The Silicon Jungle

March 14, 2011
Baluja's clever, cynical debut explores the frightening possibilities of data miningâusing computers to access stored data in order to determine people's tastes and predict future behavior. Stephen Thorpe, an intern at computer giant Ubatoo, just wants to impress his boss by developing a list of traits by which to identify potential terrorists. Stephen's lover, Molly Byrne, just wants to finish her grad school thesis by building a Web page on which Islamic extremists can vent (or modify, with her coaxing) their rage. But when Stephen and Molly are set free on their computers without supervision, their curiosity leads them to create dangerous instruments. Stephen's list, for example, proves a valuable recruiting tool for terrorists. A nod to Upton Sinclair's muckraking The Jungle, which scared its readers into regulating the meat-packing industry, this lively if depressing novel suggests that computer snooping is too seductive to control, despite the consequences.

February 15, 2011

Ubatoo is an Internet darling with the combined power and privilege of Google and Facebook; employees access our emails, searches, and buying histories to help advertisers better understand and market to users. But who are these employees, and should they be trusted? Enter Stephen, a smart but naive Ubatoo intern assigned to the data-mining team. Wanting to impress his supervisors, he takes on a secret job for the American Coalition for Civil Liberties (ACCL). By sifting through users' data, Stephen compiles a list of citizens on one of the government's watch lists. Before his work can be used to improve our civil rights, however, a greedy ACCL employee sells the list to a criminal organization. Computer science Ph.D. Baluja no doubt calls on his experiences as a scientist at Google and at Carnegie Mellon University to fill this novel with frighteningly convincing details about the precariousness of our personal data. VERDICT The read is quick, the questions will linger, and the ideas are so intriguing that the sometimes stilted writing will be overlooked. Baluja simplifies the abstract world of tech-speak for the rest of us while aiming to do for the Internet what Upton Sinclair's The Jungle did for the meat industry: make readers reconsider its safety. For fans of intelligent thrillers.--Stephen Morrow, Ohio Univ., Athens

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