User:Dr. Diane Bowser

Researcher in philosophy of technology; my specialty focuses on a phenomenological account of autonomy, privacy & surveillance. Working on a phenomenology of being- in-the-web has convinced me that only through constructive positive engagements with cyberpunks, hackers, innovators and anti-surveillance coalitions can the common citizen preserve the 4th Amendment notion of autonomy linked to privacy. To preserve privacy and the correspondent freedom characterized by autonomy, strong encryption should be built seamlessly into every information exchange.

The alternative, present situation, politically sanctions ubiquitous surveillance and control of communication. Contemporary citizens also agree to provide data to these entities through the use of social networks. Power over the flow of communication is shared by multi-national corporations along with plutocrats coordinated across antiquated, and largely irrelevant, nation-state boundaries. International coordinated surveillance legislation has been instituted in nearly all United Nations countries. In many places, the freedom provided by the Internet and wireless telecommunications systems, is controlled by a state authority with the power and will to pull the switch in the face of a political challenge. Encryption is just one small part of the autonomy equation, the other is the creation of alternative energies and power systems that facilitate sustainable communities and small ad-hoc data networks for communications.