New book: The Private Security State

I am delighted to let you know about the publication of the book “The Private Security State? Surveillance, Consumer Data and the War on Terror”. This book is the outcome of a large research project led by Professor Kirstie Ball, at the Open University, and which I was part of.

This project looked at the use of commercial data for national security purposes, with a focus on the implications for the firms that participate in those schemes. In the book, we consider two national security initiatives, namely the Anti Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing programme which screens financial transactions in order to detect and prevent criminal activity, and the eBorders programme which monitors the movements of people across the UK borders. The book outlines, in considerable detail, the impact of these two schemes for the firms’:

• Information systems infrastructure
• Customer service levels
• Relationships with key stakeholders
• Staff training
• Operations

The book also includes an overview of the theories and frameworks used in the study, as well as the research design.

The book comes out on March 25th. More information here.