Don't Be Evil: The Case Against Big Tech

Today Google and Facebook receive 90% of the world's news ad-spending. Amazon takes half of all ecommerce in the US. Google and Apple operating systems run on all but 1% of cell phones globally. And 80% of corporate wealth is now held by 10% of companies - not the GEs and Toyotas of this world, but the digital titans. How did we get here? How did the tech industry get to dominate our world so completely? How did once-idealistic and innovative companies come to manipulate elections, violate our privacy, and pose a threat to the fabric of our democracy? In Don't Be Evil, Financial Times global business columnist Rana Foroohar documents how Big Tech lost its soul - and became the new Wall Street.

Through her skilled reporting and unparalleled access - won through nearly 30 years covering business and technology - she shows the true extent to which the 'Faang's (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google) crush or absorb any potential competitors, hijack our personal data and mental space and offshore their exorbitant profits. What's more, she reveals how these threats to our democracies, our livelihoods and our minds are all intertwined. Yet Foroohar also lays out a plan for how we can resist, creating a framework that fosters innovation while also protecting us from the dark side of digital technology.

By:   Rana Foroohar
Imprint:   Allen Lane
Country of Publication:   United Kingdom
Dimensions:   Height: 234mm,  Width: 153mm, 
ISBN:   9780241427903
ISBN 10:   0241427908
Pages:   256
Publication Date:   November 2019
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  General/trade ,  Primary ,  Undergraduate
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Forthcoming

Rana Faroohar is global business columnist and associate editor for the Financial Times. She is also CNN's global economic analyst. Previously, Foroohar was the assistant managing editor in charge of business and economics at Time, as well as the magazine's economic columnist. She also spent 13 years at Newsweek, as an economic and foreign affairs editor and a foreign correspondent covering Europe and the Middle East. During that time, she was awarded the German Marshall Fund's Peter R. Weitz Prize for transatlantic reporting. She has also received awards and fellowships from institutions such as the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and the East-West Center. She is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Giant tech companies are an ungoverned global economic and social force that we all must understand. They contribute to division and threaten the very cohesion of society. Faroohar's big picture thinking is much needed. This compelling and deeply-informed book will help guide our responses to a dangerous new era. Rana Faroohar is a beacon of insight in the world of financial journalism. In Don't Be Evil, she applies her brilliance to the increasingly nightmarish behavior of tech giants like Amazon, Google, and Facebook. It is a must read. When we choose technology's convenience without considering its tradeoffs, we ceded control to a muscular, unregulated strain of capitalism that is now costing us far more than we thought. Don't Be Evil comes just in time, with a warning citizens, policy makers, and the tech industry itself can no longer afford to ignore. Don't Be Evil is the first book on the big tech crisis to propose a set of realistic solutions. It should be read by every policy maker both in the U.S. and around the world. Rana Foroohar's urgent message: 'Yes, we really are living in the Matrix,' and it's time to rise up and resist out algorithmic overlords. This book shows us how. As one of the world's most talented financial journalists, Rana Foroohar has long been essential reading for anyone interested in the powerful parallel worlds of Wall Street and Silicon Valley. At first sight, Don't Be Evil looks like it's doing for Google what muckraking journalist Ida Tarbell did for Standard Oil over a century ago. But this whip-smart, highly readable book's scope turns out to be much broader. Worried about the monopolistic tendencies of big tech? The addictive apps on your iPhone? The role Facebook played in Donald Trump's election? Foroohar will leave you even more worried, but a lot better informed. If journalism is the first rough draft of history, then we are most fortunate to have Rana Foroohar's laser vision and trenchant business analysis turned on the tech giants and the gluttonous anti-democratic surveillance capitalism that is their most far-reaching innovation. Foroohar's examination of Big Tech's audacity, plunder, and self-dealing economics is a crucial contribution to the growing debate. Rana Foroohar is a savvy and wise commentator and a keen observer of the global economy. This book goes beyond the economic problems and examines the broader implications for society of the untrammeled and under regulated Silicon Valley companies. She demonstrates that while the creed 'don't be evil' may have initially inspired the Silicon Valley giants, its principle has long been left behind.