Cryptoparty handbook, kapitel 2:
Social Networking as we know it with FaceBook, Twitter (and earlier MySpace) are certainly far from ‘free’. Rather, these are businesses that seek to develop upon, and then exploit, a very basic anxiety: the fear of social irrelevance. As social animals we can’t bear the idea of missing out and so many find themselves placing their most intimate expressions onto a businessman’s hard-disk, buried deep in a data center in another country – one they will never be allowed to visit.
Despite this many would argue that the social warmth and personal validation acquired through engagement with Social Networks well out-weighs the potential loss of privacy. Such a statement however is only valid when the full extent of the risks are known.
The risks of Social Networking on a person’s basic right to privacy are defined by:
- The scope and intimacy of the user’s individual contributions.
- A user posting frequently and including many personal details constructs a body of information of greater use for targeted marketing.
- The preparedness of the user to take social risks.
- A user making social connections uncritically is at greater risk from predators and social engineering attacks.
- The economic interests and partners of the organisation providing the service.
- Commissioned studies from clients, data mining, sentiment analysis.
- Political/legal demands exerted by the State against the organisation in the jurisdiction(s) in which it is resident.
- Court orders for data on a particular user (whether civilian or foreigner).
- Surveillance agendas by law enforcement or partners of the organisation.
- Sentiment analysis: projections of political intent.
Problemet er måske størst ved Facebook, hvor nogle mennesker anbringer dokumentation for overraskende mængder af private forhold. Dette er ikke mindre alvorligt i betragtning af, at netop Facebook gang på gang har demonstreret, at de ikke er til at stole på, hvad diverse privatlivsindstillinger angår. Hvis du har ting og billeder på sådanne sider, som du ville have det dårligt med at alle kan se i morgen, når det private firma, der tjener penge på dig og dine data, har ændret reglerne, er det måske værd at overveje, hvor god en idé det er at have dem der.
Jeg bruger selv sociale medier, så det er ikke for at være hellig – men som med alt i dette liv er det en afvejning. Og du har aldrig kunnet forvente andet, end at i morgen kan enhver privatlivsbeskyttelse på sådanne sider være pist væk, og det kan måske have større konsekvenser, end de fleste lige gør sig klart.
Dette primært for lige at berøre et emne, vi formentlig ikke når at dække (i hvert fald ikke tilfredsstillende) til det kommende Cryptoparty på Hovedbiblioteket i Århus.
