The transition to post-Edward Snowden εποχή συνεχίζει να προκαλεί τις ίδιες ανησυχίες που έφεραν στο προσκήνιο οι αποκαλύψεις του. Η ιδιωτικότητα των πολιτών στο ψηφιακό περιβάλλον αποτελεί μία νοσταλγική ανάμνηση, καθώς τίποτα δεν εγγυάται ότι οι εκτεταμένες ηλεκτρονικές παρακολουθήσεις των πολιτών έχουν… περάσει. Ταυτόχρονα, η πρακτική των εταιρειών του Διαδικτύου να ζητούν πρόσβαση σε όλο και περισσότερα privacy, ιδιαίτερα στις εφαρμογές για έξυπνα κινητά, αναδεικνύουν το πρόβλημα με μεγαλύτερη ένταση.
On June 2 (10:00 am), in Technopolis (Gazi) the postgraduate program "Quality Journalism and New Technologies" co-organizes with the General Secretariat of Information the Conference "Personal Data, Propaganda and Freedom of the Press", trying to highlight the need for a new digital Alphabet, a framework for the protection of Citizen's privacy but also the conditions conducive to the prosperity of independent information.
Among the prominent speakers, in the "Personal Data" section, will be Professor Giorgos Mitakidis, President of the "Digital Enlightenment Forum" Organization and participant in the creation of the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium), a cornerstone for the development of the Internet. As he states, "when Edward Snowden's revelations were made public, those who dealt with the issue, in Brussels and elsewhere, said, shut up, we knew it. And it is true. And they even said that they were hypocrites, the reactions which followed.
Many times, however, in political life, when something comes out, things change. That's what Digital Agenda Commissioner Nelly Croes said was an awakening. Then we saw a chain of reactions in different countries, Germany, Brazil, we had a new situation, a new awareness and this creates the possibilities to do something, inspired by the Enlightenment, to project certain situations. Hence Tim Berners' recent announcement about the need for an Internet Magna Card. After all, the first official publication of Human Rights was in that ideological and temporal context.
Another message of the Enlightenment was the empowerment of the individual, his emancipation. To be able to make decisions on his own, to have a level of knowledge and not be subordinate. Eisenhower, in his farewell address, spoke of the threat posed by the military-industrial complex. Now, we are in danger of becoming vassals of the banking-tech complex. If you take the so-called GAFA (Google – Apple – Facebook – Amazon) and collectively examine the control they have over us and on the other hand the financial banking establishment, we have a new form, worse than the one Eisenhower had warned about. It is a given that we are defenseless against them.
The difficult question is what are the choices we really have, as Europeans, as Greeks, as individuals. When, say, the director of Google comes out and says something like "this is the price of having free services", we understand that nothing is free. Αυτήν την service we pay dearly for it. Are they not profiting from our personal data? How much do they make and what do they give us? We have to weigh the real data in order to make the right choices".
For his part, the head of the "Qualitative Journalism and New Technologies" program, Marios Nottas, focuses on the issue of passive acceptance of the terms of use of various digital applications: "Those who think they are installing "safe" programs on their computers, think again . The concept is simply non-existent. And the worst: We consent ourselves. The legal departments of those who develop software, for reasonable as well as abusive reasons, take care of two things: a) We "agree" to the usually illegible, long-winded, and foreign-language terms as a condition of using the program, and b) we even agree... proactively, in terms they will formulate in the future.
The global situation that prevails in 2014, reminds one of an infinite digital banana, and - apparently - "no one's ear is sweating". Of course there are worse ones. The "dark" processes hidden behind the "innocent" information collected about the user and his habits by the software in question, as well as the "innocent" partner network of the "manufacturer" company, which gains access to this same information . And we are not talking about her current (unknown to us) partners, but even her ..future ones.
Let us hope that both the universities and the responsible bodies, in particular the competent Independent Authority and, moreover, the active citizens, will be mobilized for a safer and fairer digital future, or, as we will discuss Monday at Technopolis, there will be a consensus on the the necessity of a new Digital Magna Carta. That is, a Charter that will redefine Digital Citizenship, our new coexistence in social groups that their life is (happily or unfortunately) determined by New Technologies. "
The workshop starts at 10.00 on Monday morning, June 2 and will be broadcast online at kathimerini.gr. More information can be found on the website www, pressfreedomday.com.
