This talk explains the global and EU history/politics of government surveillance from the Clipper Chip to ChatControl. Also discusses governments’ legal and political tactics, and strategies we (civil society) can take to fight surveillance policy.
Some takeaways I got were these.
While continuing to litigate violations of human rights abuses when they happen, considering legal protections/standards are weakening, we need to shift from fighting a legal battle to fighting a narrative battle.
We should form alliances with people/groups whom we don’t conventionally think of as allies but have authoritative perspectives. For instance, victims/survivors, child protection groups, children; who know how to actually protect/empower vulnerable/targeted people.
Many people are unaware about how technology works, and some people’s only reference point is state/mainstream media that often pushes false/biased narratives. For instance, some people believe (wrongly) that a warrant gives access, others believe a secure compromise to strong encryption like a backdoor or front door can exist.
The political/policy fight aside, IMHO additionally we need to develop and deploy usable and effective privacy-enhancing technologies that mitigate or prevent authoritarian rulership. If recent history is anything to go by, the risk of getting steamrolled by further surveillance laws is high, thus we need technologies that are ready to use.