- Nov 5, 2011
- 5,855
In 2014, privacy is dead in an increasingly Orwellian world : on globalpost.com : http://www.globalpost.com/dispatche...ead-going-online-increasingly-orwellian-world
NEW YORK — Privacy, as we have known it, is dead the world over. Its demise did not come quickly and was not without forewarning.
Only now are we coming to terms with the weighty consequences of living in an increasingly Orwellian world, where our every move is recorded and our most personal information collected by governments and commercial enterprises, for better and for worse.
Never before in history has so much of our privacy — our musings, preferences, curiosities, dalliances, phobias, foibles, health, habits, our very nature — been compiled, with or without our permission, infringing on our personal freedoms and inciting fear.
Across the globe, governments of all political persuasions are installing millions of surveillance cameras in public places, monitoring phone conversations and web communications of ordinary citizens, and defending such intrusive actions as necessary to combat crime and terrorism.
In Britain, which has one of the most extensive and technologically advanced surveillance systems in the world, the collection and processing of personal information is so pervasive that a report of the House of Lords Constitutional Committee concluded that such activity is “almost taken for granted.”
..
Had the voice of my South American friend, who is a diplomat, not been so solemn, I would have thought her response a bad joke, alluding to the rampant wiretapping during Argentina’s Dirty War period three decades ago, when speaking ill of the military dictatorship over the telephone could get one arrested or killed. This is 2014 not 1984, right?
..
China has emerged as one of the foremost countries monitoring its citizens. In recent years, the Chinese Government has installed more than 20 million surveillance cameras nationwide, which critics say are used to intimidate and monitor dissident groups. China has also amassed an army of more than two million agents who monitor the Internet, scrutinizing private communications and censoring information they deem threatening or inappropriate.
..
A majority of Americans are also concerned about their privacy, according to a Pew Research poll, which found that 68 percent of Americans feel that current laws are not strong enough to protect their privacy online.
The poll found that 86 percent of Americans have taken steps to remove or mask their digital footprints, ranging from clearing cookies to encrypting their email — from avoiding using their names to using virtual networks that mask their IP addresses.
The poll found that 86 percent of Americans have taken steps to remove or mask their digital footprints, ranging from clearing cookies to encrypting their email — from avoiding using their names to using virtual networks that mask their IP addresses.
Clearly, rules to protect privacy have not kept up with digital technology, thus the dire need for governments to commit to protecting citizens from misuse of their personal information, collected by social networks and cloud storage firms, and safeguarding who has access to it.
..
NEW YORK — Privacy, as we have known it, is dead the world over. Its demise did not come quickly and was not without forewarning.
Only now are we coming to terms with the weighty consequences of living in an increasingly Orwellian world, where our every move is recorded and our most personal information collected by governments and commercial enterprises, for better and for worse.
Never before in history has so much of our privacy — our musings, preferences, curiosities, dalliances, phobias, foibles, health, habits, our very nature — been compiled, with or without our permission, infringing on our personal freedoms and inciting fear.
Across the globe, governments of all political persuasions are installing millions of surveillance cameras in public places, monitoring phone conversations and web communications of ordinary citizens, and defending such intrusive actions as necessary to combat crime and terrorism.
In Britain, which has one of the most extensive and technologically advanced surveillance systems in the world, the collection and processing of personal information is so pervasive that a report of the House of Lords Constitutional Committee concluded that such activity is “almost taken for granted.”
..
Had the voice of my South American friend, who is a diplomat, not been so solemn, I would have thought her response a bad joke, alluding to the rampant wiretapping during Argentina’s Dirty War period three decades ago, when speaking ill of the military dictatorship over the telephone could get one arrested or killed. This is 2014 not 1984, right?
..
China has emerged as one of the foremost countries monitoring its citizens. In recent years, the Chinese Government has installed more than 20 million surveillance cameras nationwide, which critics say are used to intimidate and monitor dissident groups. China has also amassed an army of more than two million agents who monitor the Internet, scrutinizing private communications and censoring information they deem threatening or inappropriate.
..
A majority of Americans are also concerned about their privacy, according to a Pew Research poll, which found that 68 percent of Americans feel that current laws are not strong enough to protect their privacy online.
The poll found that 86 percent of Americans have taken steps to remove or mask their digital footprints, ranging from clearing cookies to encrypting their email — from avoiding using their names to using virtual networks that mask their IP addresses.
The poll found that 86 percent of Americans have taken steps to remove or mask their digital footprints, ranging from clearing cookies to encrypting their email — from avoiding using their names to using virtual networks that mask their IP addresses.
Clearly, rules to protect privacy have not kept up with digital technology, thus the dire need for governments to commit to protecting citizens from misuse of their personal information, collected by social networks and cloud storage firms, and safeguarding who has access to it.
..
