Friday, September 05, 2014

A Dissenting View?

I just re-learned the same lesson all over again, iPads do not give me control over my mistakes!
There is no undo when editing text on an iPad in most contexts. Déjà Undo!? Why would I have clicked cancel, seriously! Why? Dear iPad, You should have at least checked with me before deleting 2 hours of contemplation!

Thus this will be a lesser post, a shadow of its former self, there will be some who celebrate that it will thus be shorter, but sadly it will also miss some key nuances that I have neither the wit nor the energy to reproduce.

@Henry Story just posted the largely excellent BBC Horizon program on the dark web. It started off focussing on the important issue of being in control, but sadly for me weakened with a conclusion that focused on the "Online Privacy" meme.

Privacy is simply an outcome of choosing not to be transparent, in effect choosing to close the curtain to the internet. (Aside: Can there ever really be a curtain to the internet, or perhaps a better question is should there be?) Privacy is arguably a transient result of living in a global village that has not yet achieved the transparency that was the norm in earlier villages, in that bygone era before the internet.

I would have concluded with a piece that highlights the importance of the layers that give us the ability to be in control. Let's consider the problem using Maslows approach to the Heirarchy of needs. Assuming that we agree that having some degree of privacy is of value, to achieve that...
We need to have the choice of privacy or transparency... to achieve that...
The digital agents that act on our behalf should respond to our intent, in short we should have agency over our agents. ...to achieve that...
We must be able exert control over said digital agents (which are invariably embodied on devices) ...to achieve that...
We must be able to trust the devices that are a part of a developing set of digital fabrics ...to achieve that...
We must be able to exert control over said digital fabrics, (some of which are not owned by us) ...to achieve that...&
We must be able to trust the ecosystem that supports the digital fabrics, and that ecosystem must be able to identify us ...to achieve these thing...
We must have the right to be in control of our digital environment, and our digital identities (persona)

In short we should have the right to have digital agency over the digital fabricswe interact with.

We have a long way to go to achieve this....

Today we are all poorly served by our politicians, who have become focused on the Privacy Meme

When what we really need is control...  ie having that Digital Agency over those Digital Fabrics.

On Privacy: we are fast approaching a time when the last thing the world needs is an excess of privacy. For there are some bad people in the world who thrive on fear and the ability to act often secretly against individuals that dare to stand up to them. There was a time in my life when I chose to publically stand up to a bully, with a large part of the school watching. I was soundly beaten for my action, but the act triggered others to do the same and the harsh light of transparency caused the bully to be controlled by the majority. It was a proud, as well as bruised time in my young life, which taught me that private timidity, ie keeping ones head down, was not always the right thing to do. There are those in the world who purport to be for example Christian, Russian or Muslim, but who are currently using fear and "privacy" to act against society. Often they cover their faces, to ensure their privacy, whether the Ukrainian sepperatists, or ISIL fighters, or the actors on the Dark Web, they are fighting against our collective right to self determination or agency.

Let us focus on arguing for Digital Rights that are far wider than Privacy Rights, which would give us the right to chose to act for the good of society, as well as ourselves. Then let's focus on ensuring that the digital fabrics of our society support these rights, to do this they will need to be designed from the outset to be secure and trustworthy!

Please, it is not all about Privacy, being in control or having digital agency is far more important.

Yes I am like a scratched record, but apparently I am not getting the message across!

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