Solving the Crisis of Big Tech, Privacy, and Censorship
The issue is an existential, albeit solvable, threat to liberty. We must take it very seriously.
by Rod D. Martin
May 8, 2021
I hear from many people concerned that Big Tech has fully and finally killed both privacy and the freedom of speech. And they have a legitimate, if terrifying, point. We've certainly seen what's possible in China, with the Communist Party's implementation of a universal Social Credit Score: take the wrong position online, or attend a house church, and when you get to the airport your tickets are canceled, or you're fired from your job.
Technology has enabled more freedom than we've ever known. It's also brought Big Brother to life. The question is, which of those possibilities will prevail in America?
Let's look first at privacy, and then at censorship.
Frankly, we have to be honest with ourselves: any semblance of true privacy is dead. The technology destroying it is now so advanced and so ubiquitous that the only way to maintain what I'd call "virtual" privacy is through legal solutions that make leaking your information more costly than it’s worth.
HIPPA is a…