In his novel Little Brother, Cory Doctorow envisions a time in the not-so-distant future where the power of the police and military branches of the government are usurped by the Department of Homeland Security after a devastating terrorist attack on San Francisco. The protagonist, a teenage boy, is taken into custody without arrest, interrogated and released days later with an explicit warning to not tell anyone about his ordeal unless he wants to "disappear." Throughout the course of the book, the protagonist creates a network of like-minded teens, using currently available technology, to act as a "Little Brother" to the Department of Homeland Security's "Big Brother."
The book deals with themes of free speech and censorship as it relates to technology. What do you have the right to chat about with your friends while online? What kinds of programs or operating systems are you allowed to install on your computer, or for that matter, what kinds of programs or operating systems are you allowed to author? It deals with the theme of a marginalized teenager whose father is quick to discount, instead taking the word handed down from the Department of Homeland Security as the ultimate truth, until it is almost too late. The book also deals with the paranoia of a town under siege from imaginary foes and the penchant of angry mobs of people looking for a scapegoat, in this case unruly teens they don't fully understand.
Little Brother is essentially a primer on the cutting edge technology available today and how to use that technology to preserve your right to free speech, freedom of association and freedom from unlawful imprisonment, and was by far the most important book published in 2008 for teens and adults alike.
Download Little Brother for free (from the author!) right here.
See Cory read a section from the novel.
No comments:
Post a Comment