Comments on: The DDR, Surveilance, and Informational Self-Determination

By: Jessi

Jessi — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 17:53:06 +0000

There’s also a firefox plugin called firemole that will do SSL-encrypted links to proxy servers, so you don’t have to mess around with SSH tunnels: http://www.thoughtcrime.org/software/firemole/

By: Valerie

Valerie — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 18:12:40 +0000

I wonder broad reform involving data protection might look like, or ideally be. You have privacy rights on one hand, but also broad benefits from economic and social innovation on the other. How does the personal violation of a grocery store knowing your shopping habits compare to the potential gains from more efficient consumer and market research? How strongly would you want to advocate either way? Hmm, interesting issue- I hope it gets more play in the future.

Also, I was hoping the DDR museum would be of a different, more musical/colorful sort, but alas.

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 01:43:24 +0000

Thanks for giving big ups to Little Brother, it was designed for a YA audience, but I think the best YA novels are still applicable for an older audience (definitely twentysomethings at least)- it has its flaws, but I liked the story a lot and I thought his prose was alright- he’s not F.Scott Fitzgerald or anything, but I think he did a particularly good job for a first novel.

The DDR Museum seems sort of like what The People’s Story in Edinburgh tried to do- with mixed results, it definitely had more of a labor union focus than on individual lives, but it also dug deeper into those than almost any other museum I’d been to.

~Steve

By: mccollam

mccollam — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 00:03:22 +0000

Thanks a lot, I worry that my posts are over-long by blog standards.

I’ll say that Little Brother is an excellent primer on digital surveillance. It’s certainly not the most brilliant or original novel in the world.

Personally, I find his prose turgid and kind of patronizing, but I’m definitely not the target audience for the book.

By: Dave Jacob Hoffman

Dave Jacob Hoffman — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 22:44:04 +0000

Excellent post. Just wanted to voice my appreciation of these meaty posts, even if I’m not really qualified to comment on them.

Except one thing: Is Little Brother really excellent? I bought a copy when Cory came through Naperville, but I haven’t read it. Boing Boing is great, and the idea for the book is inspired, but I’ve never been able to get through Cory’s prose.

By: Brian Mc

Brian Mc — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 21:37:18 +0000

U.S. law constructed from the Bill of Rights recognizes a right of free speech and a right of privacy free from unreasonable search and seizure. Subject to judicial interpretation, the rights themselves are protected from violation and from the “chilling” effect of measures which might discourage exercise of the rights. It seems to me that Germany is not alone in considering informational self-determination as a part of a citizen’s freedoms.