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@ Martin Enlund
2025-02-14 08:42:40
A recent US data leak has brought to light a disturbing reality: our everyday technology has become a powerful tool for surveillance and control. Paradoxically, **new technology holds the key to creating a safer, more resilient, and perhaps even more human society.**
Preparedness remains a multifaceted topic that continues to spark engagement. The subject is not just about energy infrastructure and [food supply](https://www.epochtimes.se/kan-vi-bade-ata-kakan-och-ha-den-kvar) but also about seemingly more orthogonal issues like [obesity](https://www.epochtimes.se/fetare-svenskar-oroar-forsvarsmakten) and cybersecurity.
The significant importance of cybersecurity can be illustrated by examples from an American company that was recently subjected to an [IT intrusion](https://archive.ph/s1atX) with a subsequent data leak. The company, Gravy Analytics, specializes in providing mobile phone data that provides **exceptionally detailed information about where individuals are located at any given time**. Data that can be used, for example, for advertising purposes, but also for more sinister purposes such as extortion or espionage. The company has previously been accused of using misleading methods to collect location data without valid consent from individuals.
Mobile operators have long had the ability to locate their subscribers' positions over time. This leak shows how **even apps on your phone risk revealing your location.** Analysis of the samples leaked from the leak shows that data has leaked out for users of several well-known mobile applications, including the popular mobile game Candy Crush and the widely used online dating service Tinder.
Even if apps only use an [ad ID](https://x.com/fs0c131y/status/1876987765012701407) when collecting data, these collected digital breadcrumbs can often be deanonymized. It is possible, for example, to identify daily routines, workplaces, and where and when an individual usually sleeps. This usually enables identification. But **it is also possible to map an individual's social circle and romantic relationships.** The mapping risks quickly becoming both sensitive and invasive.
**The fact that such data is collected, but especially that it leaks, also poses a threat to preparedness.** By mapping military or other sensitive locations (energy supply, water treatment plants, critical infrastructure) along with location and time data, it is potentially possible to identify employees at these locations. Information that can then be used by those who want to cause harm.
It is not written in the stars that citizens must be dependent on a few large IT companies. Our data does not need to be collected and used in a way that does not benefit us, without our knowledge. There are alternatives to large-scale and "super-registers". **Technology such as asymmetric encryption and zero-knowledge proofs can be used to give power back to the individual.** If the parliament and government are serious about improving preparedness, it is high time to leave old thought patterns like Chat Control 2 behind and instead explore such possibilities.
The primary purpose of the internet was originally to enable information transfer without intermediaries ("peer-to-peer"). Today, intermediaries are everywhere. It is worth remembering that **peer-to-peer is not some obscure technical term**. In case we have forgotten about it, it simply means: person to person, without intermediaries.
Maybe new technology can not only give us a safer and more resilient society, but also a more human one?