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Week 4 [27.03-02.04.2017] Do you have anything to hide?

Politicians craving for power is a never ending story all over the world, both in a democratic systems and a dictatorships. It has always been like that. Although classic surveillance and means of spying existed before the invention of a telephone,  mass surveillance is one of those issues that the newest technology made possible. I would like to emphasize word mass because of  its scale on a daily basis. In each place where smart devices operate, data is collected, stored and analysed. For our safety of course. Or is it



                Mass surveillance doesnt solve what it claims to solve. Terrorist attacks occurred, occur and will occur. Maybe instead of trying to prevent them using unethical means, we should consider the source of it. Should we take an easy path, give up our freedom for safety and one day find ourselves in an Orwellian reality.

Do you feel your right to privacy is violated nowadays?
Do you approve of mass surveillance programs?
Do you care?
Did you know that tools made by governments, funded by your taxes, made to spy on you, often fall in  wrong hands?

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Comments

Ihor Ahnianikov said…
Anyone who reads news is aware of the tools developed and used by governments, and there's always a chance that any dangerous tool can fall in the wrong hands. This week there will be a vote in USA to allow internet service providers to sell traffic details to advertising companies.

I'm totally against anything that can harm the internet neutrality. Preventing terrorism is not an excuse for spying, there's a bigger evil that depends on the sanity of the current government or third-parties that will have access to spying tools and systems developed by countries.
Unknown said…
I don't feel safe on the Internet. I understand that this is about our safety but it is too much. My advice is that you shouldn't give information about yourself on the Internet. They want to have control over us. Soon we won't be able to swear on the street because some program will detect it and give us a fine. People have always spied and they will do this forever.
I am against government (especially of foreign country) storing data about me. I wish I was more considerate when I was starting to use such services as facebook and gmail. Such behaviour leads us to situations described in Orwell's "1984" - the thoughtcrime and elimination of incovinient people rather than punishing terrorists and gangsters.
Unknown said…
I know that what I do in internet is supervised. I don't feel save. My cam in laptop is cover up because I think that someone is watching me. This is terrible... I don't know if it is good or not.
Unknown said…
The longer I'm listening to politicians and getting more and more convinced to be against storing data and information about regular people. Who knows what they will do with it?
Unknown said…
I wouldn't be so sure that people are aware of the tools developed and used by governments ;) Average internet user has no idea. Or simply, sadly, does not care...
Unknown said…
Exactly, it leads to a point when we are constantly watched, monitored, analyzed and any unusual action or simple crossing to the other side of a street will be punishable.
Unknown said…
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Unknown said…
"1984" was supposed to be a warning, not instruction manual! Yes.
Unknown said…
People are scared, it's bad just because of that simple fact.
Unknown said…
That's it! We don't know. Thing which is legal today, can be announced illegal tomorrow when some crazy next government takes a wheel and it gains knowledge about your religious/political views and starts to oppress you based on that.
Everything you publish in the Internet is not private anymore. So only advice is to share as little as possible. Our government, or any other country, always spies us.
I don't know why, but I don't feel like my private information is violated as much as people want to make me believe. Sure, I know that every service I use collects data about my activity, from those small websites I visit, through gigantic services like facebook and google, ending on Microsoft collecting data of how you use your Windows OS. And what? You have a choice, you don't need to use a service if you don't agree with its privacy policy. It's nothing new that such things are happening, and it's also not going anywhere, if anything - it can only be even more common in the future.

Yes, I do care about some things, that's why I don't share it on the internet - I feel no need of submitting photos on facebook. Windows spying? No problem, I do most important things on my Linux anyway. Oh yes, and there is also my phone with Android on it - I'm using custom ROM compiled from source, so I know what is in it :).

People that care about their privacy already have their solutions and are not easy to spy on. Everybody else doesn't care well enough to do anything, so I can't see why I should feel sorry for them. In fact, I'm rather happy since it doesn't affect me that much.
Unknown said…
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Unknown said…
Thing is people who don't care about privacy are leaking private information about you whether you like it/want it or not. Got marked on fb in a party photo (with geolocation and date stamp) someone took? Someone shared his phone contact book (with you in it) with third party (fb for example)? Connected to a friend's (whoe doesn't care about privacy and is being perfectly profiled) wifi lately? It's great that you are aware of the issue and countermeasure it but you wouldn't have to if more people cared.
Unknown said…
I have nothing to hide but aware that every one of my steps on the internet is being tracked and moreover someone could eavesdropping me using the microphone on my phone is a bit scary. The problem of terrorism should be resolved differently than by the surveillance of normal citizens and the taking of their privacy. Even if I stopped using the internet or the phone (which is practically impossible today), then it is enough that the person who stays with me has some of these devices, so we aren't able to avoid surveillance by the government. Of course I try not to think about it all the time, but the awareness that someone is watching me don't like me at all. We never know what information can be used against us. In my opinion, terrorism is only a pretext for mass surveillance. It may be that the dictatorship is hidden under the coat of democracy :/
Michał Pycek said…
I do care and I do my best to avoid giving away my data just like that. If I don't have to, I simply don't share. I honestly do not feel that we are safe online, because each search that we create, leaves a hitory and information about us, which can be used in million ways and by various people/institutions.
Yes, I feel privacy is violated nowadays - just look at tv shows, online portals and news papers. I don't approve of mass surveillance programs. People should have right to keep their privacy. Of course, I'm talking about normal people, not celebs. Privacy is very important for me. Yes I know about those tools and it feels me really sad.
There is no such thing like anonymity in the Internet. And if you try to limit the data leak of your activity in the Internet (using e.g. TOR), you will be suspected for hiding something illegal. I care about it, and I'm trying to avoid too much sharing of my data, but it's hard if not all of your relatives or friends are aware.
I think after the incident with Edward Snowden and the recent leak of the NSA exploits the anonymity and protection of confidential information on the Internet is becoming a myth.

Of course not , in many ways, these programs are financed by taxpayers ' money , and disappears behind the adoption of high-sounding titles of laws as a "struggle against terrorism", and so on. but let's think about how much you know of the terrorist attacks that were stopped by these programs ?

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Like many other Internet users, I don't like how much data about me is collected both by private companies and governmet organizations. I have nothing to hide, but what if I had? It's just not fair to be permanently spied on, without carrying out any investigation and providing any reasonable grounds.
I remember that some time ago I didn't care that much about being watched. It seemed to me that there were too much data generated to be able to fully examine every piece of information. However, today, there is a real danger that it could be done. We keep inventing faster and faster computers, as well as constantly improving efficiency of data processing algorithms. What is more, technology is powerful enough to convert speech to text and this quite complex transformation happens on-the-fly. We may suspect that no information is ignored.
I don't believe that such solutions has a real impact on the level of crime detection. The above youtube presentation confirms these fears. The best example is mandatory registration of pay-as-you-go cards in our country. If you really want to, you can still buy already registered card on the black market.
Unknown said…
You can't share any information about yourself on the internet or simply just by using your computer or phone. The bigest absurd is that to could use your computer you have to create an account, thus give your personal data. To register yourself on any social media network you do the same. But all this is nothing in comparison to e.g USA wiza application, they want to know EVERYTHING, which whom you would travel, of course why,for whose money, if for yours then from where do you have it, all your relatives who were rejected from entering their country, what you think, if you're not the criminal, how you lived your life - if everything you have ever done was legal and much more. That's totally terrifying.
I don't think my privacy is violated nowadays, I know that. In normal internet there is no way to keep your privacy. I don't approve idea of mass surveillance programs, but it's happening on daily basis so we can't run from it. I care but I know that there is nothing we can do about it. But so many have started to talking about surveillance but so many of them don't know how many information we shared just because we are paying with credit card, or what we are sharing with our social media accounts. So mass surveillance is a problem but in some way we have agreed on it with our social media accounts and many more things.
Andrzej Gulak said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Magdalena Popek said…
If you think that by clicking "no" not to add your phone number to your fb account you're keeping it secret for them... I think you're just wrong. There is no such thing as being anonymous on the Internet. There is no privacy (yes, even in incognito mode).
If our data is taken away from us and it's being done silently (hi, Facabook) for people it's perfectly okay. But try releasing an article on 'Facebook now will steal your data and even your photos' and watch the reaction. There will be so many people who are suddenly so against it.
Sometimes it is not that you have something to hide but you want to keep stuff private and for limited viewers only. For example photos with your friends from bachelor parties, some recordings while speeding on the highway on motorcycle - there is always someones got to hide, depends on the person only.

Privacy is currently violated in any way possible, recorded calls, SMS, looged Facebook conversations, search histories. I love working with one boot desktops - you can leave everything there but after restart it is wiped back completely to the snapshot.
Unfortunately, our entire life as well as all our movements are absolutely visible and can be easily monitored. And even if you know that your privacy has been violated, what can you really do? No, of course, you can install special programs to hide IP, message encryptors and much more. But will it help? I'm naturally not at all happy about this. Therefore, I see only one way out, really important files store on a removable disk in encrypted form, as well as have a couple of programs for hashing and storing passwords.
In the world of information technology, when everyone can find out everything about you, does it make sense to engage in paranoia?
Unknown said…
Everyone lie and have something to hide but if this thing is not bad you can hide this secret for you and dont say it to anyone. Politicans lie a lot but they have to lie because people belive in their lies and if they talk about good changes people belives them.
Wojtek Kania said…
I think that people don't care of privacy. It is not a very hard work to spy other person. I care about my privacy and there are a ways to being anonymous in Internet. I'm not accept mass surveillance programs but I can't stopped this. I can only protect.
Bartosz Łyżwa said…
I don't feel my privacy is violated because it hadn't benn used against me before. I think it's silly thinking because I'm sure that government know me better than my family and sometimes is aware better than me what I'm doing right now.
Yes, I accept mass surveillance programs because it makes me feel more safety? It won't change in nearby future so I accept it till it' makes any global pros.
Unknown said…
I think it's hard to find anyone who is happy about a fact that his privacy is violated. Many people are unconscious about technology and they just don't think about it.
Some of you can say that "mass surveillance programs makes you feel more safety" - yes if its really used to fight terrorism, but I know few incidents when it was used against private person / businessman.
Vyvyan said…
Is my right to privacy violated? Yes.
Do I approve of mass surveillance programs? Hell no.
Do I care? Hell yes i care. I don't like when my privacy is beeng violated.
Did I knew that tools made by governments, funded by MY taxes, made to spy on ME, often fall in wrong hands? i would be suprised if the didn't. It's only natural that some people would abuse that and steal some informations for their own profit.

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