Review of 'Monitor: Extinguishing Privacy on the Information Superhighway' By Simon Davies: Pan, Sydney 1996. x, 262pp, ISBN 0 330 35843 X

The information superhighway has captured the public imagination in recent years with its promise to liberate access to information, revolutionise employment and reinvigorate the economy. The information revolution has become synonymous with the public good and is seen as a democratising force in political relations. Simon Davies' book is a timely and sober appraisal of the information revolution's present and potential impact upon privacy. It critically assesses the overwhelming dangers to civil liberty inherent in the flood-tide of information collation, access, use and exchange - dangers made very real through public indifference and the inadequacy of the legislative regulatory framework.