Cybersecurity is a serious topic. But the author can't help but make the lamest 'dad jokes' about it in the captions of photos…
After the third quarter of the book has emphasized the importance of privacy, the pages are finally overflowing with tips and advice to protect yourself. Let's first look at privacy and why it is so sensitive.
Every person has the right to privacy. This is laid down in the Dutch constitution, but also in 150 other constitutions. No discussion about it possible, it seems. But in practice it works differently. There are other laws and rights that require data to be stored. Of course, an administration must also be kept - if only to be able to collect taxes - for which personal information must be shared.
But also consider:
Healthcare. Often a mix of companies, governments and non-profits that need to share confidential data. Does that always work?
NGOs – or Charities. Do they all try equally hard to greece telegram data protect the data they have about you?
Companies. Like all those webshops where you place orders. They know a lot about you. Do they always handle that with the same care?
Government. As reported for the 'Basic Registration of Persons'. But in total there are 5,000 databases in use by the government. Sometimes with very sensitive information.
Cybersecurity vs. Competitiveness
Keep in mind that this data is sometimes used for a greater good, such as domestic security and combating crime. Intelligence services such as the AIVD and MIVD have their tasks. In doing so, they must of course record data about people. Care for cybersecurity is a top priority. Sometimes, data collection by companies is also simply intended to benefit themselves. To increase their competitiveness .
Also read: These are the 5 biggest cybersecurity risks of 2020
The book describes examples of companies that are therefore less strict about privacy. Microsoft, Amazon, Google and Apple have already been in the news because of eavesdropping practices. They then use the excuse that they 'listen in' to what people at home say to their digital assistant, in order to improve the quality of speech recognition. The book also describes the affair between Facebook and Cambridge Analytica . There are plenty of examples of recent privacy violations. Even without hackers being involved.
