Key talking points

1. What is, in your opinion, the most worrisome fact about the online privacy debate right now?

2. What do you believe were the most important circumstances that triggered the NSA scandal?

3. How do you think Europe is different from the US in terms of legislation and the public’s concern for online privacy?

4. How will this debate affect tech companies and the end users? What type of features do tech companies need to integrate when building their own software or hardware products?

5. How is the online privacy debate connected to the censorship issues concerning using web based products?

TechHub Meetup InsightsWorrisome facts about the online privacy debate

Bogdan Botezatu – Senior E-Threat Analyst at Bitdefender

Don’t expect privacy on the internet. Very few aspects of online privacy are actually regulated. What is legal in my country/city could be illegal in other countries/cities. Having our data stored on servers who are located who knows where makes it even worse. Robert Knapp – Co-founder & CEO CyberGhost VPN

June 2013 – Snowden leaked that we lived in the age of mass surveillance. Each month, with each leaked document, the information about mass surveillance practices gets worse. Where does it end? The fact that they’ve messed with hardware is mind boggling. We have to wake up from the matrix and actually do something.

TechHub Meetup InsightsWorrisome facts about the online privacy debate

Bogdan Manolea, Executive Director of the ApTI (Association for Technology and Internet)

I’m mostly worried about people who think there should be no privacy on the internet. Would you give your credit card and PIN number to anyone you meet on the street? It’s the same thing with privacy. Having our privacy invaded means that some of us will lose money, some of us will lose friends, some of will encounter nasty experiences online and maybe even offline.We need privacy. Privacy is a human right, deeply embedded in our DNA structure. Most of the people have no idea what’s happening on the internet and with their data when they connect online.

TechHub Meetup InsightsThe consequences of the NSA scandal

Robert Knapp – Co-founder & CEO CyberGhost VPN

I think that Edward Snowden is a hero and he did something really great, giving up a great job and a good life in order to do the right thing.Due to him, people become more aware every day. It’s a technical war and we can win that war. Not easily, but we can. People’s reaction is usually: “it’s not that bad”, which is a wrong reaction. Question the balance between security and privacy. Having less privacy to gain more security is an outdated idea and it doesn’t work in our reality. You don’t give up a certain percent of your privacy, but all of it. The war on terrorism: heads of states have been surveyed; embassies have been surveyed and so on. This is espionage.

Source: Robert Knapp, Founder & CEO of CyberGhost VPN

Source: Robert Knapp, Founder & CEO of CyberGhost VPN

TechHub Meetup InsightsThe consequences of the NSA scandal

Bogdan Manolea, Executive Director of the ApTI (Association for Technology and Internet)How we understand mass surveillance is important. Mass surveillance abolishes the presumption of innocence and, instead, suspects that everyone is guilty of something. We are humans and we make mistakes, but those mistakes, in the age of mass surveillance, could become causes for prosecution. You don’t need to survey anyone all the time. You don’t know what other people could do with our data. Privacy cannot be easily or strictly defined. “Nothing to hide. Nothing to fear.” – that is not an idea to abide by.

Bogdan Botezatu – Senior E-Threat Analyst at Bitdefender Depending on which jurisdiction you’re in, you can become guilty of countless issues, such as consuming Skype (which is banned in certain countries), torrenting, pornography, etc. No secret service is to be trusted that they will not misuse your data.

TechHub Meetup InsightsThe consequences of the NSA scandal

Bogdan Manolea, Executive Director of the ApTI (Association for Technology and Internet)

How we understand mass surveillance is important. Mass surveillance abolishes the presumption of innocence and, instead, suspects that everyone is guilty of something. We are humans and we make mistakes, but those mistakes, in the age of mass surveillance, could become causes for prosecution. You don’t need to survey anyone all the time. You don’t know what other people could do with our data. Privacy cannot be easily or strictly defined. “Nothing to hide. Nothing to fear.” – that is not an idea to abide by.

TechHub Meetup InsightsThe differences between the US and Europe

Bogdan Manolea, Executive Director of the ApTI (Association for Technology and Internet)

Privacy exists everywhere around Europe, but there are differences from country to country. Germany, Austria, France (which has been enforcing its own law on data protection since 1968) – have influenced the EU’s view on privacy. Personal data is strictly regulated in the EU, but the concept doesn’t even exist in the US at all. This created tensions between the EU and the US – they struck a deal called the International Safe Harbour agreement (details here). Privacy is not dead. People want privacy. They thing they have certain rights online. They think that the state should protect them, but they have no idea what’s really going on. Still, their need for privacy is the same as people’s from the ‘60s or from the ‘80s. Romania doesn’t stand in the privacy debate. We have a data protection law and a data protection authority, but they are very weak, and almost they have no technical expertise to enforce these provisions.

TechHub Meetup InsightsThe differences between the US and Europe

Bogdan Botezatu – Senior E-Threat Analyst at Bitdefender

What is happenign in Germany with the police and spyware is different from the legal aspects which Bogdan Manolea talked about (details: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5).We’re not aware of any espionage tools launched by the Romanian government.

TechHub Meetup InsightsConsequences for tech companies & end users

Robert Knapp – Co-founder & CEO CyberGhost VPN

There’s a PR show going on right now, like the one staged by Mark Zuckerberg calling the US President. This unveils the fact that these guys are scared about the outlook of their businesses. Various companies where shut down for having backdoors and allowing government institutions to store this data. You can’t trust privacy services in the US and you can’t build privacy services in the US. So we these opportunities in the EU, to build these services. We need to build European alternatives to US web products. We can stop complaining about the lack of funding and a strong ecosystem, but we have all these opportunities in the EU, as tech startups, to build privacy oriented businesses. Made in Europe is, in this case, a real benefit. We are just building the basis of privacy. We now need smart people to develop built in encryption technology, embedded in software and hardware. We need an encrypted part of the internet – it’s the only way to protect our privacy. People want to have privacy and they’re willing to pay for it!

TechHub Meetup InsightsConsequences for tech companies & end users

Bogdan Botezatu – Senior E-Threat Analyst at Bitdefender

CyberGhost VPN is securing the medium, but we also need to secure the storage. The data is carried safely, but it is deposited unsafely. We need to secure both the communication, but also the storage medium. We could have a secure and strong cloud here, in Romania. We have enough technical talent, but not enough funding.

Bogdan Manolea, Executive Director of the ApTI (Association for Technology and Internet)

There are a number of companies that are working on an European cloud and the EU Commission is also supporting this effort (details here: 1, 2, 3, 4).

TechHub Meetup InsightsOnline privacy & censorship

Bogdan Botezatu – Senior E-Threat Analyst at Bitdefender

The lack of freedom of speech can lead to privacy infringement. Wanting to escape censorship, people become subjects to monitoring and to physical problems.

Bogdan Manolea, Executive Director of the ApTI (Association for Technology and Internet)

All digital rights connect to 2 words which are important: free Internet! The internet was conceived as a free medium. Net neutrality – the EU Parliament voted yesterday a regulation which included a real net neutrality principle. It’s only a draft regulation, but it’s a very important step for us. Net neutrality means that your Internet Service Provider cannot interfere with the data they are providing. They cannot block access to certain services. – no censorship, freedom of speechThey cannot look into your data without a court order, which is specific to a single person. – privacy, human rights.

TechHub Meetup InsightsOnline privacy & censorship

Robert Knapp – Co-founder & CEO CyberGhost VPN

The same people that are invading our privacy are the ones interested in censorship. All the people who are the backbone of our society (policy makers, laywers, doctors, etc.) are being surveyed. We need to change our behaviours as a result of this. They’re not just interested in the data, but also in what they can do with it.

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