Last night, security legend Bruce Schneier gave a tremendous lecture as part of the Technology and Public Diplomacy series I’m organizing at USC. He talked about privacy in the era of Moore’s Law, and the fact that advanced technology makes it easier to spy than to resist spying. One remark that stuck with me is that “personal data is like pollution” — like the CO2 we offgas and the waste we produce. Our data-trail is toxic crud, and we haven’t developed any good technology to help us dispose of it — all our technology is devoted to saving and manipulating that data.
Bruce’s message wasn’t a happy one, but it was inspiring, alarming and informative. You can download the audio or subscribe to the speaker series podcast feed.
Download audio, iTunes podcast link, Podcast feed