From 7ad4ba1216415c0221a67a1bdd1be8cb21db73b8 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Petter Reinholdtsen Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2018 11:15:07 +0200 Subject: [PATCH 1/1] First draft using markdown as original source. --- ...roposal_to_keep_your_personal_data_safe.md | 121 ++++++++++++++++++ Makefile | 26 ++++ README.md | 12 ++ po4a.cfg | 4 + 4 files changed, 163 insertions(+) create mode 100644 A_radical_proposal_to_keep_your_personal_data_safe.md create mode 100644 Makefile create mode 100644 README.md create mode 100644 po4a.cfg diff --git a/A_radical_proposal_to_keep_your_personal_data_safe.md b/A_radical_proposal_to_keep_your_personal_data_safe.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..78b8b19 --- /dev/null +++ b/A_radical_proposal_to_keep_your_personal_data_safe.md @@ -0,0 +1,121 @@ +A radical proposal to keep your personal data safe +================================================== + +by Richard Stallman, 2018-04-03 + +The surveillance imposed on us today is worse than in the Soviet +Union. We need laws to stop this data being collected in the first +place. + +Journalists have been asking me whether the revulsion against the +abuse of +[Facebook](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/mar/31/big-data-lie-exposed-simply-blaming-facebook-wont-fix-reclaim-private-information) +data could be a turning point for the campaign to recover +privacy. That could happen, if the public makes its campaign broader +and deeper. + +Broader, meaning extending to all surveillance systems, not just +[Facebook](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/facebook). Deeper, +meaning to advance from regulating the use of data to regulating the +accumulation of data. Because surveillance is so pervasive, restoring +privacy is necessarily a big change, and requires powerful measures. + +The surveillance imposed on us today far exceeds that of the Soviet +Union. For freedom and democracy’s sake, we need to eliminate most of +it. There are so many ways to use data to hurt people that the only +safe database is the one that was never collected. Thus, instead of +the EU’s approach of mainly regulating how personal data may be used +(in its [General Data Protection Regulation](https://www.eugdpr.org/) +or GDPR), I propose a law to stop systems from collecting personal +data. + +The robust way to do that, the way that can’t be set aside at the whim +of a government, is to require systems to be built so as not to +collect data about a person. The basic principle is that a system must +be designed not to collect certain data, if its basic function can be +carried out without that data. + +Data about who travels where is particularly sensitive, because it is +an ideal basis for repressing any chosen target. We can take the +London trains and buses as a case for study. + +The Transport for London digital payment card system centrally records +the trips any given Oyster or bank card has paid for. When a passenger +feeds the card digitally, the system associates the card with the +passenger’s identity. This adds up to complete surveillance. + +I expect the transport system can justify this practice under the +GDPR’s rules. My proposal, by contrast, would require the system to +stop tracking who goes where. The card’s basic function is to pay for +transport. That can be done without centralising that data, so the +transport system would have to stop doing so. When it accepts digital +payments, it should do so through an anonymous payment system. + +Frills on the system, such as the feature of letting a passenger +review the list of past journeys, are not part of the basic function, +so they can’t justify incorporating any additional surveillance. + +These additional services could be offered separately to users who +request them. Even better, users could use their own personal systems +to privately track their own journeys. + +Black cabs demonstrate that a system for hiring cars with drivers does +not need to identify passengers. Therefore such systems should not be +allowed to identify passengers; they should be required to accept +privacy-respecting cash from passengers without ever trying to +identify them. + +However, convenient digital payment systems can also protect +passengers’ anonymity and privacy. We have already developed one: [GNU +Taler](https://taler.net/en/). It is designed to be anonymous for the +payer, but payees are always identified. We designed it that way so as +not to facilitate tax dodging. All digital payment systems should be +required to defend anonymity using this or a similar method. + +What about security? Such systems in areas where the public are +admitted must be designed so they cannot track people. Video cameras +should make a local recording that can be checked for the next few +weeks if a crime occurs, but should not allow remote viewing without +physical collection of the recording. Biometric systems should be +designed so they only recognise people on a court-ordered list of +suspects, to respect the privacy of the rest of us. An unjust state is +more dangerous than terrorism, and too much security encourages an +unjust state. + +The EU’s GDPR regulations are well-meaning, but do not go very far. It +will not deliver much privacy, because its rules are too lax. They +permit collecting any data if it is somehow useful to the system, and +it is easy to come up with a way to make any particular data useful +for something. + +The GDPR makes much of requiring users (in some cases) to give consent +for the collection of their data, but that doesn’t do much +good. System designers have become expert at manufacturing consent (to +repurpose Noam Chomsky’s phrase). Most users consent to a site’s terms +without reading them; a company that +[required](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/sep/29/londoners-wi-fi-security-herod-clause) +users to trade their first-born child got consent from plenty of +users. Then again, when a system is crucial for modern life, like +buses and trains, users ignore the terms because refusal of consent is +too painful to consider. + +To restore privacy, we must stop surveillance before it even asks for +consent. + +Finally, don’t forget the software in your own computer. If it is the +non-free software of Apple, Google or Microsoft, it [spies on you +regularly](https://gnu.org/malware/). That’s because it is controlled +by a company that won’t hesitate to spy on you. Companies tend to lose +their scruples when that is profitable. By contrast, free (libre) +software is [controlled by its +users](https://gnu.org/philosophy/free-software-even-more-important.html). That +user community keeps the software honest. + +Richard Stallman is president of the Free +[Software](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/software) +Foundation, which launched the development of a free/libre operating +system GNU. + +Copyright 2018 Richard Stallman. Released under [Creative Commons +Attribution NoDerivatives License +4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/). diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9eda4cf --- /dev/null +++ b/Makefile @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ +all: A_radical_proposal_to_keep_your_personal_data_safe.nb.md + +PDFS = A_radical_proposal_to_keep_your_personal_data_safe.pdf \ + A_radical_proposal_to_keep_your_personal_data_safe.nb.pdf + +pdf: $(PDFS) +%.pdf: %.md + pandoc -t latex $^ -o $@ + +po/A_radical_proposal_to_keep_your_personal_data_safe.pot: A_radical_proposal_to_keep_your_personal_data_safe.md + po4a-gettextize -f text -o markdown -m A_radical_proposal_to_keep_your_personal_data_safe.md \ + -M UTF-8 -L UTF-8 --package-name "A radical proposal to keep your personal data safe" \ + | sed 's/CHARSET/UTF-8/' > $@.new && mv $@.new $@ + +po/A_radical_proposal_to_keep_your_personal_data_safe.nb.po: po/A_radical_proposal_to_keep_your_personal_data_safe.pot + po4a --no-translations --msgmerge-opt --no-location po4a.cfg + +A_radical_proposal_to_keep_your_personal_data_safe.nb.md: po/A_radical_proposal_to_keep_your_personal_data_safe.nb.po A_radical_proposal_to_keep_your_personal_data_safe.md + po4a --translate-only A_radical_proposal_to_keep_your_personal_data_safe.nb.md po4a.cfg + +po/A_radical_proposal_to_keep_your_personal_data_safe.nn.po: po/A_radical_proposal_to_keep_your_personal_data_safe.nb.po + ~/src/debian/pology/pologyrun pomtrans -s nob -t nno -p .nn:.nb apertium $@ + + +stats: + for f in po/*.po; do printf "$$f "; msgfmt --output /dev/null --statistics $$f; done diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e293de0 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,12 @@ +Translation of 'A radical proposal to keep your personal data safe'. + +The text is "Copyright 2018 Richard Stallman and released under +[Creative Commons Attribution NoDerivatives License +4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/). The text was +first publised in [The +Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/03/facebook-abusing-data-law-privacy-big-tech-surveillance), +and is translated with approval from Richard Stallman. + +This source is available from a git repository on +[Gitlab](https://gitlab.com/pin-no/rms-personal-data-safe). The +translation is done using XXX. diff --git a/po4a.cfg b/po4a.cfg new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1cdff01 --- /dev/null +++ b/po4a.cfg @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +[po_directory] po + +[type: text] A_radical_proposal_to_keep_your_personal_data_safe.md $lang:$lang.md \ + opt:"-o markdown -M UTF-8 -k 0" opt_nb:"-L UTF-8" -- 2.47.2