This is a lightly edited transcript of my presentation today at the ACCSS/NCSC/Surf seminar ‘Cyber Security and Society’. I want to thank the organizers for inviting me to their conference & giving me a great opportunity to talk about something I worry about a lot. Here are the original slides with notes, which may be useful to view together with the text below. In the notes there are also additional URLs that back up the claims I make in what follows.
A very uncomfortable reading but in this time, a necessary topic.
The new development since this text was written is the Trump administration dismantling security institutions and intimidating security companies.
And, the rampant illegal data collection of US companies feels increasingly hostile. Why would a smartphone or smartphone app need my fingerprints or microphone?