TOTAL CONTROL

ARE WE SLEEPWALKING INTO TOTAL CONTROL? They know where you go. They know what you buy. They know what you watch. And according to Mike Graham, this is only the beginning. In his explosive new book TOTAL CONTROL, broadcaster and Sunday Times bestselling author Mike Graham warns that Britain is becoming a nation where almost everything we do can be watched, tracked and recorded. Following Fake News, his investigation into the relationship between government and mainstream media, Graham asks an even more disturbing question: how much freedom are we surrendering in exchange for convenience? From smartphones and social media to facial recognition, connected cars, parking apps and smart meters, Graham exposes what he sees as the growing machinery of surveillance hidden within everyday technology. His concerns began in 2007, when a supermarket loyalty scheme revealed just how closely his shopping habits could be monitored. Nearly twenty years later, he argues, the ability to track and influence our behaviour has reached an entirely new level. TOTAL CONTROL investigates data harvesting, online censorship, government regulation and the expanding power of institutions to monitor how we travel, communicate, spend money and consume energy. Who owns our personal information? Who can access it? And what happens when convenience becomes coercion? Written with Graham’s trademark humour, sharp observations and refusal to pull his punches, TOTAL CONTROL challenges the reassuring promises of the digital age. Because when surveillance becomes normal, compliance becomes expected. And when compliance becomes compulsory, freedom itself is at stake. The technology designed to make our lives easier may ultimately become the technology used to control them.