The Digital Security Divide
A TED talk by Christopher Soghoian about encrypted communication, the difference between the default of Apple and that of Android, and the impact on our society.
Apple iPhone messaging is end-to-end encrypted by default, (between two iPhones), and not Android messaging is not.
The default behaviour is important because given the expensive cost of an iPhone and the availability of cheap Android phones, social inequalities often lead to:
a) the purchase of cheap Android phones that do not protect your communication
b) lack of sufficient knowledge to protect your communication on cheap phones
The digital security divide: there is an increasing gap in security & privacy between the rich, who can afford devices that secure their data by default, and the poor, whose devices do little to protect them, by default.
"In the US, African-Americans are more likely to likely to be seen as suspicious, to be profiled, and more likely to be put under surveillance by the state. They are also disproportionately likely to use Android devices."
"We must remember that surveillance is a tool. It’s a tool used by those in power, against those who have no power."
This also becomes a problem for democracy. Many movements, such as “Black Live matters”, the Arab Spring etc, increasingly use smartphones. Obviously, governments that feel threatened by these movements will target those members, and their smartphones. And chances are, these people use a cheap Android phone.
▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmehNQzNsVU
#privacy #surveillance #social
#Christopher_Soghoian
#civil_right
#TED