Privacy vs. Surveillance?
Everyone has secrets and everyone will do what they must to keep it that way. If given the option, most would prefer to conduct their affairs in privacy(hygiene, intimacy, knowledge sensitive work). Snooping is still considered rude. We simply must have a degree of reserved space for ourselves or nothing is sacred.
In June, I came across an illuminating interview by the great Ron Paul with Edward Snowden, the hero/traitor who revealed the NSA's PRISM surveillance program. For better or worse, Snowden awakened Americans and the world to the systematic unconstitutional mass collection of our communications. Also discovered was the backroom arrangements for corporations we trusted to release private data to the NSA without consent or notice. We live in an era of constant suspicion and monitoring. Many of us have begun to question how do we stop this? How do we hold government accountable and resist this abuse on our rights? Our personal lives are not property of our government!
In this incredible interview Ron Paul, Daniel McAdams, and Edward Snowden discuss the complexity of legal and technical application of protected rights, the danger of dogma, liberty vs. surveillance, the Military Industrial Complex, as well as some insight into Snowden making his decision to blow the whistle on the NSA's activities. I really love this interview for it's honest engagement and brilliant discussion of what privacy is. Snowden explains in clear defined terms what is under threat and the value in protecting this fundamental human right.
Snowden touches on a topic we are experimenting with here too. Technology as a shield for protecting our rights and freedom. Cryptocurrency as it's name suggests, encrypts and protect our currency from manipulation, fraud, and theft. All things all governments around the world are guilty of committing. Money is inextricably linked to our freedom. A debt based monetary system ensures slavery for all but those at the top running the scam. So to is privacy a cornerstone of our freedom. Surveillance for any reason undermines a person's ability to live innocently without suspicion that you are breaking the law. You are already alleged of criminal activity before you see a court room. In the face of these tyrannical threats, can technology be the bulwark to the law of man that is as arbitrary as the speed limit on the road?
When you examine it a law can do very little but stain paper if it cannot be enforced. Many people may be violating a law right now but is there much ability to enforce you to not wear the American flag on clothing? So to would be futile to enforce a scheme to manipulate that which is immune to manipulation or spy on someone who cannot be watched or monitored.
Is this the avenue where our efforts are best directed? It does seem to be a more difficult barrier to overcome. Well developed security technology is difficult to hack but bypassing a legal restriction can be done with ease. As we have seen, Federal Agencies in the U.S have little regard for the antique founding document of our republic yet can do nothing but plead to Silicon Valley to weaken encryption so they may be allowed to spy on more savvy Americans. The UK's attempt to ban encryption(mathematics) is absolute insanity. But what are we really trying to save? To those who argue the Nazi doctrine of "nothing to hide, nothing to fear" why does privacy matter? What is privacy? Why does government seem to fail at being the guardian of this right even when enshrined in it's Constitution? Is technology the true saint of privacy we have been waiting for? I will explore some of these questions in a series of posts but feel free to leave comments with your own opinions! Until next time...
Image/Video sources:
https://www.thinkinc.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/thinkinc_es_web_1900x500.jpg
http://msmegarage.org/crypto-currency-and-ugandas-financial-market/
http://s3.amazonaws.com/rv-wp/centurylinkdealscominternetres/uploads/2013/11/firewall.jpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XLLo0025Jc
Privacy no question about it. I do not want goverment to know how I jerk off or what I jerk off to mate.
For better or worse, private activity, on principle, should never be compromised. National Security excuses be damned.
We live in an age of unspeakable threats to individual liberty and national sovereignty. The massive amount of information already collected, and the ability to interlink communications globally is a clear threat to individual freedom. Unfortunately Artificial Intelligence is advancing exponentially, and the trend in e-commerce for cryptocurrency means we are experiencing massive disruptions in traditional business models including banking. Underlying these trends is the eroding dollar, and the BRICS bypassing the dollar with their own International Trade. The result of all these factors and more is that humanity will soon be at a tipping point and life as we know it will look much differently.
It's troubling times for sure. On the one hand we have unprecedented technology that will radically revolutionize quality of life. The convenience of which compromises human rights. Many times I have heard the data collected is both too massive to sort through and never used for the purpose it was obtained. I worry there will come a day when all that collected data can be organized, profiled, and used against ordinary people. Quantum computing and A.I are a reality coming soon and we do not have the moral discipline to be responsible with its ability.
That being said the more people become connected the more opportunities they have to be educated and made aware
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