That’s why I love this dual definition of privacy by Maciej Ceglowski, one of my favorite writers and thinkers on technology. The first definition is the classic one, that data privacy is “the idea of protecting designated sensitive material from unauthorized access.” Easy enough. What Ceglowski is really talking about is the ability to “opt out.” It’s a phrase that big tech companies love to use. Similarly, while it is possible in principle to throw one’s laptop into the sea and renounce all technology, it is no longer be possible to opt out of a surveillance society. We’ve built a society and economy that runs on surveillance, a world where the price for participation is tracking, targeting and disclosure of data.

Source: New York Times May 14, 2019 20:15 UTC