarization and weakened our democracy.
The Adverse Side Effects of Big Tech’s Dominant Market Positions
Chapter 8 examines COMPETITION and how Big Tech’s dominant market positions have harmed entrepreneurship and innovation and undermined journalism and a vibrant free press. This chapter will also show how Big Tech’s monopoly positions have worsened the above issues of privacy, data protection, screen addiction, disinformation, etc.
Roadmap for Change
Each chapter will conclude with a companion road map for that topic that recommends how together we might rein in the negatives of Big Tech. Tom Kemp’s goal with each chapter is to offer solutions and provide a clear path forward to help individuals and policymakers advocate for change. In that vein, he has included two appendices that should also be useful to consumers and lawmakers. Appendix 1 provides step-by-step instructions for individuals to protect their online privacy. Appendix 2 provides some suggested ingredients that should be part of a comprehensive US privacy law to protect against the digital surveillance we see from Big Tech.
The book will be released in August 2023 and Containing Big Tech is now available for pre-order!
