None of us has anything to hide. We are righteous, hard-working citizens with no criminal relatives in our history. We pay our taxes, don’t drink and drive, abstain from drug abuse, raise our kids well, indulge in the odd harmless outing or occasional holiday, meet some friends once in a while and have to make ends meet on the basis of a regular but mediocre income. This is mostly it. Nothing exciting, really. Then why would we have to be overly protective of our personal sphere online? And even if our privacy had been invaded severely, how could we possibly be harmed?
Journalist Glenn Greenwald – Pulitzer winner and the man who exposed the Edward Snowden files – insists that even perfectly law-abiding people are entitled not to be watched online! Because, when we realise we’re being observed – by a camera, a guard or an email sniffer – our demeanour changes.
Greenwald continues public debate on surveillance and privacy in the media. In his new book No Place to Hide he implies that more revelations are yet to come.
Header image ©Christina Feyerke