Week 11 - Privacy

 Censorship and Privacy

Censorship - Hate Speech and the Western World

    Usually, the West is viewed as a frontier for "democracy". A shining beacon for human rights and a general leader in how to treat one's citizens well. However, recently I feel like this is really going down the drain and the reason is one that I honestly did not expect when I was younger, but is painfully obviously used as a tool for censorship nowadays. Yes, I am talking about "hate speech". This wonderful, all-encompassing word is the main tool that is being used in order to drown out anything that the government or particular companies do not want to see. What exactly encompasses hate speech is immensely vague and that fact is becoming a larger and larger issue. With the UK making hate speech a criminally punishable offense and a lot of other countries following suit, it is difficult to see a light at the end of this tunnel, especially when companies are fast to follow.
    My favourite case of this - one that happened several years ago but really started to spotlight just how far it has gone, was a video posted by someone with the alias 'CountDankula' on Youtube that you should subscribe to. He posted a video titled 'M8 yer dugs a nazi' where he had taught his dog (as a VERY obvious joke) to raise his paw to 'sieg heil'. After a very long court process, which even included the Court of Justice of the European Union, he was sentenced to a fine but no prison sentence. The backlash by people was immense, with protests for free speech popping up and several public figures backing him up with the idea that "the right to free expression must include the right to offend, otherwise the freedom is meaningless". I have to agree with that wholeheartedly, and I am so very disappointed in Western sensitivity coming to a point where "it hurt my feels, even though it's not even about my culture" [Mostly it is people getting offended on others' behalf] is a valid reason for a court sentence. This case actually pisses me off and I am truly worried for our future [1]

Privacy - Facebook

    You already know what's coming. It is no surprise to most people that Facebook is probably the most famous figure of collecting and stealing your personal data. A major issue that most even lightly tech-observant people have is where the data is stored, not just how - and that is where it becomes so painfully obvious that the current laws are not enough. Despite Facebook losing a case against the European Court of Justice on whether or not Facebook could store EU citizens' data in the US, it achieved almost literally nothing. The current privacy laws have a neat little contractual clause which allows companies outside of the European Union to transfer citizens' data to servers in their own country granted that they follow the EU Data and Privacy Laws, but is that enough? What if they decide that they no longer want to? Would there even be any real repercussions for malusing the data? The current ruling is obviously a rather unsure one, as a lot of people are concerned about the ramifications of the clause, but what would the solution even be? I fear for my data being abroad under such shaky foundations, but there really isn't much of a choice, is there? Companies drool at the thought of having local control over customers' data, and they will not stop at anything for it. [2]


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