Untimely meditations

One man's thoughts, observations and rants

Tag: Privacy

  • Without privacy, you lose your ability to have an identity of your own

    Without privacy, you lose your ability to have an identity of your own

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    by

    Joop Beris
    in ,

    I believe that privacy is something that humans need. Being able to do things and to speak about things without being watched or recorded is essential to growth and identity formation. How do you know who you are or what your values are if you are not free to explore those? Without privacy, we are…

  • Stand Up for Strong Security

    Stand Up for Strong Security

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    by

    Joop Beris
    in ,

    Certain factions within the US Congress and the FBI are insisting on the government requiring US technology companies to grant the government special access to devices and cryptographic measures. In essence, they are asking for US technology to be insecure by design. Adding a backdoor for US government agencies is possible but there are serious…

  • How dangerous is the ITU?

    How dangerous is the ITU?

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    by

    Joop Beris
    in ,

    The ITU, the International Telecommunications Union is the UN agency for Information and Communication Technologies. The ITU is “committed to connecting all the world’s people – wherever they live and whatever their means”. Sounds like a very noble commitment, doesn’t it? It’s odd then, that the potentially biggest threat to the free and open Internet…

  • EFF takes up call of Bits of Freedom

    EFF takes up call of Bits of Freedom

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    by

    Joop Beris
    in ,

    I linked to an article by Bits of Freedom last week, calling for international opposition against the latest plan by minister Ivo Opstelten. The plan can be summed up in brief as “Dutch police should be allowed to hack local and foreign computers and destroy data on them”. A very dangerous proposition with lots legal…

  • Dutch police to get access to DNA stored in medical facilities?

    Dutch police to get access to DNA stored in medical facilities?

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    by

    Joop Beris
    in

    For an outgoing cabinet, our current ministers are certainly busy. Busy looking for ways to endanger our privacy, it seems. Just days after two letters from Ivo Opstelten reached the news, Dutch investigative reports for the TV program KRO Reporter have discovered documents that suggest that outgoing minister for Health, Welfare and Sports, Edith Schippers…

  • Data snooping only catches ‘incompetent criminals, accidental anarchists’

    Data snooping only catches ‘incompetent criminals, accidental anarchists’

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    by

    Joop Beris
    in ,

    British Information Commissioner Christopher Graham told a committee of MPs and peers last Tuesday that the draft Communications Data Bill as it stands would only put a stop to “the incompetent criminal and the accidental anarchist”. This proposed bill would give British law enforcement and secret service more access to telecoms data.