Essays Tagged "BBC News"

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Privacy in the Age of Persistence

  • Bruce Schneier
  • BBC News
  • February 26, 2009

Welcome to the future, where everything about you is saved. A future where your actions are recorded, your movements are tracked, and your conversations are no longer ephemeral. A future brought to you not by some 1984-like dystopia, but by the natural tendencies of computers to produce data.

Data is the pollution of the information age. It’s a natural by-product of every computer-mediated interaction. It stays around forever, unless it’s disposed of. It is valuable when reused, but it must be done carefully. Otherwise, its after-effects are toxic…

Sidebar photo of Bruce Schneier by Joe MacInnis.