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27 views2 pages

Documento Sin Título

Uploaded by

noeliarp2004
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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It began with radical “cypherpunks” who wanted to destroy the state.

Now it´s a
hot-button issue for every Facebook user. How did the notion of internet privacy
gain so much attraction, and where will it take us next? (P1)

In the last couple of weeks, a handful of events have demonstrated how much all
that has changed. Earlier this month the US Congress passed the “Freedom Act”. It
placed limits of mass data collected on US citizens by the National Security Agency,
something many private advocates thought impossible. Last week, David Andersen
published an independent review of the UK government´s investigatory powers and
made over 100 recommendations about how to make surveillance simpler, clearer,
and with more oversight. Perhaps even more surprising, although barely reported,
Facebook decided to allow users to send encrypted messages on their messenger
service. (P2)

This is all driven by growing public concern of course. According to the 2014 Deloitte
Data Nation survey, 24% of people in the UK do not trust any type of organization
with their personal information. Recent research by my think-tank Demos found half
of young people said they were either extremely or very concerned by “online
privacy” – more than environmental issues, immigration, tax avoidance, or the EU.
There are more people using tools and techniques to cover their digital tracks,
especially since Edward Snowden blew his whistle. (P3)

Internet privacy has become a major political and social preoccupation. But very few
people know about the origins of the idea. The hope that modern, digital
cryptographic software could change society goes back to the 1990s Californian
“cypherpunks”( a mash up of the word cypher with cyber-punk). All were radical
libertarians and early adopters of computer technology, sharing an interest in the
effects it would have on politics and society. They all believed that the great political
issues of the day was whether governments of the world would use the internet to
strangle individual freedom and privacy through digital surveillance, or whether
autonomous individuals would undermine and even destroy the state through the
subversive tools digital computing also promised. (P4)

But it´s really only the last five years or so that it´s moved from periphery to center.
Partly it´s Snowden. Partly it´s the relentless work of activists and journalists, but
mostly it´s the amount of time we now spend online. These days we share inordinate
amounts of digital information about ourselves: our bank details, our love life, our
holiday snaps; our whole lives are online. And it´s no longer just governments
snaffling it all up – it is private companies too. Think for a moment: do you ever
wonder why it is that we get all these amazing internet services – Facebook, Twitter,
YouTube, Gmail – for free? I rarely think about it, either, because I´m used it all being
just there, and always working. But it costs an awful lot of money to run these
platforms: the service space, the highly skilled engineers, the legal teams. We are
paying all right, just not in cash. We pay with our data and privacy. (P5)

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