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Database Nation Something about the neighborhood on the cover of the June issue of Reason magazine might strike subscribers as familiar. For 40,000 readers, something should be -- each cover displays an aerial photo of subscriber's home and the surrounding neighborhood. Guest: Nick Gillespie, editor-in-chief for Reason magazine

Database Nation

Looking on the Bright Side of 'Zero Privacy'

Heard on Talk of the Nation

Database Nation

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The June cover of Reason magazine hide caption

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As subscribers pull the June Reason magazine out of their mailbox, something about the issue should look familiar. The magazine published 40,000 individualized covers displaying an aerial photo of the subscriber's home and the surrounding neighborhood.

Inside, the personalization continues. Subscribers can find out how many of their neighbors are college educated and what percentage of kids in their zip code are being raised by their grandparents. An ad for the Institute for Justice shows the number of eminent domain cases in their state where private property was seized and given to private developers. And an ad for the Marijuana Policy Project tells subscribers whether their congressman voted to stop federal raids on medical marijuana clubs in states where they're legal, says Reason Editor-in-Chief Nick Gillespie.

"Living in a database nation raises innumerable privacy concerns," writes Gillespie in the June issue. "But it also makes life easier and more prosperous. We may have kissed privacy goodbye -- and good riddance, too."

Guest:

Nick Gillespie, editor-in-chief for Reason magazine