Don't Be Evil
Don’t Be Evil tells the story of how Big Tech lost its soul. It is a penetrating indictment of how today’s largest tech companies are hijacking our data, our livelihoods, our social fabric, and our minds. It shows the true extent to which behemoths like Google, Facebook, Apple, and Amazon are monetizing both our data and our attention, without us seeing a penny of those exorbitant profits. Finally, Don’t Be Evil lays out a plan for how we can resist, by creating a framework that fosters innovation while also protecting us from the dark side of digital technology.
Praise for Don't Be Evil
“This book goes beyond the economic problems of market distortion and monopoly power and examines the broader implications for society of the untrammeled and under-regulated Silicon Valley companies. Foroohar demonstrates that while the creed ‘don’t be evil’ may have initially inspired the Silicon Valley giants, its principle has long been left behind.”
— Joseph E. Stiglitz, Nobel Laureate in economics
“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 debatecon how to constrain the dark power of the tech corporations, binding them to the real needs of people and society.”
— Shoshana Zuboff, Professor Emerita at Harvard Business School
“Rana Foroohar’s new book explains how Big Tech firms have moved permanently beyond the reach of tax laws by leveraging the same opaque financial wizardry and scale that big banks did before the financial crisis, while also exploiting information asymmetries that demote us from citizens to mere consumers. Her urgent message: ‘Yes, we really are living in the Matrix,’ and it’s time to rise up and resist our algorithmic overlords. This book shows us how.”
“The first book on the big tech crisis to propose a set of realistic solutions. This book should be read by every policymaker both in the United States and around the world. As Foroohar makes clear, the self-regulation of Big Tech is not an option, and she proposes real-world solutions that could make a big difference.”
— Jonathan Taplin, Director Emeritus of the Annenberg Innovation Lab at the University of Southern California
“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.’ Foroohar’s big-picture thinking is much needed. This compelling and deeply informed book will help guide our responses to a dangerous new era.”
— David Kirkpatrick, author of The Facebook Effect
“Rana Foroohar 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.”
— Roger McNamee, author of Zucked: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe
“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, policymakers, and the tech industry itself can no longer afford to ignore.”
— John Battelle, Co-Founder of Wired