Privacy: From Right To Fight

As more and more of our public and private spaces are equipped with remote sensing and surveillance technology, personal privacy – at least as it has been understood for the last two or three centuries – is endangered.

spying

The solution, of course, is through improved privacy legislation and, perhaps, a more expansive reading of the U.S. Constitution’s 4th Amendment protecting against search and seizure. But, with policymakers in Washington D.C. stuck in a rut, and many EU nations as hooked on surveillance as the U.S., the onus falls to individuals to do what they can.

That’s the subject of my latest column for ITWorld, where I talk about what is likely to be the next stage in our society’s rapid evolution on matters of privacy and security, what I’ve termed “The Jamming Wars.” Like other social movements, this will be fueled by a growing rift between the law and a fast-changing reality “on the ground” with regards to privacy and mass surveillance.

Without drastic changes to the law to protect individuals from rampant snooping – whether motivated by profit or national security — I believe privacy will be the next, major civil rights battleground and one characterized by widespread civil disobedience as individuals try to limit the kinds of tracking that is done of them – either by “opting out” of activities that carry the cost of tracking or by taking up (digital) arms against the snoopers. Check it out

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