We've all heard the term "Big Brother" from 1984 of George Orwell. Big Brother represents an all-seeing, all-knowing authority figure who constantly monitors and controls the general population.
The Big Brother concept focuses on three things: espionage, information gathering and exploitation. This is how we refer to privacy, security and anonymity, which as we will see below are not always mutually exclusive. There may be cases where we have Security without Privacy – Anonymity or Security and Privacy without Anonymity etc.
Table of Contents
Privacy or privacy
Privacy is “the state of being away from observation or not being disturbed by other people”. It is the ability to control information and own it. This usually refers to information about your identity, such as your metadata.
Privacy is a fundamental human right and is necessary to protect personal freedom.
Privacy is like a home. Most people don't want to live in a house made entirely of glass. Data privacy should be treated in a similar way, data should not be a "glass house".
Using the house example above, privacy can be thought of as your ability to control who has the key or address of your house.
In the digital age, protecting privacy online is becoming increasingly important as more and more personal information is shared and stored online.
Security or Security
Security is defined as “removal from risk or exposure”, In the digital world, security often refers to multiple measures (security is like an onion) taken to protect against cyber threats such as malware and data breaches. It is the ability to prevent unauthorized people from accessing our information.
This usually also includes technical measures such as firewalls, encryption, strong passwords and user authentication.
Anonymity
"Anonymity is the shield against the tyranny of the majority."
― Jacob Silverman, Terms of Service: Social Media and the Price of Constant Connection
Anonymity is the ability to be completely unknown. Privacy is about people knowing who you are but not what you do, anonymity is about people knowing what you are doing but not knowing who you are. A good example is Satoshi Nakamoto, the famous and unknown creator of Bitcoin.
Anonymity doesn't always have to exist. Not everyone should be anonymous, and it really depends on who wants to be anonymous. What most people really want is privacy — the ability to keep what you say and do online to yourself and those you want to share it with.
Overall, protecting your privacy, security and anonymity online is essential to maintaining your freedom in the digital age.
