Identity Crisis: How Identification is Overused and Misunderstood
"To protect against terrorism, we have to stop individuals  before they act. Identity Crisis does the best job I've seen of addressing  the real weaknesses in current identification systems and how they  correlate directly with further impingements on our privacy and civil  liberties. I would have used this book every day to help structure programs  and develop policies if I'd had it at TSA." --Justin Oberman, former head of credentialing and identity programs,  Transportation Security Administration"In this thoughtful and informative book, Jim Harper argues that privacy  and security can best be achieved by resisting the relentless demands for  technologies of global identification, which threaten privacy without  increasing security. Instead, Harper argues for technologies of  authorization that allow individuals to decide how much of themselves to  reveal. A valuable contribution to a polarized debate in which  out-of-the-box thinking is all too rare." --Jeffrey Rosen, author of The Unwanted Gaze and The Naked Crowd"Few people in America have done the kind of critical thinking about  identity and identification that Jim Harper does in this book. An  understanding of identity management and policy is essential--not only to  leaders in government, but those in the commercial sector as well." --Nuala O'Connor Kelly, chief privacy leader, GE, and former chief privacy  officer, U.S. Department of Homeland Security"For years now we've been hearing about the promise--and the threat--of  databases, biometrics, smart cards, and other information technology  breakthroughs. Finally, someone has cut through all the jargon, the  techno-babble, and the right-left rhetoric and looked at it all with common  sense and a clear eye. Jim Harper has produced a thoughtful, fast-paced,  enjoyable tour through this brave new world that will become the source  book for the ongoing debate." --Steven Brill, CEO of Verified Identity Pass and author of After: How  America Confronted the September 12 Era"Harper's book does an excellent job of laying the groundwork and clearly  defining the different types of identification and the roles that they play  in everyday societal interactions. He provides interesting historical  context on the evolution of identification, and writes in an engaging  style." --Christian Beckner, Homeland Security Watch