Security at the Cost of Our Privacy
We dare you to hide
Security may be one of our most desired rights. All the time we consider it as one of the most important things to have. We buy locks for our houses, set alarms in our cars, walk protecting all of our belongings and tend to keep in a safe our valuables. However, we never take such a special care when our privacy is at stake. Recklessly, we use easy to guess passwords , disclose important information over the internet and naively believe that privacy is merely an additional feature under the argument that we have nothing to hide. “If you are not doing anything wrong, then you have nothing to hide,” they go on saying.
The former argument is simply nonsense. When you go to the bathroom, you lock the door. When you make love, you do it in a private place. When you go to a private room to have a one-on-one conversation with someone close or send a message to only your best friend regarding something personal, you seek for privacy. In all the former, you are not incurring in any wrongdoing.
Privacy is about the way in which we present ourselves to the world. It is about how you choose to interact with others and how you want the others to see you. It is within our nature to seek for privacy. It lets us behave differently in several settings. Social roles and interactions with others are inherent to privacy as it lets us play by different rules depending on the environment within our surroundings. For example, you behave differently when you are among friends compared to when you are in a business meeting or in a classroom. Besides, you would not like your boss to find out what you did last weekend with your friends.
Without privacy, you would not be able to rest the same way as when you are alone in your room. Without it, you lose control of who you are and the way you present yourself to the world. A privacy violation may strip you of your own self. A life without privacy is a life filled with intrusions. Security reasons has been the argument by which governments have violated our privacy rights and surveilled us all without discrimination.
Security
Everyday we face threats from multiple sources ranging from crime, terrorism and war. Though, extravagant and rare events tend to draw our attention. We are more focused on terror attacks rather than more frequent threats that are prone to affect us. Therefore, we tend to demand solutions to these “viral” threats notwithstanding, others may affect us constantly.
As a solution, against terrorism and organized crime, governments have offered smart security at the expense of our privacy. Simply put, we are letting go of an important right to partially solve another. A rather inefficient strategy.
Data mining techniques are supposedly the most important tool for smart security strategies. However, they have a notorious and serious caveat that more often than not is ignored. Data mining may be successful when companies use it to offer products to potential customers. Error rates are easily ignored. For example, when you see an ad of a product you don’t need you simply ignore it. Contrary to that notion, governments cannot spare to make a mistake when searching for crime members.
When using data mining to detect crime, false alarms are extremely common due to the difficulty in assessing a potential target because of the different shades inherent to a suspect’s profile. Moreover, commercial algorithms are easily fooled as they are not designed to analyze purposefully covered tracks. Finally, most crimes are unique. There is rarely a pattern. Data mining techniques work best when used to analyze different patterns such as: consumption, internet usage and search practices.
According to Bruce Schneier, a security expert, there is no fix for governments’ flawed strategy looking to prevent crime by means of mass surveillance. Schneier says that Data mining is inefficient for this purpose. As a consequence, mass surveillance is not justified. All in all, the costs intrinsic to the use of these set of tools are higher than the benefits. Governments are violating our right to privacy and only a few seem to understand this.
Our consent
In National Geographic’s latest issue, Robert Draper discusses how the notion of privacy has lingered due to the fact that governments have justified the proliferation of surveillance devices by stating that they are essential in the fight against terrorism even though there is no direct correlation between the use of CCTV cameras and a decline in the number of violent crimes. Moreover, a handful of cities in the U.S., such as Houston, Texas, have grown their surveillance network even though there low levels of violent crime according to the author.
Surveillance devices blend in alongside urban decor and infrastructure. Most of the time we are not even aware of their existence. Not surprisingly, there have been no complaints regarding the use of this type of technology. It is more concerning that, in the future, we may even start to wear body cameras the same way police officers and hospital workers now do. Perhaps, a need for recording everything will arise in order to defend ourselves from “incriminating” footage. Our historical steps will permanently follow us.
All usage growth of these devices has been without any expressed concern from us. Slowly, we have given permission to governments and other people to record our lives and store it forever or do whatever they please. I am certain that material similar to this, in the wrong hands, may seriously harm us. Targeted attacks, identity theft and robbery, just to name a few, are risks inherent to the misplacement of all this personal information. Furthermore, the psychological harm done by the feeling of constantly being surveilled is frequently forgotten.
Alternatives
There are a significant set of actions we may do in order to regain our privacy. First, we may start with the government. While it is true that we may never stop the government from surveilling and amassing data, as they both now play an essential part in providing security, we must force the government to become transparent on all surveillance activities taking place. With this information public, we may be able to oversee and get to know if any of this said activities violate our privacy rights. Obviously, it would be impossible for the government to disclose any of the details of an ongoing investigation or the specifics of an operation, as those may give criminals leads on how to avoid the authorities. We must have the necessary information in order to ensure that agencies are not abusing their authority.
The implementation of external oversight agencies is a necessary step for all activities of intelligence agencies to stay within the law. Internal regulation organs within organizations are not enough to ensure that our privacy rights are respected. Furthermore, these external oversight agencies may be responsible of disclosing information to the public. All in all, general awareness is the most pressing matter at the moment.
What you can do about it
Your most immediate line of action is to defend yourself against surveillance. Using the same argument mentioned at the beginning of this article, you have the right to avoid surveillance if you are not doing anything wrong.¹ Altering your behavior may help to stop websites, services and governments themselves from surveilling you. Not using services such as Facebook, Google’s offerings, use DuckDuckGo instead, and even leaving your devices at home are useful. It all depends on what you are willing to trade for privacy.
In order to block surveillance, you must use a set of tools generally known as Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs) that perform specific tasks and don’t let third parties collect your information. Encrypting your files is the first action you should take. In a computer, you may use these² integrated tools to complete the task at hand. Furthermore, you may convince your friends to start using privacy enhanced chat services such as Signal and start using an encrypted email service. A good alternative is ProtonMail. To block tracking services from following you all around the web, you can install anti-tracking plug-ins such as: Disconnect, Ghostery and LightBeam. These, seamlessly analyze the information of the websites you visit and stops them from tracking your surfing habits. Private browsing modes built into browsers don’t offer this functionality as they only avoid saving data locally. Finally, a tool similar to HTTPS Everywhere forces the websites you visit, to enable the secure protocol by default and encrypt some of your browsing.
Wake up. Fatalism and indifference are the government’s allies. If we do not vow for a change, surveillance practices will go unchanged. As a first step, we must become aware of all the risks involved and notice when we are under surveillance. Notice when cameras are present, notice when someone asks for your data and keeps it. Take under consideration the implications involved when sharing your personal information. Don’t automatically fill any online form whenever it appears in front of your screen. These small actions amount to the knowledge you have on the topic. As you better understand the situation, you will be able to make better decisions that, in the end, affect your privacy.
The second and most important action to take is to talk about privacy and surveillance. The more people know, the easier it will be to convey our ideas and actions into change. Explain why the “you have nothing to hide argument” is completely absurd. As more people talk about the topic, media outlets and politicians will take notice. The topic will become a pressing matter.
Let’s hope that this small actions amass into a bigger movement that will finally let us regain our privacy.
