CIR: No Place to Hide

No Place to Hide (Book)

Fri, 02 Mar 2007 12:37:49 -0800

In No Place to Hide, award-winning Washington Post reporter Robert O'Harrow, Jr., lays out in unnerving detail the post-9/11 marriage of private data and technology companies and government anti-terror initiatives to create something entirely new: a security-industrial complex. Drawing on his years of investigation, O'Harrow shows how the government now depends on burgeoning private reservoirs of information about almost every aspect of our lives to promote homeland security and fight the war on terror. Consider the following: When you use your cell phone, the phone company knows where you are and when. If you use a discount card, your grocery and prescription purchases are recorded, profiled, and analyzed. Many new cars have built-in devices that enable companies to track from afar details about your movements. Software and information companies can even generate graphical link-analysis charts illustrating exactly how each person in a room is related to every other -- through jobs, roommates, family, and the like. Almost anyone can buy a dossier on you, including almost everything it takes to commit identity theft, for less than fifty dollars. It may sound like science fiction, but it's the routine activity of the nation's fast-growing information industry and, more and more, its new partner the U.S. government. With unrivaled access, O'Harrow tells the inside stories of key players in this new world, from software inventors to counterintelligence officials. He reveals how the government is creating a national intelligence infrastructure with the help of private companies. And he examines the impact of this new security system on our traditional notions of civil liberties, autonomy, and privacy, and the ways it threatens to undermine some of our society's most cherished values, even while offering us a sense of security. This eye-opening examination takes readers behind the walls of secrecy and shows how we are rushing toward a surveillance society with few rules to guide and protect us. In this new world of high-tech domestic intelligence, there is literally no place to hide.

No Place to Hide

Fri, 02 Mar 2007 12:37:49 -0800

This unique multimedia investigation uncovers in unnerving detail the post-9/11 marriage of private data services and government anti-terror initiatives. Led by Robert O’Harrow, Jr., award-winning reporter for The Washington Post and an associate of CIR, “No Place to Hide” shows how the government now depends on burgeoning private reservoirs of information about almost every aspect of our lives to protect homeland security and fight the war on terror. With unrivaled access, “No Place to Hide” tells the inside stories of key players in this new world – from software inventors to counterintelligence officials – and examines the impact of the new security system on our traditional notions of civil liberties, autonomy and privacy. This eye-opening examination takes readers, viewers and listeners behind the walls of secrecy to show how we are rushing towards a surveillance society with few rules to guide and protect us. In this new world of high-tech domestic intelligence, there is literally no place to hide. * * * READ No Place to Hide, by Robert O’Harrow, Jr., published by Free Press (division of Simon & Schuster). Available now in paperback. LISTEN to “No Place to Hide,” produced by John Biewen and Robert O’Harrow for American RadioWorks. Begins airing on public radio stations Wednesday, Jan. 12th. WATCH "Peter Jennings Reporting: No Place to Hide," produced by Peter Bull for PJ Productions. Airs on ABC at 10 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 20th. Buy a copy of the documentary. VISIT the “No Place to Hide” web site to:

Learn more about each of the multimedia components.
Read a book excerpt.
Listen to the radio documentary, buy the book, and read more of O'Harrow's reporting for the Washington Post.
Read interviews from the radio and television documentaries.
Join us for upcoming No Place to Hide screenings and events in New York, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco.

* * * This project was made possible in part by support to the Center for Investigative Reporting from the Ford Foundation, Deer Creek Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

No Place to Hide (Radio Documentary)

Fri, 02 Mar 2007 12:37:49 -0800

In the 1990s, the data industry mushroomed. Vast computer systems quietly gathered staggering amounts of personal information about virtually every American adult, mostly for business and marketing purposes. After the 9/11 attacks, national security officials reached out to data companies for help in finding potential terrorists. Now, there may be No Place to Hide.

Peter Jennings Reporting: No Place to Hide

Fri, 02 Mar 2007 12:37:49 -0800

Peter Jennings examines the government's effort to harness technology in the name of security and the price we might pay if we fail to balance security and freedom in the digital age.