Slashdot Mirror
When it Comes To Privacy, Consent is Immaterial. Corporate and Gov't Surveillance Systems Must Be Stopped Before They Ask For Consent: Richard Stallman (theguardian.com)
In a rare op-ed, Richard Stallman, the president of the Free Software Foundation, says that the surveillance imposed on us today is worse than in the Soviet Union. He argues that we need laws to stop this data being collected in the first place. From his op-ed: The surveillance imposed on us today far exceeds that of the Soviet Union. For freedom and democracy's sake, we need to eliminate most of it. There are so many ways to use data to hurt people that the only safe database is the one that was never collected. Thus, instead of the EU's approach of mainly regulating how personal data may be used (in its General Data Protection Regulation or GDPR), I propose a law to stop systems from collecting personal data.
The robust way to do that, the way that can't be set aside at the whim of a government, is to require systems to be built so as not to collect data about a person. The basic principle is that a system must be designed not to collect certain data, if its basic function can be carried out without that data. Data about who travels where is particularly sensitive, because it is an ideal basis for repressing any chosen target.
The robust way to do that, the way that can't be set aside at the whim of a government, is to require systems to be built so as not to collect data about a person. The basic principle is that a system must be designed not to collect certain data, if its basic function can be carried out without that data. Data about who travels where is particularly sensitive, because it is an ideal basis for repressing any chosen target.
I may agree that companies have no business collecting 99% of what they collect about me, but the idea that I shouldn't even be able to consent to that when or if I deem it acceptable is tyranny by any other name. My body, my rights :: my privacy, my rights. You're not the only one who should be allowed freedom, King Richard.
He's right. As someone who has actually lived in the Soviet Union, I can't agree more.
What he points out is that people click "yes" to usage agreements and terms of service without reading them, and as an example, links to a test where the terms of service explicitly state giving up your first-born child... and people still agreed to them.
People don't read terms of service, they just click yes.
Have you ever read terms of service? The damn things are pages and pages of boring small print.
There is a key point missing that isn't brought up much. The data is not there to help you and will be absent when it's your turn to actually need it. I can easily prove this....
State tracking car insurance. That data will get me pulled over if I let my insurance lapse, but if I get pulled over for other reasons and lack my insurance card, that data is unavailable to exonerate me. I'll still have to physically go to court/police station to show that card. They won't just "look at the data" showing I have insurance.
Same for medical records. It will be used to raise my insurance rates but I will have to actually pay to get my own records and even then it won't be the electronic copy that's legible, instead it will be the doctors scribbling that is incomprehensible. I even had a doctor tell me I wasn't paying him to read his handwriting to me when dealing with carpal tunnel years ago.
If I lose my cell phone, despite it containing enough tracking to immediately find it, the phone company will not give me that data. But if I rob/hurt/steal/kidnap/etc with that phone on me, that data will ID me and I will be in trouble. When I need it and can prove I am the account holder this data unavailable to help me recover my lost phone.
Stop thinking the data is okay because it helps us and makes our lives easier. That is not the case!