[Book] Privacy is Power: Why and How You Should Take Back Control of Your Data — Carissa Véliz
Notable quotes
Privacy is power. Only if the people keep their data will society be free . Privacy matters because it gives power to the people . … losses of privacy make it easier for others to interfere with your life . Being watched all the time interferes with the peace of mind that is needed to make autonomous decisions .
- Democracy. The power that privacy grants us collectively as citizens is necessary for democracy — for us to vote according to our beliefs and without undue pressure , for us to protest anonymously without fear of repercussions , to have freedom to associate , speak our minds , read what we are curious about .
Protect against possible wrongdoings. But privacy is not about hiding serious wrongdoing . [ 32 ] It’s about protecting ourselves from the possible wrongdoings of others , like criminals wanting to steal our money . It’s about blinding power so that it cannot use knowledge about us to become even more powerful .
- If we give away all of our power to surveillance capitalism because we think our current leaders are benevolent , we won’t be able to reclaim that power when things turn sour , either because we get new leaders or because our current leaders disappoint us .
- ‘ Power tends to corrupt , and absolute power corrupts absolutely ’ .
- the choices you make today will determine how much privacy you enjoy in the future .
Privacy is collective in at least two ways . It’s not only that your privacy slips can facilitate violations of the right to privacy of other people . It’s also that the consequences of losses of privacy are experienced collectively .
- Our interdependence in matters of privacy implies that no individual has the moral authority to sell their data . We don’t own personal data like we own property because our personal data contains the personal data of others .
- how much privacy you have influences the level of privacy of your loved ones , your acquaintances , your fellow citizens , and people who are like you .
Crises -> erosion of privacy. The pandemic takes us to a second lesson to be learned from surveillance after 9 / 11 : crises are dangerous for civil liberties . During crises , decisions are taken without carefully considering pros , cons , evidence , and alternatives . Whenever there is the slightest resistance to a proposed extreme measure , an appeal to ‘ saving lives ’ silences dissenters .
Gov + corps working together surveillance society was born out of the collaboration between private and public institutions . The government allowed corporate data collection to thrive so it could make a copy of the data .
- by outsourcing surveillance to private companies , the government has found a way to bypass Supreme Court rulings . [ 46 ] Yet if we only protect ourselves from corporate surveillance , governments will collect data and pass it on to businesses . The flow of information goes both ways .
As a techie In addition to privacy being a business opportunity , it is also a moral opportunity .
- Good intentions are not enough ; most inventors with regrets had good intentions . As an inventor you have to assume that someone will try to abuse whatever you create , and you have to make sure that cannot be done by design .
Convenience vs consequence tradeoff. Like pleasure , convenience has to be weighed against the price we have to pay for it , and the consequences that are likely to ensue .
To live well is to risk (effectively) We should distrust any policy that promises zero risk . The only place where you will find zero risk is six feet underground , once you have stopped breathing . To live is to risk , and to live well is to manage risk without compromising that which makes for a good life .
Applicable to me
- Why privacy is important to me: [exploration of new ideas without judgment, don’t give others unnecessary power to harm]
On various suggested action items:
- Re: personalization. I’m fine receiving personalized contents, I don’t find them creepy (yet?). Not sure if I care enough about the potential leakage to study each company’s privacy efforts and disable cookies, change web browser, …. Hrm.
- Re: giving data for studies. I’ll still do this if I don’t particularly care if the data is broadcasted to everyone I know. Out of principle: Share data for good.
- Re: messaging. Use signal, not fb messenger or whatsapp.
- Re: actions to make my location untrackable. Even if I do nothing, really motivated people can already find out where I live anyway. Not sure if it’s worth taking more precaution.
- Re: posting on social media. The things I post bring me joy, and I want these content to be findable.
Overall, not sure if I’m changing my lifestyle / habits / gadgets. What I’m gaining is time and mental bandwidth from having to care about fewer issues, and what I’m losing is some marginal privacy guarantee that a motivated wrongdoer could exploit — and I’m not sure of the expected increase in marginal harm. (An aside, added as a possible monthly goal: upperbound the harm anyone can inflict on myself through public information I volunteered online)
Having said that, I at least now have answers to [why privacy] that I can be confident in. I’m also still as motivated to help out building privacy infrastructure that doesn’t compromise the convenience aspect for the common folks — differential privacy being one.
More quotes here.