What will I learn about: Free online platforms like Google and Facebook do not treat you as a customer, but rather as the primary product whose personal and locational data is harvested for profit?

Free online platforms like Google and Facebook do not treat you as a customer, but rather as the primary product whose personal and locational data is harvested for profit.

What will I learn about: Sharing seemingly harmless social media updates, such as vacation plans or photos with embedded GPS coordinates, actively helps organized criminals target and burgle your home?

Sharing seemingly harmless social media updates, such as vacation plans or photos with embedded GPS coordinates, actively helps organized criminals target and burgle your home.

What will I learn about: As everyday items like baby monitors and home security systems connect to the internet, they create hundreds of new, highly vulnerable entry points for global hackers to invade your privacy?

As everyday items like baby monitors and home security systems connect to the internet, they create hundreds of new, highly vulnerable entry points for global hackers to invade your privacy.

What will I learn about: Connecting critical public infrastructure, such as electrical grids, air traffic controls, and prison systems, to the internet exposes society to catastrophic, systemic failures without a backup plan?

Connecting critical public infrastructure, such as electrical grids, air traffic controls, and prison systems, to the internet exposes society to catastrophic, systemic failures without a backup plan.

What will I learn about: You can drastically reduce your vulnerability to cybercrime by using a limited 'guest' account for daily computer use, covering your webcam, and turning off wireless connections when not in use?

You can drastically reduce your vulnerability to cybercrime by using a limited 'guest' account for daily computer use, covering your webcam, and turning off wireless connections when not in use.

Future Crimes

Everything Is Connected, Everyone Is Vulnerable and What We Can Do About It

Marc Goodman

★ 4.1 / 5(36 ratings)

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Categories:

Society & Culture Technology & the Future

If You're Curious About These Questions...

You should listen to this audiobook

💡How do "free" everyday tools, like a popular mobile game or a cloud-based word processor, secretly monetize your personal data or even threaten your intellectual property?
💡In what ways does oversharing your weekend getaway on social media, or simply taking a photo with your smartphone, act as a digital invitation for organized burglars?
💡Why does connecting essential city infrastructure—from water treatment plants to prison systems—to the internet pose a catastrophic, life-threatening risk to the public?

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Key Takeaways from Future Crimes

✓Free online platforms like Google and Facebook do not treat you as a customer, but rather as the primary product whose personal and locational data is harvested for profit.
✓Sharing seemingly harmless social media updates, such as vacation plans or photos with embedded GPS coordinates, actively helps organized criminals target and burgle your home.
✓As everyday items like baby monitors and home security systems connect to the internet, they create hundreds of new, highly vulnerable entry points for global hackers to invade your privacy.
✓Connecting critical public infrastructure, such as electrical grids, air traffic controls, and prison systems, to the internet exposes society to catastrophic, systemic failures without a backup plan.
✓You can drastically reduce your vulnerability to cybercrime by using a limited 'guest' account for daily computer use, covering your webcam, and turning off wireless connections when not in use.

Learning Tools

Reinforce what you learned from Future Crimes

Mind Map

Future Crimes

Corporate Data Mining+

Pervasive Surveillance+

Scale of Cybercrime+

Dangers of Oversharing+

Actionable Cybersecurity+

The Future of Humanity+

Quiz — Test Your Understanding

Question 1 of 8

Why are platforms like Google, Facebook, and Twitter able to offer their services for free?

A. They rely on government subsidies to maintain global communication infrastructure.
B. They offset the costs by charging premium subscription fees to corporate clients.
C. The users and their personal data are actually the primary product being sold.
D. They operate as non-profit organizations funded by billionaire philanthropists.

Question 2 of 8

According to the text, what is a major risk of writing a highly valuable manuscript, such as a Harry Potter novel, in Google Docs?

A. Hackers frequently target Google Docs to leak unpublished manuscripts to the public.
B. Google's terms and conditions state that documents stored on Google Drive belong to them.
C. Cloud storage limits could cause parts of the manuscript to be permanently deleted.
D. Google automatically claims a percentage of royalties for commercially successful documents.

Question 3 of 8

How did a study by the Rand Corporation contradict the popular stereotype of a computer hacker?

A. It found that most hackers are actually independent activists fighting for digital privacy.
B. It revealed that 80 percent of hackers work for a company or government and are closer to 30 years old.
C. It showed that most hackers are entirely self-taught teenagers operating out of developing nations.
D. It proved that modern hackers rely almost exclusively on social engineering rather than coding skills.

Question 4 of 8

What surprising data practice was revealed about the mobile game Angry Birds?

A. It secretly recorded audio through the phone's microphone to serve targeted music ads.
B. It accessed users' contact lists to automatically send spam messages to friends.
C. It collected locational data and sold it to advertisement companies to forecast future behavior.
D. It used the phone's front-facing camera to monitor user reactions during gameplay.

Question 5 of 8

What could be a catastrophic consequence of having critical infrastructure, like the South Houston Water and Sewer Department, connected to the internet?

A. Hackers could alter chemical levels in the water treatment process and poison thousands of people.
B. Cybercriminals could siphon millions of dollars in utility payments directly from residents' bank accounts.
C. Ransomware could lock the city out of its billing system, forcing a massive tax increase.
D. Hackers could permanently delete the city's geographical maps, causing widespread construction errors.

Question 6 of 8

Why does the author advise against completely deleting your online social media profiles to protect your data?

A. Deleting profiles flags you as a suspicious individual in government surveillance databases.
B. Social media companies retain your data indefinitely and sell it even after account deletion.
C. It prevents you from using essential modern services like multi-factor authentication.
D. Someone else could easily create a fake profile posing as you, so it is better to control your own information.

Question 7 of 8

What practical computer setup does the author recommend to make it harder for malware and hackers to infiltrate your system?

A. Use a different physical computer for internet browsing and keep your main computer completely offline.
B. Create a 'guest' account for day-to-day use and only use the 'admin' account when updating trusted programs.
C. Change your operating system completely every six months to stay ahead of new vulnerabilities.
D. Disable all administrative privileges permanently and rely entirely on cloud-based applications.

Question 8 of 8

According to the text, what is a highly recommended practice for creating strong passwords?

A. Keep them over 20 digits long, including numbers, symbols, and spaces.
B. Use a memorable personal phrase and change it every two to three years.
C. Use the same highly secure password across all accounts to avoid having to write it down.
D. Rely entirely on biometric data instead of written passwords whenever possible.

Future Crimes — Full Chapter Overview

1Recommendation
21 — Now that the online and offline worlds have merged, can we still safely log out?
32 — Smartphones, smart cars, smartwatches—but are we smart enough?
43 — In the online world, “free” is a high price you’ll eventually pay.
54 — As the internet expands exponentially, so does the scale of crimes by hackers, terrorists, and governments.
65 — We make ourselves easy targets by posting information and pictures we may later regret.
76 — The best—or worst—of the internet is still to come.
87 — Connecting critical infrastructure to the internet leaves us with no plan B in an emergency.
98 — We should never let technology have more control over our decisions than we do.
109 — Final summary

Future Crimes Summary & Overview

Future Crimes (2015) lucidly explores the dangers inherent in using today’s highly interconnected web of technologies. Through carelessness or ignorance, we make huge amounts of personal information available to criminals who would love nothing more than to exploit us.

Who Should Listen to Future Crimes?

Anyone who uses the internet on a daily basis
People who use social media on their smartphones
Those who believe technology will solve all our problems

About the Author: Marc Goodman

Marc Goodman is an FBI futurist who has consulted organizations such as INTERPOL, the United Nations, NATO, the LAPD and US government on issues ranging from security to business to international affairs. He also serves as Global Security Advisor and Chair of Policy and Law at the NASA- and Google-sponsored Silicon Valley’s Singularity University.

Future Crimes

If You're Curious About These Questions...

Listen to Future Crimes — Free Audiobook

Key Takeaways from Future Crimes

Learning Tools

Mind Map

Quiz — Test Your Understanding

Future Crimes — Full Chapter Overview

Future Crimes Summary & Overview

Who Should Listen to Future Crimes?

About the Author: Marc Goodman

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