Privacy is a unique commodity in the
modern age of instant and ubiquitous communication. What was once seen as a relatively straightforward
ideal rooted in personal liberty has changed just as rapidly as the technology surrounding it.
Corporations sell your data for pennies a piece and laugh in your face if you take objection.
Governments turn their all-seeing eye on their citizens and excuse it as a reasonable compromise to
stop shadowy and faceless terrorists from taking what little freedom that’s left.
These things are done in the name of security but require the forfeiture of privacy, a trade which to many is unthinkable.
On October 26th, 2001, a pervasive and radical surveillance bill was passed,
spurred by outrage and fear from the September 11th terrorist attacks: the PATRIOT Act.
This marked a new age of “Nothing to Hide, Nothing to Fear” rhetoric that called on American citizens to
forfeit their right to privacy in the name of national security.
Is the “Nothing to Hide, Nothing to Fear" really an effective outlook on the notion of trading privacy for security?
Nineteen years later, this project focuses on examining the consequences of the decision to trade
privacy for security, explaining the modern system of mass surveillance, and scrutinizing its
effectiveness using sources leaked during 2013 by whistleblower Edward Snowden.
