I picked up some books recently based on some reviews via the British Computer Society.
On the Way to the Web: The Secret History of the Internet and its Founders details the development of the various online systems which paved the web to the Internet and web that we know today. This was not a linear progression. The classic bulletin boards and the like (based on screeching modems, ah memories…) were not on the same path and eventually fell by the wayside but certainly gave many their first tastes of the online world. Oh, and the telephone bills to match.
Yes, the likes of Prestel and Delphi do feature. It is an interesting read and also details the political and personal wranglings that were going on. It is a shame that Compunet (my first online experience) is not featured but I did learn about the more official Commodore 64 services that existed.
Virtual Shadows: Your Privacy in the Information Society deals with, predictably, privacy in the Information Society! Some of the material will be a bit obvious to those with a background in this stuff (e.g. why blogs are popular and how they work) but some of the detail in risk assessment of the information you leave online is absorbing. Naturally, social networking sites form a key part of this as does the protection of children. I found the later parts of the book the best as they dealt with the current and upcoming threats to our privacy in general, be they ID cards or the ‘feature creep’ of CCTV and other surveillance systems. I had never heard of ‘Sousveillance’ before either!
I recommend both books so check them out.