A question from Tom via Twitter: “Do you think our privacy and more generally our fundamental…

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http://www.euronews.com/2013/10/25/online-privacy-protection
A question from Tom via Twitter: “Do you think our privacy and more generally our fundamental rights as EU citizens are at risk with growing mass surveillance by the US and other governments?”

Answer from Jérémie Zimmermann, spokesperson and co-founder of Quadrature du Net, a non-profit association defending the rights and freedoms of citizens on the Internet :
“Part of the answer, in order to try to protect our privacy, obviously implies policies and the establishment of legislation protecting citizens. But that is not all. We also need to ask the question of what relationship we have with technology today.”

“Who has physical access to our data and to our personal communications? This is a fundamental question. Because of this freedom, of this fundamental right to privacy protection arise other freedoms. For example, if you know you are being watched constantly, you are not going to express the same way, you can not tell what you know about your boss or your government, you will self-censor.”

“What we saw with the PRISM revelations is that Google, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, it’s all the same: it means universal access for US intelligence. Access to our personal data and to the content of our communications. This should make us ask important questions about the nature of the architecture of our communication infrastructure: Who do we trust and why? And especially what will happen to that data in 5, 10 or 20 years’ time. What damage could be done to you using this access to your data?”

These issues are being raised in the European Parliament which is preparing a new regulation on the protection of personal data. This is a unique opportunity for MEPs to put new tools into the hands of citizens. In order to enable them to regain control of their personal data, to regain control from these US web giants.”

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