Self-styled “rogue sociologist” Sudhir Venkatesh’s latest book, Gang Leader for a Day, tells the story of his relationship with a gang in Chicago’s infamous Robert Taylor housing project. Reading like a mashup of The Wire, a Pimms O’Clock ad, and Freakonomics, his account is by turns hilarious, fascinating and terrifying.
In his book The Future of Reputation (available for free online), Daniel J Solove discusses some of the dangers of being a participant in an online world. One of his points is that even the most carefully honed personal privacy policies are subject to leaks from friends, family members or even complete strangers.
He also mentions that many companies are starting to take advantage of the availabilty of extra information by using Google searches to screen potential candidates - but I wonder if this is really the best approach.
