Privacy is in everything. The privacy that you can have alone and the privacy you can have with your family. Your self develops in private. It focuses on the idea that if I know everything about you, and you know nothing about me, I have more power. I am deeply concerned about this and the status of privacy and security across the world. We urgently need to discuss why and how these mechanisms continue to co-exist in democratic societies. I come from a country where only three decades ago, the right to privacy was systematically violated, resulting in the large-scale erosion of personal liberties and, ultimately, to mass victimisations, persecution and death – what the Argentineans call Desaparecidos. As a witness to the ongoing impact of this devastation I am intrigued as to how subtle and gradual changes in law and opinion may impact on the integrity of our human rights.
This is especially relevant to USA and the UK, which is now internationally recognised as an endemic surveillance society, ranking alongside China. This development occurred without proper debate about the implications for the individual and society. In the West, people are not directly aware of the consequences of surveillance in other kinds of regimes. The public doesn’t have any fear or connection with any kind of negative consequences since the end of WW2. The only connection they have is the concept that it’ll make them safe.
Advances in technology are leading to greater and more intrusive use of surveillance and this presents a real concern for us, both for our human rights and our sense of privacy. At the moment technology is leading us. How far do we allow this trend to progress without our consent? To what extent can we live our lives under these new forms of security and surveillance? How are these changes influencing citizen interactions with government, corporations and public institutions? Can we begin to build a safe and secure society for everyone without undermining our civil liberties? And if so, how?
— Juan Manuel Biaiñ
