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The Architecture of Privacy
The tragedy of the internet age has been our loss of privacy.
Privacy is more than a privacy statement on a web site. It is an architecture.
Web sites are architecturally designed to be excellent for spying on all things performed by their users. Whether operators choose to use this power is almost irrelevant. The point is that they can. Any web developer can tell you that it needs one line of code here and there (which can be added without the users knowledge at any time without needing to re-release the software) and suddenly you know every file possessed or viewed by the user, every click on the site, etc. This is because web sites are centralised - they are managed on a central server, or a collection of servers acting as one. This server is managed by some entity and that entity can make choices with or without the users consent.
Tragically, we take this for granted.
This is why - if they wanted to - Google could harvest my search queries and put this data together with my bank details which are a part of adsense.
This is why - if they wanted to - Flickr could look at my private photographs.
This is why - if they wanted to - Napster staff can snoop on what music I am listening to.
This is why - if they wanted to - Hotmail staff could read all my email and make my private thoughts known to others.
I hope non of this goes on, but if it does not it does so because the current context allows it to so and as the years go by, privacy statements dissolve into the mists of time to become un-tenable in a world where money has to be made and everybody is suing everybody else.
If the internet were the physical world of a house, it would be like cupboards were architected to allow external agents to be informed what objects were added and removed and by whom. Or like a doorway that could monitor who exits and enters.
Thankfully, the architecture of the physical world is one where it is fundamentally private. If an entity needs to know what is in your cupboards they must gain access to your house and physically open the cupboard - something hard to do without your knowledge and consent.
Distributed software is more like the real world and is built upon the architecture of privacy. You store your stuff on your own computer in your own home. You chose what to make available to others. Interactions between users happen directly between those users and do not pass through any centralised facility. It is impossible for the makers of this software to snoop on what users are doing. It is impossible to change the software dynamically without the users consent.
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The tragedy of the internet age has been our loss of privacy.
Privacy is more than a privacy statement on a web site. It is an architecture.
Web sites are architecturally designed to be excellent for spying on all things performed by their users. Whether operators choose to use this power is almost irrelevant. The point is that they can. Any web developer can tell you that it needs one line of code here and there (which can be added without the users knowledge at any time without needing to re-release the software) and suddenly you know every file possessed or viewed by the user, every click on the site, etc. This is because web sites are centralised - they are managed on a central server, or a collection of servers acting as one. This server is managed by some entity and that entity can make choices with or without the users consent.
Tragically, we take this for granted.
This is why - if they wanted to - Google could harvest my search queries and put this data together with my bank details which are a part of adsense.
This is why - if they wanted to - Flickr could look at my private photographs.
This is why - if they wanted to - Napster staff can snoop on what music I am listening to.
This is why - if they wanted to - Hotmail staff could read all my email and make my private thoughts known to others.
I hope non of this goes on, but if it does not it does so because the current context allows it to so and as the years go by, privacy statements dissolve into the mists of time to become un-tenable in a world where money has to be made and everybody is suing everybody else.
If the internet were the physical world of a house, it would be like cupboards were architected to allow external agents to be informed what objects were added and removed and by whom. Or like a doorway that could monitor who exits and enters.
Thankfully, the architecture of the physical world is one where it is fundamentally private. If an entity needs to know what is in your cupboards they must gain access to your house and physically open the cupboard - something hard to do without your knowledge and consent.
Distributed software is more like the real world and is built upon the architecture of privacy. You store your stuff on your own computer in your own home. You chose what to make available to others. Interactions between users happen directly between those users and do not pass through any centralised facility. It is impossible for the makers of this software to snoop on what users are doing. It is impossible to change the software dynamically without the users consent.
Like what you're reading? Subscribe to my feed.
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Movable Type 4.0 Everything here is my personal opinion.