Demonstrators take part in a protest walk against surveillance in front of the new building of the from a window of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) in Berlin, Germany, 29 July 2013. Daniel Reinhardt/PA Images. All rights reserved.Agne Pix (AP): Does technology protect our privacy on the internet or is it a threat?
Bruce Schneier (BS): There are a lot of technologies that help preserve privacy and keep us and our data secure, like for example encryption. Technology can also remove privacy: you may think of cameras or listening devices and insecure internet connections. We are living in a world where we often interact with computers. They produce data about these interactions, which is data about ourselves and that is collected by corporations. Surveillance is the business model of the internet. So right now a lot of the technology that we use is harmful to our security and privacy.
AP: Isn’t it ironic that the internet, which was supposed to make the world more open and connected (just like in the mission statement of Facebook), is being exploited by governments for mass surveillance and by corporations to make mass profits?
