The late 20th century and early 2000s were the information age. The culmination of this age came with the internet and the services associated with it: Social Media, Browsers, Blogs, Forums… Every bit of human knowledge accessible through a touch phone in your pocket. The information age was a great age that started with the transistor and ended where we are now.

Life looks great in The Matrix, some would even say the information age is still booming, but behind the scenes, we have reached a new period in history, the surveillance age. This age is marked by governments and corporations abusing the technology from the information age to create profiles on people. People are starting to realize that we, as individuals and as a society, are losing our fundamental human right to privacy: “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with their privacy”.

Today, every time we open a website our privacy is arbitrarily interfered with. Facebook can know what other websites you’ve visited or you will visit and how you interact with them. Why are countries doing nothing about this? The truth is governments are not entirely at fault here, the guilty are us. We that keep repeating, incorrectly, that we have nothing to hide. We that in the face of fear make another rash decision that takes away more liberties in the name of security. Every right and liberty we give up in those moments is another right and liberty we will have to re-earn with blood.

“If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of people, I will find something in them which will hang them.” Imagine what Cardinal Richelieu could do if he knew everything you had ever done. Thankfully, governments only use this information against terrorists and pedophiles (citation needed). But, the government isn’t a unified entity, it’s composed of a bunch of other citizens like you. What happens when one of these virtues people, with access to the data, has something against you?

Who hasn’t gotten too drunk and taken a piss in a park at 5am? Or jumped the gate into a park to lay down for a while and watch the night sky with your partner? What if that could later be used against you? Trespassing, public indecency...

They could even use things about you against you. Your sexual orientation, your gender identity, your sexual deviance’s ;). It doesn’t even need to be used against you in court. How many openly gay, non-binary, or rope bondage practitioners have been presidents? There is nothing that conflicts between being a great president and being into rope bondage and yet, it would most likely ruin the person's political career.

"But… I don't want to be president. Why should I care?" How many people are gay or smoke pot in a country where it's punishable by death? Thanks to international movements we more and more countries embracing the gay community, but where did these movements start? They started as niche communities all around the world. They started in New York, where gays were prosecuted and given electroshock treatment. They started in Spain, where gays were imprisoned under the Vagrancy Act.

Laws can change and luckily in some regards we are moving to a more open world. Unfortunately, laws can also change for the worse. (UK makes some type of bondage or something illegal). How will we change all the laws that are still wrong? How will we change all the laws that will be wrong? Who can start a fight when there is perfect enforcement, when everything you do can be used against you?

What right do governments, and the people working in government, have to know every detail about you. Even details you want to keep private, even details you don't know about yourself. The truth is, not only do they not need to know the porn you watch, but it’s also infringing on your rights.

Fight. Fight against yours fears. Fight back against people that try to take your rights away. Fight, before we enter the censorship age.

Disclaimer: Any reference to a corporation or country is relevant but arbitrary, the chosen privacy invading corporation/country was chosen at random.

*Include citations where needed.. In some places include citations proving the opposite eg. governments are only interested in terrorists and pedophiles. Watergate? or too old? Vault 7?