Teenager World in Little Brother - Book Report/Review Example

Teenager World in Little Brother Introduction This book is one of the intriguing reads that focuses on describing the efforts of governments to put up surveillance systems that track all the data from different application systems. However, the author targets a younger audience, especially teenagers. The book centers on one teenager named Marcus, who challenges the surveillance system and demands his right to privacy. This teenager exhibits geekdom that enables him to evade all the established surveillance systems. This essay will offer a review of the book, highlighting the main arguments raised by the author. Evidently, the story begins to unfold when Marcus and his friends plot an escape from school. They manage to disable all the cameras installed within the school setting to monitor the movement of students. This is the first instance when the teenagers prove that they have tact, and that they can challenge the surveillance systems. The teenagers head to San Franciscan treasure hunt, a mission common to many teenage boys, who begin to exhibit a level of rebellion and mischief. However, the boys become victims of circumstances, as a terror attack is staged and perpetrated at the same venue. With the threats of terror, the department of homeland security proves relentless in associating anyone found at the crime scene with the attack. This situation leads to the four boys being under custody. While facing the questioning by the department of homeland security officers, they are expected to unlock their phone for scrutiny as one way of ensuring that they are not linked to the terror attack. However, Marcus objects to give in to their demands initially, because he felt that his privacy was under threat. However, the security officers got their way and checked his phone eventually. When the boys are released, they have to face a hard reality because all their movements are under the surveillance by the department of homeland security. Marcus is well aware of the ensuing tracking effort that screens his phone and even his internet activities. The surging danger that the four boys faced if they disclose the reality of things to their parents dissuaded them from sharing, but chose to remain silent about their predicament. However, Marcus had the determination to define a strategy that could enable him deactivate the ensuing tracking. On getting home, he realized that a bug had affected his laptop, disassembling it. He worked on reassembling it and succeeded. At this point, the author focuses on describing the different techniques that Marcus relied on in his bid to evade the surging surveillance system. Despite his young age, he was well aware of numerous computer programs and tricks that he uses to retaliate in his bid to rebel against the ensuing surveillance (Dowtorow 23). The author seems to be expressing concerns on the relevance of the surveillance system, and if it is justified in any case. This raises related questions on whether there is a need for the DHS and its collaborators to obtain such bulks of data from the surveillance systems, if it does not prove to be of any relevance. The extensive surveillance paints a picture of the DHS compromising on the privacy of not only the American citizens, but also rather global citizens by spying every single kilobyte of data handled by internet users. A new cause of concern emerges because the surveillance system affects the way people live their lives (56). The example presented in this book is that of Marcus and his friends, and the fear that envelopes them after they become aware of the constant tracking. This tracking serves to alter the life of the teenager Marcus, and he shifts his attention to design techniques if ensuring that his data is protected. The author gives Marcus the title of a ‘hacker’ because he makes use of the paranoid X box to deactivate the surveillance imposed upon him by the DHS officers. The reason why Marcus develops the new connection is because he intended to fight back, and reveal that the DHS indulged in multiple ingenuities (60). Moreover, Daryl had not been released, and he needed to establish his fate. He had the conviction that the DHS knew of his whereabouts. As the story unfolds, it becomes evident that the surveillance system and data tracking security measure adopted by the DHS officers has certain undesirable effects. Citizens’ relationships with the government continue to face frustrations since the NSA may acquire information and use it for the wrong reasons (34). Mainly, the threat of incriminating citizens in the society is raising concerns and hurting the desired relationships between America and citizens belonging to different nations. Informative surveys establish different, but informative presumptions concerning the involvement of DHS in internet surveillance. The accrued information disseminates factual that surveillance leads to the incrimination of innocent citizens. Obviously, the surveillance technique masters fast information exchanges within limited periods, thus; there might propel the eruption of misconception of ideas such that some citizens will be held accountable for intended terrorism attacks. The arguments are that the practice remains ill for most of the citizens perceive the social media as the best platform for conveying their ideas thus; misconception of information may lead to ill-fated redress of critical issues whereby the innocent citizens may fall culprits to the DHS. This situation is typical to Marcus, as he is under constant surveillance because he is perceived as one of the culprits who perpetrated the attack. However, the reader knows that he was innocent. The incidence altered his character, and motivated him to pursue different strategies aimed at protecting his privacy. Even in the school setting, Marcus finds a way out of each technique or procedure that is installed for tracking him and other students suspected to have participated in the attack at DART (45). The author also uses Marcus to illustrate to the reader the potential of social websites in promoting an agenda. Mainly, all users of the social media seek privacy while communicating amongst themselves, thus any form of hurdles set to the media shall lead to propulsion of rivalry between the global society and the American authorities thus stirring the evolution distrust. Certainly, citizens will address their views in distrust to DHS and the government professed support to the agency’s practices of intriguing into the people and organizations’ privacies at a global perspective. This situation prompts Marcus to initiate a campaign against the surveillance system on a social website. From the evident traffic to the social website, the campaign gains momentum in a short while after he started it. He urged his friends to rely on the safe connection that he had established, as he embarked an expose of the illegalities and atrocities committed by the DHS (57). He works closely worked with his friends in his bid to obtain evidence that the efforts of DHS were not genuine. However, the betrayal of some of his friends limited his success. After he differed with Ange, and feared of an impending arrest, he revealed the story to his mother. Conclusion In the final chapters, he faces questioning, but produces evidence that Daryl had not perished in the attack. Although he faces some charges, he has successfully exposed the political associations of DHS activities and the multiple secrets unknown to many under the bracket of tracking. Evidently, the author of the book makes a strong claim on the issue concerning the American efforts of data tracking in a bid to address the surging terror threats. The book is an appealing literary work for teenagers as they connect easily with the determination of the young geek Marcus. Work Cited Dowtorow, Cory. Little brother. New York: HarperCollins Publisher, 2013. Print. Read More