Privacy & security

The Apple-FBI Fight Isn’t About Privacy vs. Security. Don’t Be Misled

THROUGHOUT THE ONGOING fight between Apple and the FBI over custom access to an iPhone used by one of the two terrorists who killed 14 people in San Bernardino, the government has framed the argument as a simple trade-off: You must surrender a little privacy if you want more security. The scales don’t balance quite so neatly, though; there’s nothing secure about giving the FBI their way. Still, it’s been an effective way for the government to win over the public, on its way to trying to win over the courts.

FBI director James Comey most recently pushed the dichotomy in an op-ed for Lawfare. “We have awesome new technology that creates a serious tension between two values we all treasure: privacy and safety,” he writes. “That tension should not be resolved by corporations that sell stuff for a living. It also should not be resolved by the FBI, which investigates for a living.”...

http://www.wired.com/2016/02/apple-fbi-privacy-security/?mbid=social_twitter&__scoop_post=c08e44a0-daf5-11e5-927b-00221934899c&__scoop_topic=4050186#__scoop_post=c08e44a0-daf5-11e5-927b-00221934899c&__scoop_topic=4050186

Privacy & security

"Is National Security More Important Than Individual Right To Privacy?" A Student Debate

The affirmative side came out swinging with remarkably agile arguments that national security and surveillance offer greater public protection, especially for minorities, immigrants, and the LGBTQ community. Departing from the position that privacy is not an inherent US constitutional right and that Americans sacrifice some privacy as part of their social contract with their nation, this side asserted that national security is the foundation for a pluralist, inclusive society. These debaters presented the American social contract as closer to John Locke than Thomas Hobbes, the latter being absolute and the former allowing for dissent and dialogue. In sum, the affirmative team presented national security as key for a functioning public sphere where people can be safe in their work and public activities.