Privacy is not the Antidote to Surveillance.

The conventional notion of privacy, based on the separation of the individual from their environment, is no longer useful in the context of ubiquitous electronic communication and should be refocused on demanding accountability from those design and employ the new communication systems.

Abstract

The standard reaction to the problem of surveillance is to demand the protection of privacy. This article, however, argues that the conventional notion of privacy, based, as it is, on the separation of the individual from their environment, is no longer useful in the context of ubiquitous electronic communication. Rather than defending ever shrinking areas of privacy, we should refocus our efforts and demand accountability from those design and employ the new communication systems.