Privacy Is Your Human Right
Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise
Recently, we hosted a focus group to get feedback on the upcoming version of our messaging app DUST. As part of the event, we asked participants to weigh in on the privacy debate. Specifically we asked them about their data privacy expectations. What we found, to put it simply, was disturbing. Nearly every participant admitted to accepting the fact that privacy no longer exists. “It’s just part of life,” was a recurring theme amongst the many participants which included a variety of folks of all ages including people inside and outside the tech industry (some of whom also admitted that they delete their messages from their phone even though they knew that does nothing).
To be frank…
Though I don’t share their conviction, I can empathize with it. Not a day goes by where there isn’t some grievous news of privacy overreach. Last week, I wrote about one such case in which tech giant Facebook is assigning users with a trustworthiness score based on a secret algorithm designed to judge the integrity of its users. (Yes, you read that correctly, Facebook, the boy scout of false information is going to judge your integrity.)
The current data privacy industrial complex can seem like trying to get out of bed and prepare for a presentation the morning after a 6 a.m. bender that ended in either tears, McNuggets or both.
But here’s something that could help motivate you that you may not have known: Data privacy is considered a basic human right by the United States, Canada, South Africa, the European Union, the United Kingdom and most recently India.
Last year, in a milestone ruling, India’s Supreme Court declared that privacy is a fundamental right for each of its 1.3 billion citizens protected under the country’s constitution. To that end, Amnesty International said the right to privacy that the court defended “is closely linked to the exercise of several other rights, from what people say online to who they love to what they eat,” adding that the ruling could be “a game-changer.” In fact, the court waded into the issue of sexual orientation, calling it “an essential attribute of privacy.”
And ever since the Indian Supreme Court ruled in favor of the right to privacy being deemed a fundamental right, India’s tech industry has become more inclined than ever to respect and monitor data usage and storage. One example: Microsoft India recently launched free online courses that will allow citizens to understand data compliance, basics of GDPR and other best practices in security. Additionally, Indian banks and insurance companies became amongst the early movers in building blockchain infrastructure — which can safeguard customer data.
The Indian example is an interesting one…
Just a few years ago India’s citizens were living without any data privacy rights. The unregulated apparatus made it so that the citizens of India too felt helpless in defending their digital privacy. But rather than succumb to its weight, the people mobilized to combat the injustice. The result: Data privacy is now a human right in India. Now you may be thinking: That’s great, data privacy is already a human right in the U.S. and I still think that digital privacy no longer exists. Again, I understand why you might feel this way but don’t you think that something the international community has anointed as a basic human right deserves more of your attention? Not to mention the fact that data privacy is the foremost pillar that upholds your basic, inalienable right to express yourself freely.
What I’m trying to say is…
Maybe the conversation around data privacy requires a shift in narrative. Clearly the current one that insists you should care because a whistleblower revealed that the government is in bed with all of your social applications isn’t working. Instead, you should know that you’re not just fighting for your right to post and message anything you want without worrying about its repercussions. You’re fighting for something much bigger than anyone of us. We’re fighting for our human rights.
So it may be as simple as turning off the location services feature on your phone or insisting that you and your friends use an encrypted messaging application that is capable of completely deleting everything you send. It could be contacting your local representatives to put more pressure on the tech industry to protect your digital privacy or tweeting some news about the latest episode of privacy overreach. And finally, if you really want to make a difference, it starts with paying more attention to your own technological usage. What you’ll notice is that more often than not, the companies and applications that insist they have your best intentions in mind are the also the ones that have an insatiable appetite for your secrets.
What isn’t a secret is that we live in unprecedented times of technological advancement. We are in the midst of a historical moment by which it will be up to every single one of us to uphold our universal and uncompromising right to self expression. So pull your head out of Facebook’s ass and join me in accepting the challenge ahead of us. So that when the future becomes the past, we’ll look back and be glad that we didn’t give in or give up when they came to take away our freedom.
