The Tension Between Privacy and Security in the Development of the Internet

Abstract

Governments and their intelligence agencies have an unprecedented technological potential to invade the privacy of citizens and create a surveillance state. Security considerations and national interest have weakened to unacceptable levels the constitutional guarantees that would effectively protect the right to privacy worldwide. This imbalance is partly explained by the mismatch between the technological evolution of the Internet and digital communication networks and the limitations of regulatory frameworks, most of them anchored in concepts, criteria and technological scenarios of the last century. The social debate should incorporate an in-depth analysis of digital media, the proliferation of mobile communication devices and the growing demand for cloud computing services, supported by consumption/entertainment patterns involving intensive data traffic of private information between countries without reciprocity in the recognition of the right to privacy.