We have been conditioned into thinking there is nothing wrong with giving up our privacy. Governments and corporations all over the world are using personal information to spread propaganda and feed us advertisements, while at the same time effortlessly installing Mass Surveillance. This is why someone claiming Facebook and Google are effectively surveillance states isn't anything new.
Effortless mass surveillance
However, those claims, without a doubt, carry considerably more weight when they come straight from the horse's mouth. Former Facebook executive, Chamath Palihapitiya, recently talked to CNBC and confirmed what many of us know.
Interestingly, the vast majority of the corporate-controlled mainstream media ignored the interview.
Chamath Palihapitiya said to the CNBC: "Facebook and Google effectively are surveillance states...they have so much personal, private information about so many citizens of so many countries." Furthermore, Palihapitiya argues that both companies are practically "inviting a government crackdown."
While mister Palihapitiya's heart might be in the right place, it's difficult to expect governments to intervene and introduce regulatory measures, when governments and corporations are those benefiting the most from this. Big Brother is alive and well, watching every move you make. While Palihapitiya claims that Google and Facebook are "effectively surveillance states," one can't help but conclude that both companies are indeed tools of the surveillance state, just another weapon in the state's arsenal, so to speak.
The implications
Chamath Palihapitiya is not the first and probably not the last ex-insider to speak about this publicly. The question is: what can we do about it? A right not exercised is a right lost -- claiming you have "nothing to hide" is like claiming you have "nothing to say" and letting the state take away your freedom of speech.
Realizing that this is wrong and a massive privacy invasion is a great step in the right direction.
Apart from that, it's safe to assume that the tighter the rope the state ties around the peoples' necks, the greater the chances of us completely rejecting everything to do with the so-called surface web and emigrating to places like the dark web. Anonymity is a right. And if things keep moving in this direction, more and more of us will have to learn how to exercise it.
