The loss of privacy is destroying our society.
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The recapture of privacy
In his #social contract, Kant divides reason into private and public reason. Private reason is the kind of reason we can use in our “official capacity,” i.e., a reason that is subject to severe restrictions and whose observance is necessary for smooth functioning. Public reason, on the other hand, is that of the “scholar.” According to #Kant, this should be free and allowed to question and express everything.
In addition to reason in public, there is also an area of absolute privacy. This is the realm of family, friends, or one's own self. In ancient times, this was called the oikos, the household. As long as this area does not touch the public sphere, i.e., does not break any generally applicable laws, everything is permitted there and is negotiated within the oikos itself. It is not without reason that #sexuality and other things that would cause “public nuisance” are located there.
But what happens in a digital society where these centuries-old boundaries between these areas have dissolved practically overnight? This dissolution is happening, on the one hand, through permanent self-publication in real time on so-called “social media.” And on the other hand, and much more seriously, through the technically feasible and actually occurring #total surveillance and recording of all events taking place in the digital space.
Since we live in a completely digitalized world, all areas of life are also reflected there. It does not matter whether it is the private sphere of the oikos or the public consideration of a social problem. If everything becomes public and, as everyone knows today, permanently recorded, this means the complete abolition of privacy, of the private sphere, of the oikos.
This is disastrous. While public and private reason must simply be renegotiated, as it has always been, the loss of privacy is a turning point in #human history and was previously considered an instrument of torture in penitentiaries and prisons.
However, privacy and #privacy are inextricably linked to social and individual freedom and a dignified life in general. The reconquest of privacy is therefore the decisive battle at the beginning of an all-encompassing digitalization that leaves no room for analog space.
But how can this be achieved? In the field of software security, there is the concept of militarized and demilitarized zones. It is assumed that every device and every program connected to the global network is (or can be) attacked, read, compromised, and manipulated at any time. Everything that happens on the internet, in digital space, therefore takes place in the militarized zone and is, by definition, subject to constant attack.
The answer to how #privacy can also be established in digital space logically comes from the military tradition. It is cryptography.
Since the beginning of military conflicts, #humanity has tried to alter important messages in such a way that the enemy cannot evaluate them.
Since everything on the internet can potentially be controlled by the “enemy” (in this case, the enemy of privacy), it is therefore urgently necessary that everything that is private, no matter how uninteresting or insignificant, must be encrypted and cryptographed. The creation of a fully comprehensive #cryptography for the private sphere is thus one of the most important tasks facing humanity in the new era.
In addition to the challenge of making people aware of this and implementing it, one of the greatest difficulties is that cryptographic tools are needed for encryption and decryption. These cannot be in the hands of individuals or groups, but must be free and available as open source. The cryptographic tool itself must therefore not contain any secrets. The secret to encryption, the #key, must be in the hands of the individual, just like a key that locks the door to one's home before one indulges in private pursuits.
(5) Permanent Record (2019) Edward Snowden ISBN 9781529035650
https://undeadnetwork.de/bookstack/books/radical-enlightenment-a-world-of-open-sources-translation/page/english-version-please-edit
