Unfortunately those of us who feel that internet security and privacy are both closely linked often get tarnished with some suspicion. I’ve heard it often before – I want my connection secure, I don’t want anyone to compile lists of the web sites I visit, I don’t want anyone including my government snooping through logs BUT WHY !!!!
Even close friends wonder why I want to keep my privacy so much. The problem I have is with this ‘presumed guilty’ type attitude is that it is abused and misdirected. All the people you end up snooping on (like most Western Governments are doing now) are inevitably the innocent people. There are of course two juxtapositions in this argument
- If you’re innocent you’ve nothing to hide
If you’re innocent why should you be spied on
I and most people could probably construct decent arguments from both sides. But all over the world internet feeds are censored, you cannot read something critical of the Royal family in Thailand, you cannot read certain atheist sites in Turkey, you cannot see loads of things in China.
This is happening all over the world – a blogger gets 20 years in Burma for posting a cartoon !
It could be argued that advanced protection software like Identity Cloaker can protect criminals from being identified from governments and the police. This is of course true, but also can be used by normal people all over the world to protect their internet security and privacy from hackers, snoopers, oppressive regimes to name a few.
Every single government seeks to monitor the web sites it’s citizens are accessing, some are reasonable, many are not. What is certain that no government can be trusted with this sort of information, it simply shouldn’t be gathered if freedom of speech is to be protected. Internet Security and Privacy is not just paranoia – protecting your privacy is protecting your free speech.
