The digital privacy movement has taken huge strides since Edward Snowden blew the whistle on the NSA’s information gathering protocols. I know a lot of us had a hunch that we were being watched, but no one knew the true extent until Snowden’s leaks went public. Since the initial reports, more information about the real extent of our online privacy has been exposed almost daily. Data mining – the fuel behind social media networks – is something we just take with our services now. We don’t wonder what info Facebook is creeping in on now, we only question what they aren’t are listening to. We seem to be fine with the the trade off: social interaction for less privacy.
Does that agreement apply across the board? The government’s position is eerily similar to Facebook’s. They listen to every call, see every email and access every application in order to keep us safe from physical harm. The only problem is we can’t opt-out of the government’s snooping like we can Facebook. (Yes, delete your Facebook and they can’t data mine you).
Okay, I lied – we can opt out of the government’s snooping. It is 100% legal and it is called the deep web. Using a dedicated browser, or most commonly TOR, users can access what some call the back end of the web. These users are completely anonymous if done right. Arguably the deep net is used predominately for illegal activities, but the principle still exists that we have the right to our privacy. [via]