What does the Internet have to do with the Panopticon, that imaginary prison designed to exemplify discipline through surveillance? In The End of Privacy (New Press ), Reg Whitaker searches at length for an answer, referencing everything from Orwell_s 1984 to 20th-century totalitarianism. In the process he paints an intriguing picture of the "voluntary" nature of our loss of privacy. From workplace e-mail to databases full of medical, consumer and political information, our every move is becoming "bar-coded" and tracked - often with our tacit consent. But resistance isn_t futile. The author describes the Vatican_s techniques for identifying and expelling troublesome clergy members. French bishop Jacques Gaillot was transferred to a fictional diocese, said to be located somewhere in the Sahara, for holding views that clashed with papal doctrine. The Vatican_s centuries-old method of punishment was undermined when Gaillot set up Partenia as a Web site. As Whitaker explains, Gaillot committed a subversive act enabled by networked technology. Overall, the author manages to tell an evenhanded tale, but doesn_t spend much effort explaining the technical side. Generally avoiding both a utopian and dystopian depiction of today_s networked society, Whitaker seems to think that we can simultaneously be watched and empowered at the same time.