My name is Gerald Reischl. My motto is to “experience technology”. I have been the editor in chief of the “Digital” department at the Austrian daily newspaper KURIER and responsible for the “Techno-KURIER” since 1992.

In the past I have written numerous books and also work as a technology expert for the program “Konkret” (High-tech Corner) featured by the Austrian TV station ORF as well as for the ORF-Radio program.I worked as a journalist and reporter during the war in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia (1993), and reported about the Rwandan Genocide in 1994. As of the mid 90’s, I successively got involved with technology. My passion for technology increased when my first book was published in 1998: Im Visier der Datenjäger. (“In the visor of data hunters”). That year the book was ranked as number one on the Austrian non-fiction bestseller-list for weeks and even triggered some parliamentary inquiries. My following publications dealt with topics such as mobile communication, the future of the Internet, and data security.

I attempt to set an example as a journalist by doing what I write and talk about in my newspaper articles, or on the TV and radio programs. One can only be considered authentic and credible if one “lives” what one writes and talks about. That is one of the main reasons that I have built a high-tech house, in which most things are administered by remote control and we communicate with SMS while I am away on business trips or vacation.

“The Google-Trap” was published exactly ten years after my first book had been launched. With this publication, similar to my first book, I aim at spotlighting the “data-passion” of authorities and employers and hope to raise the people’s awareness of this problem – especially in Europe.