Re: <nettime> Should use mobile phone data to monitor public health

[Geoffrey Goodell <goodell@oxonia.net>]

On Wed, Mar 18, 2020 at 10:20:02AM +0100, Felix Stalder wrote:
> Is it likely that we manage to enact these? No. But simply calling for
> the protection of personal privacy, or accepting the general state of
> emergency, will be even worse.

“If the ends don't justify the means, what does?” -- Robert Moses

There is a tendency for people to seek to wield exceptional power during a
crisis, perhaps because they fear regret or blame in the event that they defer
to the legitimately authorised limitations on their power.

But what good are controls if there is always a means to override them?  We
need mechanism, not just policy, to ensure that power is not abused.

In the case of mobile telephone data, if this means establishing a future
system that allows me to establish a virtual endpoint independently of my
carrier for the purpose of receiving calls, and a mechanism for providing
blinded tokens to cellular towers to demonstrate that I have paid, then so be
it.

The problem with the Internet protocols is that we designed them to expose too
much information to the network operators, in the expectation that they would
always act in the interests of their users.  That was a mistake, and abuses
like this show why, even if the intention in this case is benevolent.

Best wishes

Geoff



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