Digital Privacy: Does The Government Think You Have That Right?
Presented in conjunction with VICE News Digital privacy
January 26, 2016
Credit: William Kern, World Meets America – Host
In an age of terrorism, threats are increasingly hard to detect and prevent. Governments claim the need for greater security and seek to monitor global communications, while citizens, more willing than ever to share, demand greater protection of their digital privacy. How has the information age changed the way we think about and value privacy and secrecy?
– How are secrets being used as an instrument of power?
– How do priorities differ between age groups and cultures?
– How can companies balance consumer and government expectations for secrecy and security?
– How have information security measures changed societies?
This session is held in partnership with VICE News.
The Open Forum series, held in parallel with the official programme, offers the local Swiss community and global public an opportunity to engage and interact with experts on global issues.
Speakers: Bassim Haidar, Salil Shetty, Amira Yahyaoui, Jason Mojica, Alexander De Croo, Darrell E. Issa
Links:
NSA Privacy & Secrecy Debate Explained
Ghost in The Machine – Part 2 | Big Brother Is Bigger Than You Think
Google Turning Over Lucrative ‘Web Search’ To AI
Electronic Surveillance: Your Smart Devices Are Listening
Digital Privacy. The digital privacy of Australians ends from Tuesday, October 13. So, the fact that you visited a porn site or infidelity site Ashley Madison or ‘jihadi’ content sites, may in effect be discoverable without the need for a warrant. On that day this country’s entire communications industry will be turned into a surveillance and monitoring arm of at least 21 agencies of executive government. You have no right to digital privacy. Over time, your metadata will expose your private email, SMS and fixed-line caller traffic, consumer, work and professional activities and habits, showing the patterns of all your communications, your commercial transactions and monetised subscriptions or downloads, exactly who you communicate with, and how often. The concept of a right to privacy has become more ingrained in the American public, even as it has become harder and harder to keep anything private. Like a teenager who is horrified to learn that the little lock on her diary was insufficient to protect her secrets from a prying sibling, Americans have been surprised over. Casinos. Banks. Airports. We all know there are public places where we’re being watched, ostensibly for crime-prevention purposes. You have no digital privacy. But with the advancement of digital technologies, “Big Brother’s” reach has gotten way wider, recording our movements—and our conversations—in a surprising amount of places. “Big Brother is becoming more and more intrusive in our private lives and until something is done to scale it back or eliminate it, it’s only going to get worse.”
