Password : Object Lessons
Martin Paul EveObject Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.
Where does a password end & an identity begin? A person might be more than his chosen ten-character combination, but does a bank know that? Or an email provider? What's an 'identity theft' in the digital age if not the unauthorized use of a password?
In untangling the histories, cultural contexts & philosophies of the password, Martin Paul Eve explores how 'what we know' became 'who we are', revealing how the modern notion of identity has been shaped by the password.
Ranging from ancient Rome & the 'watchwords' of military encampments, through the three-factor authentication systems of Harry Potter & up to the biometric scanner in the iPhone, Passwordmakes a timely & important contribution to our understanding of the words, phrases & special characters that determine our belonging and, often, our being.
Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.
“The Object Lessons project, edited by game theory legend Ian Bogost & cultural studies academic Christopher Schaberg, commissions short essays & small, beautiful books about everyday objects from shipping containers to toast. The Atlantic hosts a collection of ‘mini object-lessons’. . . . More substantive is Bloomsbury’s collection of small, gorgeously designed books that delve into their subjects in much more depth.” — Cory Doctorow, Boing Boing