Category: Privacy and Surveillance

The Illusion of User Choice

CEOs like Alphabet’s Larry Page and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg have repeatedly claimed that users have choice. That we choose which information to share, and therefore control our data. This narrative is misleading, and here’s why. Privacy settings Privacy settings only cover a small portion of our data. They allow us to explicitly choose “yes” or …

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7 reasons not to shrug at the Snowden revelations

Two years ago as of today, Edward Snowden started leaking confidential NSA documents which illustrate that a global surveillance ecosystem is being built right under our nose. Whether we like it or not, we are all part of it and it is limiting our control over our data and our lives. Read this blog here. …

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Nothing to Hide? Asking the Wrong Question!

It’s been two years since Snowden started leaking thousands of confidential NSA documents which illustrate and prove that the communications of almost all citizens around the world are under surveillance through a “collect-it-all” strategy. Yet, instead of questioning the legal and ethical dimensions of spying on the private communications of millions of citizens around the …

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Nothing to Hide? Stories our Data Tells About Us

Almost everything we do online is constantly being collected, analysed and processed by algorithms. Is it really up to us to decide if we have “something to hide”? Or is it up to data analysts…and their data mining software? Read this blog here. Publisher: Tactical Technology Collective Publication date: 3rd June 2015

Nothing to Hide? Almost Nothing to Control

When confronted with questions around corporate and government surveillance, many argue that they have “nothing to hide”. However, this implies that individuals have sole control over their own data, which might not always be the case due to the business model and the infrastructure of the internet. Read this blog here. Publisher: Tactical Technology Collective …

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Why I refrained from joining Twitter all these years…but joined in the end nonetheless

It’s 2015, I’m a twenty-something-year-old and somehow, I’ve never had an account on any social networking sites…until now. Did I live in a cave all these years? Like other privacy activists, many considered me paranoid for years – and in some ways, perhaps rightfully so. After all, unlike my peers, I never had a Facebook …

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Syria’s Digital Civil War

Militarised spyware has played a crucial role in the Assad regime’s offensive against the Syrian opposition. But further risk remains as Syrians’ data has been swept up in the global surveillance dragnet. Read this article here. Publisher: OpenDemocracy Publication date: 13th February 2015

Lies and Revelations: Why mass surveillance is not about catching the “bad guys”

This is the 4th blog of the MyShadow series: “Why shrugging at the Snowden revelations is a bad idea” Read the  blog post here.   Publisher: Tactical Technology Collective Publication date: 8th January 2015

Can we Play Hide and Seek in the Panopticon?

This is the 3rd blog of the MyShadow series: “Why shrugging at the Snowden revelations is a bad idea” Read the blog post here.   Publisher: Tactical Technology Collective Publication date: 9th December 2014

The False Dichotomy of Better and Worse Spies

This is the 2nd blog of the MyShadow series: “Why shrugging at the Snowden revelations is a bad idea” Read the blog post here.   Publisher: Tactical Technology Collective Publication date: 14th November 2014