Brief

<p>&ldquo;How do we design systems that benefit society as a whole while at the same time protecting people individually?&rdquo; </p> <p>Bruce Schneier, Fellow at Berkman Center for Internet and Society, Harvard University, discussed the complex balance between privacy and security in the golden age of data surveillance in a session titled &ldquo;Privacy and Prosperity How Can Governments Strike the Balance?&rdquo;. We live in a world where our data is collected all the time and everywhere (e-mails, social media, credit cards, etc.), what is the limit we are willing to accept? What are the consequences, and what can we do about them?</p> <p>Mr. Schneier highlights the extent to which data and metadata is ubiquitous and inescapable. For example, while he personally does not use Gmail, the company has 60% of his emails because they are sent to him by Gmail users. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard to opt out&rdquo; of this system &ldquo;and still function,&rdquo; he said. According to him, our data is being used by corporations, governments, and even criminals. Companies adapt their advertisements to groups and individuals. Governments are using these corporate abilities to get away with surveillance levels we wouldn&rsquo;t otherwise accept, while criminals are profiting from our data in the black market. Mr. Schneier notes that, &ldquo;They know an enormous amount about us.&rdquo; He then went on to explain that this is because, &ldquo;We give this data because that&rsquo;s the way it works.&rdquo; Furthermore, all of this has put political liberties and justice at risk as anyone can be prejudged or accused based on their data.</p> <p>So the most pressing question has to be: how do we fix this? Mr. Schneier gives a set of principles. First, he emphasized that privacy and security are interlinked; we can&rsquo;t have one without the other. Second, he stressed the need to prioritize security over surveillance, and to distinguish between the two. Thirdly, he called for transparency and accountability, explaining that it&rsquo;s not enough to know what organizations are doing. Instead, we need to hold them accountable too. Mr. Schneier also explained that no country can be isolated, as we all operate in the same world and on the same network.</p> <p>Mr. Schneier concluded the session by calling data &ldquo;the pollution problem of our age,&rdquo; and stating that we will be judged on how we deal with this issue. He noted that changing the norms could be the first step in the right direction, as is currently being done in Europe.&nbsp;</p>

Speakers

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