I took my copy of Cory Doctrow’s “Little Brother“ with me on a recent business trip, and thanks to severe weather delays, I managed to spend over 8 hours waiting in airports and was able to finish the book in one day.

While it’s no fun being stuck in an airport, it turned out to be the perfect environment to read this book. The story follows a high school hacker as he fights the “Department of Homeland Security” to reclaim American civil liberties after anti-terror tactics are taken to a new level. Having the real DHS making announcements in the background about threat levels and unattended baggage, only makes the story more real.

The book targets a younger audience than myself, but it’s still enjoyable. Doctrow does a wonderful job keeping the story believable, and explaining the security implications of the technology we use on a daily basis. Given the theme of the book, I do hope he’s successful in reaching a wide audience and sparking a healthy debate about “national security”, privacy, and civil liberties.