weather: sunny, 11°C
mood:    could be better

5 minute read
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Forced Digital Dystopia
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Some time ago, I went to my work's monthly co-working day. This is a day where
we hang out with each other and - being a fully remote company - it gives us an
opportunity to work together on stuff or just catch up with colleagues. In the
past, this happened in a standard "business" hotel. You just walk in, ask the
staff where our conference rooms are, and that's about it.

The last time was different, though.

One week in advance, we were asked to download an app, create an account on
that app, provide all our details and use the app to check in and out of the
new co-working space. What was previously as simple (and pseudo-anonymous) as
walking in, is now a process where you have to share your email, location, full
name, birthday and check in & out times. Alternatives such as a manual check-in
were not given.

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These days, I get a near-allergic reaction to these things. We are increasingly
taking part in a coerced digital participation scheme where our privacy is
being exchanged for a supposed improvement[1] of our lives, often with a layer
of surveillance on top. In many instances, there is no opt-out anymore.

This is not a single occurrence, either. In the past year, I've been asked to
join the WhatsApp group for my Japanese language class, and one for work. In
both cases, important information is shared on there that is not provided
somewhere else. When I mention that I don't have WhatsApp because I don't want
to support a company where surveillance capitalism reigns supreme, I am often
dismissed as a techno-alarmist.

Payments are also undergoing a similar transition. More and more places don't
accept cash anymore. In order to be more efficient, to be sure, but in the
meantime allowing a host of payment gateways and data processors to analyze our
spending behaviour. Central Bank Digital Currencies are being researched[2] and
will undoubtedly be introduced in the coming decade. Any opposition will be met
with the familiar Four Horsemen of the Infocalypse argument: "we do this to
prevent terrorists, drug dealers, pedophiles and organized crime".

It feels like in time, cash might become the ultimate luxury.

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I could come up with many more examples. It is becoming harder and harder to
take a pro-privacy stance on these topics, without degrading your life. There
are alternatives but many people seem to be either unaware of the issues, or
happy to exchange their privacy for a bit of convenience.

There is also little incentive for companies to change: the capitalist system
favours corporate profits over anything else (such as well-being or sustainable
living) and turning your users into data has just proven to be the easiest way
to maximize those profits, social consequences be damned.

Governments are equally unlikely to change, as mass surveillance gives them the
kind of oversight that they could only dream of in the past. Encryption is the
latest hot topic, with the EU proposing to require backdoors in encrypted
messenger services[3], thereby completely defeating the purpose of encryption.

It honestly blows my mind that this is still something we have to fight for in
2023.

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I have to be honest: it is hard to stay positive, considering all of the above.
To say that I am a bit disillusioned by the current technological landscape is
one hell of an understatement. However, I do see some bright spots on the
horizon, as more and more people are actively building solutions that go
against the current trend of technological "innovation".

This happens on a number of levels: we are seeing decentralized and federated
initiatives gain in popularity, with end-user systems that offer a real
alternative to the tech monopolies, without compromises in privacy or
surveillance. Services that are part of the Fediverse, like Mastodon, Pixelfed
or Calckey are some of the more obvious examples.

We also have the smallweb with protocols like Gopher and Gemini bringing back a
level of personality to the web that often felt lost in the past 10 years. We
have the degrowth movement that critiques and builds alternatives to the
current growth-centered economical models. There is the permacomputing
community, the solarpunks, off-grids and many more. None of these are new and
not all of these are directly related to privacy but many seem to share a
number of ideals with each other, in that they don't agree with how technology,
the internet and our role in it has evolved in the past decade.

This is good to see.

Because it has become clear that if we don't do anything, things will get
progressively worse. Many of the cyberpunk dystopias of 20 years ago are
already here. Like the proverbial boiling frog, we've gradually grown
accustomed to the shifting baselines, not realizing how close we are to a
disturbing and abusive reality.

A future where we are just data points for the benefit of some mega-corporation
is not what I had in mind, yet here we are. I desperately want to be excited
again about new technologies, without having to immediately be defensive about
how that tech is going to be abused. Still, I'm hopeful that things can still
be turned around. Let's be part of that change, this time for the better.

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[1] https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/10/1/20887003/tech-technology-evolution-natural-inevitable-ethics
[2] https://www.ecb.europa.eu/paym/digital_euro/html/index.en.html
[3] https://european-pirateparty.eu/parliament-approves-chatcontrol/