Friday, June 12, 2009

The Peep Diaries

Hot of the press is a new book from City Lights - The Peep Diaries by Hal Niedzviecki, which explores the growth of a voyeuristic and informal surveillance culture. From the City Lights blurb:

"We have entered the age of "Peep culture": a tell-all, show-all, know-all digital phenomenon that is dramatically altering notions of privacy, individuality, security and even humanity. Peep culture is Reality TV, YouTube, Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, surveillance technology, blogs, amateur porn, cellphone photos of your drunk friend making out with her ex-boyfriend, and more. In the age of Peep, core values and rights we once took for granted are rapidly being renegotiated, often without our even noticing.

Social critic Hal Niedzviecki dives into Peep, starting his own blog, joining every social network that will have him, monitoring the movements of his wife, hiring private detective websites to investigate his father, spying on his neighbors, and trying out for Reality TV, and drinking with a group of middle class empty nesters whose new hobby is posting their amateur porn to the 'Net. Part travelogue, part diary, part meditation and social history, The Peep Diaries explores a rapidly emerging digital phenomenon that is radically changing not just the entertainment landscape, but also the firmaments of our culture and society."

"A snapshot of a world in profound transformation. Compelling and creepy."
—Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine and No Logo

www.citylights.com/book/?GCOI=87286100828760