Terms of Use

From Publishers Weekly Sergio Mansour, the fifty-year-old hero of journalist Morrison’s well-paced debut, is a former Silicon Valley whiz kid who created Circles, a powerful social network that goes way beyond Facebook in its scope. He has left the company in the hands of the administrator team, but has stayed on at the San Francisco-based company to devote himself to research. He’s on the brink of perfecting a system that would guarantee online privacy. What could possibly go wrong? The answer, of course, is everything—including a murder, a missing thumb drive, Socialbots, and a murky business deal with China. Branded a terrorist and pursued by a hired killer, Sergio goes on the run. As the revelations start coming, thick and fast, he realizes that he must not only save himself but also his country. Morrison, who specializes in information technology, pithily explains all the techniques and data on which the plot depends without slowing down the action. Review An Amazon.com Best Books of the Month: Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Pick“Through its international conspiracy plots, Morrison’s fresh, immersive debut exposes the privacy dangers that lie in modern society’s commonplace relationship with social technology...This fast-paced technothriller will attract technophiles, Millennials, and fans of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series.” ― Library Journal “Scott Allan Morrison speeds through the synapses. In Terms of Use , Sergio Mansour has built the world’s biggest social network, and when others take control of his creation, it becomes a monster that threatens the balance of international power. Sergio must not only clear his name but save the world. Morrison is the Dan Brown of technothrillers.” ―Stephen Templin, New York Times bestseller, SEAL Team Six and Trident’s First Gleaming “ Terms of Use is a crackerjack techno-thriller from an author who knows the landscape. With menace, an expert pace, and lots of twists, Scott Allan Morrison exposes how our social-media lives can be hacked and turned against us. Both terrifying and thrilling, Terms of Use is a necessary cautionary tale for our current age.” ―William Lashner, New York Times bestselling author of The Barkeep and Fatal Flaw “ Terms of Use is a fast-paced Internet thriller that raises serious questions about the role and influence of technology in our daily lives. Readers will continue to think about the issues raised long after finishing the book.” ―Jonathan Zittrain, co-founder of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University “ Terms of Use is dangerously suspenseful―you’ll have serious trouble putting it down.” ―Marty Cooper, “father” of the cell phone About the Author Scott Allan Morrison was a journalist for almost twenty years, covering politics, business, and technology in Mexico, Canada, and the United States. Morrison arrived in Silicon Valley as a reporter for the Financial Times during the darkest days of the dot-com crash. He later covered the Web 2.0 boom for Dow Jones Newswires and the Wall Street Journal . Over the course of a decade, Morrison covered most of the world’s top tech companies and chronicled many of Silicon Valley’s greatest stories, including the rise of Internet insecurity and the explosion of social media. Before setting his sights on journalism, he spent four years teaching English and traveling in Southeast Asia. He speaks fluent Spanish and very rusty Mandarin. He lives in Northern California with his wife and his hockey sticks. Read more