Citizens must be aware of privacy concerns
Text messages. Bank codes. Property records. Travel plans. Insurance information. GPS location.
Any of these could be recorded by the National Security Agency if it feels the information could be a potential threat against the U.S. government, even if you are a law-abiding citizen, thanks to the Patriot Act and other policies promoted by the NSA.
Why is there such a strong desire to map out the personal electronic lives of U.S. citizens?
As most people have heard, the NSA has been exploited by Edward Snowden, who leaked thousands of classified U.S. government documents to the British newspaper The Guardian.
As Snowden airs out the U.S.’s dirty laundry for the world to scrutinize, the American people are questioning if there are ways to bend around the government’s constant surveillance and analysis of people lives.
Innovative technology has cracked open a portal to a future where maintaining your privacy online is possible.
Meshes, independent networks that Mother Jones magazine likens to “a sort of bucket brigade that can pass along data,” are attracting people globally who want to use the Internet in rural areas, pay modest fees and maintain their privacy.
Our world is flooded with advanced technology and motivated people who are determined to have freedom on the Internet.
People like Ladar Levison, who created his own secure email service and is being forced to close his company because government officials were harassing him to reveal his customers’ private messages.
An average citizen of Greece, Joseph Bonicioli, successfully co-created a mesh with over 1,000 participants. Users can send messages and video chats without the worry of a third party supervising them. Members of this community have built equivalents to Google and Craigslist; they’ve even hosted virtual movie nights.
Giant Internet service providers will not provide Internet service in many rural areas if they think there will not be enough of a profit, which prompted Guifi, a mesh network in rural Spain. The only requirement to join this network is to install the hardware and allow anyone in your area to access the Internet as well.
Village Telco founder Steve Song sells “mesh potatoes” — economical Wi-Fi devices that connect with nearby “potatoes” to transmit data and voice calls without fear of regulation.
Government will always try to regulate flow of information to maintain order and control. In Egypt, during protests against Hosni Mubarak, ISPs were ordered to shut down because protesters were using Facebook to organize rallies denouncing Mubarak. China has a “great firewall” that prohibits its citizens from viewing pro-democracy websites.
These meshes hold major economic and political advantages that give the user power.
It appears the U.S. government’s imitation of Big Brother has confiscated any prospect of Internet freedom, but hope resides in the recognition and acknowledgment of such advances in Internet privacy.
These Internet-privacy leaders have exhibited a valuable lesson, demonstrating the danger of blindly following leaders without investigating what their true motives are.
You need to use your brain, because in the end, those who hold the information hold the power.