Autonomy: Fencing in Freedoms on the Electronic Frontier
When the Computers, Freedom and Privacy conference first started in
1991 in San Francisco, its raison d'etre was to provide a forum where
regulators and government officials, not themselves denizens of the new
electronic frontier, could start to understand the Internet and engage
in dialogue with the growing Internet-savvy sub-culture. Tensions were
running high, as hackers, cyber-libertarians and technology developers
revelled in the new power of the networks and expanding computing
capacity. Suddenly there was a growing availability of cryptographic
tools, formerly in the exclusive control of government. Governments
and business itself were increasingly uneasy, fearing the explosion of
cybercrime, while media were hyping internet pornography and online
gambling. Times were exciting, and the dialogue was intense and at
times raucous.
The Net has continued to explode, faster than many of us could have
imagined. The technology works, and lots of people have made a lot of
money. A whole new generation has grown up, expecting to communicate
instantly to a huge circle of friends and connections around the
world. Life without computers and cell-phones is unthinkable to
today's North American teenagers. At the World Summit on the
Information Society held under the auspices of the International
Telecommunications Union in Geneva in December 2003 and in Tunis
November 2005, some NGOs called for the right to communicate to be
added to the UN Declaration of Human Rights. Clearly, computing and
communicating have empowered the individual and enabled her to
participate in the global community.
This explosion of computing power is entering a new phase, as we
move to a world of ubiquitous computing and nanotechnology. Radio
Frequency Identification (RFID) technology is rolling out, promising a
world where virtually every item of goods we possess, from a can of
soda to a car licence plate, will be communicating with
transmitter-receivers embedded everywhere, from doorways to roadways to
point-of-sale terminals. The next version of the Internet
architecture, Internet Protocol Version 6 or IPV6, will permit a unique
IP address for every 40 thousand molecules on the face of the earth, up
to a kilometer up. Hands up, anyone who understands what this will do
to humanity and our understanding of how our world is going to
function. Is this going to bring further empowerment, or has the tide
turned?
The need for discussion is more urgent now than ever.
Everyone working in the field of public education, from librarians
to teachers to consumer activists and civil libertarians, understands
that we are hitting a wall with respect to helping the average person
deal with the complexity of modern life. From finance to cellular
phone packages, reading food labels to making decisions about your
children's education, life is infinitely more complex than it was a
generation ago. Dealing with pollution, global warming, holes in the
ozone, contaminants in water, investments, pensions, health care
choices...consumers are worn out and reaching the breaking point. Small
wonder it has been difficult to get the public worked up about
incursions into free speech, civil liberties, and privacy. They are
busy reading labels looking for transfats.
It is time for another major discussion to take place. We are moving
to a world of ubiquitous surveillance, faster than anyone could have
imagined. More ominously, the computers that take charge of the world,
aptly foretold in Arthur C. Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey, are
here. Meet Hal, your new cell phone, that will decide when it will
turn itself on and on off, and when it will report your geographical
location to the authorities. Meet Hal, your new refrigerator that
reorders the food as it expires...or not, depending on what your health
care provider stipulates. Meet Hal, the robot that is looking after
your mother in her assisted living apartment, nagging her to take her
pills, monitoring her blood sugar, her caloric intake, and her mood
swings. Meet Hal, the resource manager that operates on behalf of your
utility company to ensure you do not over-consume. Meet Hal, the
friendly update manager who takes over your computer to make sure you
have the latest anti-virus protection, the latest digital rights
management software to ensure you only do what you are allowed to do
with the music you buy.
Who is in control of this new world? Are the hackers and the
uber-geeks the only ones who can still tell their own laptop computers
what to do, or disable the devices that will soon be managing our
lives? Can the average individual control the objects in their lives,
objects which we in this consumer society are increasingly dependent
on, or will they be run remotely by distant owners, regulators,
government officials, or private sector operators cooperating with any
of the above?
Since the events of September 11 2001, citizens in developed
countries, especially North Americans, have been asked to give up a
little privacy, a little liberty, in the interests of safety. The
global war on terror has been the excuse to increase state control of
financial information, geo-positioning information, access to
telecommunications information, mandatory data retention, expansion of
video-surveillance, increased authentication and identification, and
passenger screening. Public information is being removed from the
Internet and from public circulation under 40 year old FOIA legislation
(25 years old in Canada). Because this is a GLOBAL war on terror, the
agreements made among consenting countries to share data and cooperate
with one another with respect to enforcement further preclude sharing
the information with the citizens of those countries. Never before has
there been so much public policy made at the international level by
career public officials, rather than by elected officials, members of
Congress and Parliamentarians around the world. How can democracies
survive these kinds of transnational agreements that provide for
surveillance of their own citizens? Can a democratic state exercise
autonomy in this environment?