Weekly Shhhout-Out

A few words about privacy

14 Jun 2013 00:00:00 EST

Privacy is about control over information, not about secrecy. It is about having the right to define what is exposed and what is concealed. Privacy is about choice.
Privacysos.org

Debunking "If you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear"

One – The rules may change: Once the invasive surveillance is in place to enforce rules that you agree with, the ruleset that is being enforced could change in ways that you don’t agree with at all – but then, it is too late to protest the surveillance. For example, you may agree to cameras in every home to prevent domestic violence (“and domestic violence only”) – but the next day, a new political force in power could decide that homosexuality will again be illegal, and they will use the existing home cameras to enforce their new rules. Any surveillance must be regarded in terms of how it can be abused by a worse power than today’s.

Two – It’s not you who determine if you have something to fear: You may consider yourself law-abidingly white as snow, and it won’t matter a bit. What does matter is whether you set off the red flags in the mostly-automated surveillance, where bureaucrats look at your life in microscopic detail through a long paper tube to search for patterns. When you stop your car at the main prostitution street for two hours every Friday night, the Social Services Authority will draw certain conclusions from that data point, and won’t care about the fact that you help your elderly grandmother – who lives there – with her weekly groceries. When you frequently stop at a certain bar on your way driving home from work, the Department of Driving Licenses will draw certain conclusions as to your eligibility for future driving licenses – regardless of the fact that you think they serve the world’s best reindeer meatballs in that bar, and never had had a single beer there. People will stop thinking in terms of what is legal, and start acting in self-censorship to avoid being red-flagged, out of pure self-preservation. (It doesn’t matter that somebody in the right might possibly and eventually be cleared – after having been investigated for six months, you will have lost both custody of your children, your job, and possibly your home.)

Two and a half – Point two assumes that the surveillance even has correct data, which it has been proven time and again to frequently not have.

Three – Laws must be broken for society to progress: A society which can enforce all of its laws will stop dead in its tracks. The mindset of “rounding up criminals is good for society” is a very dangerous one, for in hindsight, it may turn out that the criminals were the ones in the moral right. Less than a human lifetime ago, if you were born a homosexual, you were criminal from birth. If today’s surveillance level had existed in the 1950s and 60s, the lobby groups for sexual equality could never have formed; it would have been just a matter of rounding up the organized criminals (“and who could possibly object to fighting organized crime?”). If today’s surveillance level had existed in the 1950s and 60s, homosexuality would still be illegal and homosexual people would be criminals by birth. It is an absolute necessity to be able to break unjust laws for society to progress and question its own values, in order to learn from mistakes and move on as a society.

Four – Privacy is a basic human need: Implying that only the dishonest people have need of any privacy ignores a basic property of the human psyche, and sends a creepy message of strong discomfort. We have a fundamental need for privacy. I lock the door when I go to the men’s room, despite the fact that nothing secret happens in there: I just want to keep that activity to myself, I have a fundamental need to do so, and any society must respect that fundamental need for privacy. In every society that doesn’t, citizens have responded with subterfuge and created their own private areas out of reach of the governmental surveillance, not because they are criminal, but because doing so is a fundamental human need.

For a more visceral description of the importance of privacy, read this personal account.

Metadata: keep in mind:

Metadata is often more revealing than contents of a communication, which is what's being collected with PRISM. A study in the journal Nature found that as few as four "spatio-temporal points," such as the location and time a phone call was placed, is enough to determine the identity of the caller 95 percent of the time.

In addition to the times and locations calls are made and received, metadata includes emails, visits to websites, and credit card transactions.

If that information were combined with the phone metadata, the collective power could not only reveal someone's identity, but also provide an illustration of his entire social network, his financial transactions, and his movements.

For a humorous look at this kind of use of metadata, read Using Metadata To Find Paul Revere.

One other interesting note that may bring a smile, it appears the NSA "borrowed" their PRISM logo graphic without permission or attribution from Adam Hart-Davis, British scientist and television presenter of shows such as Tomorrow's World.

Nell M.

Have You Considered....?

05 Jun 2013 00:00:00 EST

You may not know this...but the Montgomery County Correctional Facility (MCCF) in Boyds houses a library branch that is part of the Montgomery County Public Libraries system. The MCCF Library offers free and equal access to services and resources to help the inmate population find the general and legal information they need to improve and enrich their lives, and enable their successful re-entry into the community. A wide variety of reading material is available, comprised of a collection of approximately 15,000 fiction and nonfiction titles, paperbacks, reference books, encyclopedias and newspapers, including materials in Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese. Inmates have access to the library on a biweekly basis, and may check out up to seven books to take back to their cells. The MCCF Library also provides inmates with resources to assist with their legal matters, as mandated by Maryland and Federal law.

As the Library's Manager, I'm ocassionally asked by folks "on the outside" what it is inmates like to read. Our customers here are just as diverse in their reading preferences as individuals in the general community. There are, however, several titles that are perennial favorites among our patronage --- books that perhaps you haven't considered perusing. I encourage you to discover (or re-discover!) these publications:

THE SECRET, by Rhonda Byrne
158.1 BYR
Fragments of a Great Secret have been found in the oral traditions, in literature, in religions and philosophies throughout the centuries. For the first time, all the pieces ofThe Secret come together in an incredible revelation that will be life-transforming for all who experience it.

THE ART OF WAR, by Sunzi (Sun Tzu)
355.02 SUN
Although its wisdom is over two thousand years old, its principles are timeless for today's boardroom battlefields. Thirteen sections present incisive strategems from assessing the foe to proper treatment of troops.

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MALCOLM X
B X
If there was any one man who articulated the anger, the struggle, and the beliefs of African-Americans in the 1960s, that man was Malxolm X. His AUTOBIOGRAPHY is now an established classic of modern America, a book that expresses like none other the crucial truth about our times.

THE PRINCE, by Niccolo Machiavelli
320 MAC
The Prince is a classic book that explores the attainment, maintenance, and utilization of political power in the western world. Machiavelli wrote The Prince to demonstrate his skill in the art of the state, presenting advice on how a prince might acquire and hold power.

...AND ANY BOOK BY JAMES PATTERSON. Patterson's novels and non-fiction works are consistently requested. He's been called the busiest man in publishing, and that's not just because of his own books. For the past decade, James has been devoting more and more of his time to championing books and reading. From the James Patterson Pageturner Awards, to his website ReadKiddoRead.com, to his College Book Bucks scholarships and his regular donations of hundreds of thousands of books to schools here in the states and troops overseas (see interviews on Fox & Friends, The Dennis Miller Radio Show and CNN.com), Patterson has passed on his passion of books and reading and supported those who do the same.

Delve in -- and enjoy!

Read It and Reap

28 May 2013 00:00:00 EST

I love watching movies based on books I've read. Sometimes I love the movie because it captures the spirit of the book. Other times the way I imagined the movie in my head while reading the book was so much better. We reap so much from reading the original story the movie was based by engaging our limitless imaginations with the words of the author. So here are some highlights of books that are soon to be movies that you won't want to miss.

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks. For Zombie lovers and non-Zombie lovers alike. But even if you don't love zombies it is a FASCINATING read. It's a powerful "what if" story about how specific countries could possibly react if a contagion started spreading across the world. Told many years after the zombie war, the story is a collection of smaller stories told by survivors and collected by the narrator. This gives you a chance to see the war from many distinct and unique perspectives to get a total feel for what the world went through. You won't be able to put this book down.

Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare. The play might as well be called Much Ado About Love and certainly shows how the course of true love never does run smoothly. This humorous story, with a dash of drama, centers on soldiers returning from war who fall in love, or are tricked into falling in love. My favorite line in the play is "I was born to speak all mirth and no matter." The war of words between Beatrice and Benedick makes them one of the best couples in literature!

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. Will this movie be the next big sci-fi movie since Star Trek: Into Darkness? I've read three books in this exciting series and can't wait to read the rest. This first book in the series introduces us to a young and lonely genius, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin, who attends battle school for young soldiers. The school's leaders hope that Ender will be "the one" to end Earth's war with an alien race called the Buggers. Ender is the huge draw in this story as he struggles between who he wants to be and what he must do.

Austenland by Shannon Hale. This book can be described in one word-FUN! Single New Yorker Jane is obsessed with all things Jane Austen, especially Mr. Darcy. When a rich relative dies and leaves Jane a ticket to a Regency era role playing resort in England she, of course, goes to rid herself of her Darcy obsession. Will she be able to kick the habit or will she find a Mr. Darcy of her own? Read and find out!

And here are some other great books that have movies being released this year: Tiger Eyes, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, The Hobbit, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Superman books, Paranoia, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, and Geography Club.

Judge for yourself how well they brought your vision of these books to life. Read them and reap!

Honoring Those Who've Served

14 May 2013 00:00:00 EST

The month of May gives us multiple opportunities to honor and remember those who have valiantly served our country both at home and abroad. This Saturday (May 18) is Armed Forces Day and of course, the last Monday of the month (May 27) is Memorial Day. Please take a moment to check out the related displays of books and other materials at many of our branches. If you would like to commemorate your service or that of a loved one or friend, share your story in the Veterans’ Memory Book at your local branch.

Here are some reading ideas to get you in the mood:

Take time to pay tribute by visiting one of the many local sites commemorating our troops, including the U.S. Air Force Memorial, the U.S. Navy Memorial, the National World War II Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial, the Korean War Veterans' Memorial, the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial (Iwo Jima), the D.C. World War I Memorial, the "Tribute to Our Veterans" panels on Veterans' Plaza in Downtown Silver Spring, our own Rockville Memorial Library which was renamed in 2010 to the memory of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our nation, and, of course, Arlington National Cemetery.

Lastly, enjoy some musical tributes to our troops on Memorial Day and throughout the summer. The National Memorial Day Concert takes place on the West Lawn of the Capitol at 8pm on Sunday, May 26 and will be broadcast live on PBS. You can also check out weekly concerts by the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine, and U.S. Army Bands at various area locations all summer long.

Summer is Coming!

08 May 2013 00:00:00 EST

No matter how chilly the weather feels, I know it is almost summer when our son returns from college and the authors return to the Gaithersburg Book Festival. On Saturday May 18, booklovers and authors will gather on the grounds of the Gaithersburg City Hall to to celebrate books, writers and literary excellence. In its forth year, the Festival features talks and book signings by authors, a story time tent, a coffee house with singers and poets/songwriters, and several panel discussions.

Download the one page Author Program Schedule, like the Festival on Facebook or follow them on Twitter, so you can plan your visit. It's a perfect time for kids,'teens and grown-ups to make a summer reading plan or to gather suggestions for a new or ongoing book group.To prepare for the Festival, look at the photos and videos from last year or read an entry from this year's short story contest for high school students.

MCPL can help booklovers prepare for the Festival, too. Let the Reader's Cafe guide your author presentation selection. Read or listen to a book by one of the featured authors. Fiction and mystery writers visitng the Festival include , Jane Green, Manil Suri and Phillip Margolin. Non-fiction writers include Mark Shriver, Kitty Kelley, Evan Thomas and Lynne Olson. MCPL offers many of these works as downloadable audio books or ebooks, too. MCPL is one of the event partners this year. The Gaithersburg Interim Branch at Lakeforest Mall is displaying authors'works throughout the month. Stop by, browse and take one home with you to enjoy.

Get the kids ready, too. Share a book or audio book. Children's and young adult authors appearing in the Jim Henson, Ogden Nash and Willa Cather Pavillions include Jon Scieska, Walter Dean Myers, Fred Bowen, Mac Barnett and Mary Quattlebaum. Try not to miss the free craft and other hands-on sessions for children at the IMAGINATION STATION are offered too.

Visit the library, then grab your sunscreen, a pen for autographs and get ready to collect ideas for summer reading!!

Barbara M.

Gentle Guy Books...and a Film

24 Apr 2013 00:00:00 EST

I don’t know what gentle guys read, but I personally like to read about gentle guys. I love quirky, lost souls in good books. So here’s a few that comes to my mind.

The unlikely pilgrimage of Harold Fry : a novel by Rachel Joyce

"One day Harold receives a letter from an old acquaintance, ... When Harold reads the letter, he responds with a tearful “I um. Gosh.” Then he writes her a postcard and walks down his road to mail it. Then he keeps on going...Harold will walk the entire length of England in hope of keeping Queenie alive." from New York Times, July 30, 2012

Three men in a boat : to say nothing of the dog! by Jerome K. Jerome
An ageless novel about an incident-ridden boat trip of three men and a dog published in 1889

The curious incident of the dog in the night-time by Mark Haddon

When the autistic 15-year-old narrator of the novel is accused of killing the neighbor's poodle, he "decides that he will take a page from Sherlock Holmes and track down the killer... and then into an odyssey to find his place in the world, he must fall back on deductive logic to navigate the emotional complexities of a social world that remains a closed book to him." from Publishers Weekly

Hmm…Why are they all British ? How about,

Nobody’s Fool by Richard Russo
"Sixty-year-old Sully is "nobody's fool," except maybe his own." from Publishers Weekly,

And a graphic novel, Alan’s War: The Memories of G.I. Alan Cope by Emmanuel Guibert

In 1941, at age 18, "Cope was drafted into the U.S. Army and shipped off to Europe...Guibert allows Cope to speak directly from the pages, where the images he is describing unfold in small, neat panels in which grays, black line." from School Library Journal

Talking about my favorite gentle guys, here is another, an Italian film Mid-August Lunch which was a big hit in my small town film society. I challenge you not to smile all through this film. Unfortunately MCPL does not own a copy of this film, but here is a review from Rotten Tomatoes, one of the movie review sites in MCPL's Library Guide on movies. "A man unexpectedly finds himself taking care of four women, three of whom he barely knows, in this sunny comedy from Italy. Gianni is a man in his mid-sixties who still lives with his mother; given that Valeria is well into her nineties, these days he looks after her rather than the other way around, though she remains quite spry given her age."

Megumi L.

Inside the Persian Character

16 Apr 2013 00:00:00 EST

Lisa Navidi, Davis Library

As the wife of an Iranian-American, I have been keenly aware of how Iranians have been perceived by the media. All one has to do is watch the news, read newspapers and scan the internet to assume that they are a mob of American-hating crazies. But if you read some of the memoirs and watch the many films that have come out of the Iranian community and even those that have been released from Iran, it is clear that most Iranians are far from that perceived notion.

To get a grasp of the Iranian culture, the best book I’ve seen that lays it all out for the reader is Persian Mirrors: the Elusive Face of Iran by Elaine Sciolino, Paris Bureau Chief for the New York Times. Written in 2000 and updated in 2005, this award winning biography of a culture exposes the often hidden characteristics of Iranians, both in Iran and overseas.

• Their houses and gardens are faced inward for total privacy.
• Taarouf is an exaggerated form of politeness and in order to understand Iranians you have to know their rules.
• Love of Persian poetry is endemic throughout Iran.
• Women may look soft and quiet, but they are far from it.
• Iranians love Americans (maybe not the government).
• Underneath the coats and scarves, women are very, very sophisticated.
• Iranians are not Arabs.
• Iran is the Bermuda Triangle of foreign policy.

Of course she delves deeper into all these characteristics, as well as politics and history of Persia.

The Color of Love (Rangeh Eshgh) is a wonderful documentary where three couples, young and old, married and single, are interviewed about the meaning of love in modern day Iran.

And speaking of marriage, Separation (Jodái-e Náder az Simin) is an incredible Oscar-winning film about a couple who separates following a decision by the wife to take her daughter out of Iran, while the husband feels he must stay and take care of his Alzheimer afflicted father. Who is right and who is wrong?

Prison life is depicted in the heart wrenching Let Us Water the Flowers, a memoir by former political prisoner Jafar Yaghoobi, who spent 6 years in the prison system in Iran during the first years of the Iranian revolution, while his wife struggled to raise her infant daughter. He is now writing the same book in Farsi.

Anita Amirrezvani has written two books, both set in historical Iran and both with strong women as heroines. Equal of the Sun is loosely based on Princess Pari Khan Khanoom, who in 1576, after her father, the shah, dies without naming an heir, attempts, with the help of a palace eunoch, to keep order in the kingdom. The Blood of Flowers takes place in 17th Century Isfahan as we follow the life of a young woman rug designer.

In Rooftops of Tehran, Mahbod Seraji combines innocence and young love with the horror of the secret police in this coming of age novel set in pre-revolutionary Iran.

There are many other books about Iran in our catalog. Be sure to check them out!

The Joy of Hiking

03 Apr 2013 00:00:00 EST

Surely last week’s surprise snowstorm was the last roar of March and we can rely on April to behave like a lamb. Yes, spring is finally here so it’s time to get out our boots – hiking boots that is. My favorite outdoor activity in spring is hiking, and we are lucky to live in an area with many lovely walks, as well as challenging trails, close by. If you are new to this area or just want to discover a new destination, a good place to start is the library. Hike on over to the aisle with Dewey Decimal number 917.52 (a librarian would be happy to direct you) where you will find guidebooks specifically for hikers, like 50 Hikes in Maryland: walks, hikes, and backpacks from the Allegheny Plateau to the Atlantic Ocean. There are also guides to the Appalachian Trail, the C & O Canal, dog-friendly trails and more. Maryland and Virginia both offer a wealth of State Parks with a variety of scenery and activities for all ages. Cunningham Falls, an easy day trip, and Calvert Cliffs, where you can collect fossils on the beach, are two of my family’s favorites.

I have a particular fondness for hiking to waterfalls. This dates back to my first hiking trip when I was a teenager. My friends and I backpacked through the English Lake District staying at Youth Hostels, including the most remote in England, Black Sail, a stone cottage high on the fells. Bathroom facilities consisted of the stream steps from the door, which we shared with the sheep. I will never forget my first sight of Scale Force, the highest waterfall in the Lakes. Years later I tried to reproduce this experience with my children, but they were at an awkward age when they could see no point in climbing sheep dung covered hillsides in the pouring rain. “Only English people would call this fun,” protested my daughter. We had to turn back before seeing Scale Force and I’ve regretted it ever since. But early experiences do stick even if you don’t enjoy them at the time. My daughter is now an enthusiastic hiker. She and her family, including a baby and two little boys, just enjoyed a weekend escape at Deep Creek Lake. Despite the cold they hiked to Muddy Creek Falls, the highest free-falling waterfall in Maryland. A few years ago I visited Shenandoah National Park in Virginia and hiked to seven waterfalls over three days. Waterfall enthusiasts can find plenty of places to visit in Waterfalls of the Mid-Atlantic States: 200 Falls in Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. For the hardiest adventurers, check out Waterfall Wonderland.

For those seeking gentler walks closer to home consult 24 Great Walks in Washington D.C. and the Montgomery County Parks website. Gardens are always a relaxing place to visit for a stress-free walk. Personal favorites include Brookside Gardens and the National Arboretum. A useful guide is Gardenwalks in the Mid-Atlantic States: Beautiful Gardens from New York to Washington D.C.

My interest in hiking wanes with the rising temperature as the Washington summer’s humid heat descends like a soggy blanket. Then it’s time to do some vicarious hiking from the comfort of an air-conditioned retreat. Even if you’ve already read Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail, it is a classic well worth rereading for its good-natured wit. Also full of humor is Christopher Buckley’s irreverent walking guide to Washington D.C. Washington Schlepped Here. Of course vicarious hikes need not be confined to the local area. Venture further afield with Unforgettable Walks to Take Before You Die and Walking the World’s Most Exceptional Trails, which cover adventurous walks across the globe.

I can always visit my beloved Lake District with Martin Edwards’ mystery series beginning with The Cipher Garden. The series features DCI Hannah Scarlett and Oxford historian Daniel Kind who buys a cottage in the Lake District hoping for a quiet life. Of course that is not what he gets. Aside from the pleasure of the well-contrived mystery plots, the appeal of the series is in how Edwards’ so powerfully evokes the landscape and history of the Lake District. A particularly nostalgic reading experience that I love to return to is Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons series. These children’s books written in the 1930’s about a group of friends who holiday in the Lake District are what inspired me to go on my teenage hiking trip. Do you have memories of a favorite place? Check the fiction database NoveList Plus or ask a librarian to help you find reading that will take you there on a virtual journey.

Happy hiking and happy reading!

Rita T.

Curious Places

27 Mar 2013 00:00:00 EST

One of the joys of reading a book is to be able to travel anywhere in time and space inside of your mind. By extension, the library is the best TARDIS ever--full of books and electronic resources with facts about history geography and space, as well as stories that can take you back in time and beyond this universe.

Want a map of a historical time period? Visit the “historical” tab of our Maps LibGuide. You can find roadmaps on that same LibGuide, or information on how you can make your own maps. From our links to the Gale Virtual Reference Library, you can go to the Encyclopedia of Food and Culture or the Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World or books about travel in other countries, and much more.

There are many travel books in our libraries but, because of my penchant for the strange, one of my favorites is Weird Maryland: Your Travel Guide to Maryland’s Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets. If you don’t know about the Goat Man, you will after you read that book. If the book is checked out, however, after you’ve put your hold on it, go look at a fun website, Roadside America. There you’ll find links to the weirdest tourist attractions across the United States, from the World’s Largest Office Chair to the Miracle Horny Toad of Eastland Texas. If you want to find giant lumberjacks and Dinosaurs, this is the place for you. You can search by state, or by themes such as "Pet Cemetery" or "Big Fruit". They will even point you to hotels near these marvelous sites.

If your tastes are focused on neon lights however, you might want to visit The 10 Most Important examples of Neon Signage and watch the videos.

You may enjoy perusing the copies of National Geoographic in your local library, but pull a seat up to one of our public access computers and look at their website. There you can not only find the beautiful photos you have come to expect, but also stunning videos of places and people around the world. Check out the daily news features, too. Of course. If you want something a little more obtuse, navigate to Atlas Obscura. On that site you can read articles on such things as figurative coffins in Ghana, explore an attractive index of unusual places, or click for a random selection and find yourself in The Boiling Lake or The Heidelberg Thingstatte, a Nazi edifice built on a sacred mountain site used by various German cults. This website sponsors local events if you want to join up with other fans in real time and space.

One of my interests is abandoned places—crumbling inner-city houses, mental institutions fallen into disrepair, graffiti-splattered warehouses by the side of railway tracks. I used to think this was something peculiar to me, brought on by my early childhood surrounded by bombsites left over from World War II, but no, there are fans all over the Internet creating websites, blogs, tumblr pages, and indexes such as those on Web Urbanist and The Huffington Post. Dereliction seems to be a great inspiration to photographers, producing some stunning photographs on pages such as 25 Bone-Chilling Photos of Abandoned Places, 10 Creepy, Beautiful Modern Ruins, and 30+ of the Most Beautiful Abandoned Places and Modern Ruins I’ve Ever Seen. A website called Abandoned Places, created by an amateur urban explorer, takes things one step further by leading the participant on archeological journeys, sometimes as if one is a traveler in the future. It’s a surreal combination of reality and fantasy within an innovative framework of links.

But if you prefer to stick closer to home, there are abandoned places in Maryland also. Maybe I'll run into you at one of those some day.

Annette K.

The Internet, Privacy, and Security

20 Mar 2013 00:00:00 EST

People have a lot of questions about privacy on the internet. The Center for Democracy and Technology points out in their introduction to the subject of Consumer Privacy that privacy is:

... the top reason why non-users still avoid the Internet. Survey after survey indicates mounting concern. While privacy faces threats from both private and government intrusions, the existing motley patchwork of privacy laws and practices fails to provide comprehensive protection. Instead, it causes confusion that fuels a sense of distrust and skepticism, limiting realization of the Internet's potential.

And some of us don't ask enough questions about what happens to the trail of data that follows us. One of the foremost writers on the subject of cyber security is Bruce Schneier, author of the highly respected blog Schneier On Security. Schneier recently wrote an article on CNN's website: The Internet is a surveillance state

The Internet is a surveillance state. Whether we admit it to ourselves or not, and whether we like it or not, we're being tracked all the time. Google tracks us, both on its pages and on other pages it has access to. Facebook does the same; it even tracks non-Facebook users. Apple tracks us on our iPhones and iPads. One reporter used a tool called Collusion to track who was tracking him; 105 companies tracked his Internet use during one 36-hour period.

Increasingly, what we do on the Internet is being combined with other data about us. ... Everything is now being saved and correlated, and many big-data companies make money by building up intimate profiles of our lives from a variety of sources.
...
This isn't something the free market can fix. We consumers have no choice in the matter. All the major companies that provide us with Internet services are interested in tracking us. ...
...
Governments are happy to use the data corporations collect -- occasionally demanding that they collect more and save it longer ...

What can we do to protect our privacy? It isn't easy, it isn't entirely possible at present, but there are some protections we can put in place. There are several organizations looking at these issues from the point of view of the general public and consumer. It is worth keeping track of these organizations and the useful information they publish. They also offer opportunities for contributions and activism for those who are interested in doing more.

Libraries and librarians have always been deeply concerned about freedom of information and the right to privacy. These are deeply ingrained in our institutional ethics and values. The American Library Association tracks related issues on their website under Advocacy, Legislation & Issues.

Montgomery County Public Library recommends this page: Tips for Using Public Wi-Fi Networks for when you are using any public wifi network.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is another terrific source of information on what is going on in terms of legislation and enforcement. They run constant updates on current issues. They also offer articles with useful information on how to protect yourself. EFF carefully follows such highly controversial issues as CISPA, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act. And they provide a variety of advice for consumers such as Defending Privacy at the U.S. Border: A Guide for Travelers Carrying Digital Devices. EFF offers many opportunities both to stay informed and to get involved.

Net.Effect is a blog from Foreign Policy that follows digital issues where they are international policy issues.

The Center for Democracy & Technology provides a wealth of information and access. They divide the issues into these categories:
Free Expression
Consumer Privacy
Health Privacy
Security & Surveillance
Digital Copyright
Internet Openness & Standards
International
Open Government
All of these headings lead to articles with practical advice and information, well worth reading.

There are also a number of online magazines that follow digital topics.
Slashdot
The Register
Boing Boing
are three of the best known and they constantly follow and update the issues of privacy, security, and freedom of information in the digital sphere.

With these resources you can stay informed, and do what you can to protect your online privacy.