As others have already suggested, the greater message of both Little Brother and Homeland is the idea that we, the reader, should do something about it. We should, in some way, fight "the man" and try to hold our government more accountable for how our activity is monitored online and in our every day lives.
The most obvious solution (and perhaps most difficult) is to approach these issues through legislature. We could of course, vote to elect those who represent our interests in these matters. But this is a lengthy process, and the effects are not immediate, nor are they always guaranteed. So, then, what can we do? Should we become hackers like Marcus and try to keep the government out of our computers and subvert the system? Should we sign petitions asking for a change in law? Are there any practical solutions we can apply that can help us keep our right to privacy?
Thinking in the terms that these books are meant to be instructional to us, it can only be assumed that Doctorow thinks this system will work best in the sense that I, personally, could do something about it. I think these books are obviously the worst case scenario of what the government could potentially do, but perhaps it serves as a warning that if we don't start to think like Marcus and begin to try and control our privacy, this could potentially happen to us. Especially since everything in these books is actually a real device, it is almost scary to think that this is possible. So perhaps we should begin to find ways, like Marcus, to secure our privacy and do something about the change we want to see.
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