Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

I checked out Cory Doctorow’s newest book, Little Brother from my library the other day and spent the next two days reading the book. The book’s web site gives this intro to the book:

Marcus, a.k.a “w1n5t0n,” is only seventeen years old, but he figures he already knows how the system works–and how to work the system. Smart, fast, and wise to the ways of the networked world, he has no trouble outwitting his high school’s intrusive but clumsy surveillance systems.

But his whole world changes when he and his friends find themselves caught in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco. In the wrong place at the wrong time, Marcus and his crew are apprehended by the Department of Homeland Security and whisked away to a secret prison where they’re mercilessly interrogated for days.

When the DHS finally releases them, Marcus discovers that his city has become a police state where every citizen is treated like a potential terrorist. He knows that no one will believe his story, which leaves him only one option: to take down the DHS himself.

I am not a book critic. I open a book if it is recommended and finish it if it keeps my attention. I finished the book so you know it kept my attention but the story was not fleshed out as well as it could have been. Although Marcus is looked up to as a ‘hacker’, in the story his exploits are really using and distributing tools developed by the real hackers. He knows how to use what others have developed, a great sign of leadership which I am sure he will be able to use well someday when he manages an office full of cubicle dwellers. All the underground tech stuff that is so ‘cool’ in the story has nothing to do with the final take down of the DHS. It is not bloggers or anything high tech but an long-time friend of his parents who breaks the story in a regular paper.

My other reservation is that the author felt the need to include two scenes that contain some sexually explicit matter. I know the arguments, (some) kids are doing it, it is real, they were careful (used condoms), etc. But if I recommend the book to a friend’s teenager, am I also endorsing this kind of teen activity? It therefore severely limits who I can recommend this book to and the disclaimers I must give if I do.

What kept my nose in the book was thinking through what I would be willing to do. We are slowly losing our freedoms in the name of security. What freedoms are we willing to give up in order to ‘feel’ more secure and are we really any more secure or is it just an illusion of security. At what point is active civil disobedience warranted and am I willing to suffer the consequences — especially if the government is unfettered to label any one they pick up an ‘enemy combatant’ and hold indefinitely?

I have previously listened to Cory Doctorow’s Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom and have read his posts at Boing Boing where he is one of the co-editors. He has also worked for the Electronic Frontier Foundation and speaks out against DRM whenever he can. And Forbes magazine has included Doctorow on its Web Celeb 25 list, which gathers the Internet’s most influential figures in a given year, for the 2nd year in a row.

Besides being available in hard cover on line or at your local bookstore, the book is available for in a DRM FREE audio book and can be download the ebook for free.