The Nextcloud Podcast Constanze Kurz: mass surveillance, Snowden, and the future of digital politics
13 snips
Sep 27, 2024 
Constanze Kurz, a prominent German computer scientist and activist with the Chaos Computer Club, discusses the urgent issues of mass surveillance and digital politics. She emphasizes the complacency of the public since Snowden's revelations, expressing concern over the expanding powers of intelligence agencies. The conversation explores the evolution of hacktivism, the challenges of modern investigative journalism, and the implications of predictive policing. Constanze also shares insights on necessary activism strategies and the ongoing fight against state malware.
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How Snowden Shaped A New Reporting Model
- Edward Snowden deliberately chose journalists and shaped his public image, which helped sustain multi-year reporting.
- Laura Poitras' film Citizenfour also let the public know the whistleblower personally.
Snowden Changed Knowledge But Not Momentum
- Since Snowden's 2013 revelations we know much more about technical mass surveillance and its real scope.
- Public debate has faded even as surveillance capabilities and techniques have expanded.
Encryption Became Mainstream
- Widespread end-to-end encryption and encrypted internet traffic are direct, everyday outcomes of Snowden's disclosures.
- These technical shifts changed user defaults and improved ordinary people's privacy in practice.
