As more and more corporations and governments collect and analyze ever increasing amounts of data about our lives and our activities, it’s appealing to react by creating more privacy-related legislation or arrangements that pay individuals for use of their personal data sets. Instead, this article by Evgeny Morozov (the author of The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom) suggests that what is needed is a civic-minded response, because democracy is at risk.
Tag: Privacy
Locked Up for Linking? US Journalist Faces Prosecution
I have watched with great interest the developments over the course of the last 3-6 months as it pertains to widespread surveillance of Internet users by government agencies. While the NSA surveillance program has been the most publicized, there are reasons to believe that China, India, Pakistan, Russia, Australia and others are conducting similar activities.
One of the things that concerns me most is the double talk coming from most of these countries about “promoting the values and importance of online privacy in the context of basic human rights”. A bad precedent has been set. Let’s just accept this as the reality of things. And unfortunately, this precedent is eating away at some of the basic precepts of Internet growth — trust, openness and user-focused development.
And as you can see from this article, the government actions over the last couple of months has opened a Pandora’s Box in terms of the individual’s right to information, freedom of the press, personal privacy, etc. The implications for the future of the Internet are grave. Let’s just hope that the system is as resilient to political and ideological threats as it is to technological ones.
SnapChat Allows You to Send Messages and Photos that Quickly Disappear
A sore point for many as it pertains to the big data phenomenon is the fact that the notion of privacy is pretty much just that… a notion. We no longer have any control over our personal data that is aggregated and archived whenever we fill out online forms, post our pics on the web, chat with friends or tweet updates on our lives. Enter Snapchat; a mobile phone app that allows you to send messages and photos that disappear quickly into the ‘ether’. I wonder if there’s a sustainable business model for an application like this, especially given the present Internet culture?
http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/513731/temporary-social-media/
Niel Harper 