Following last year's revelations, Edward Snowden seems to be trapped in a role ironically reminiscent of another famous character – George Orwell's Big Brother. From our 'Joining the dots on state surveillance in Europe' series.
Mass surveillance does not follow the vertical logic of pure state surveillance as imagined by Orwell. Rather, it is diagonal – building on the information we voluntarily disclose to engage in our own "surveillance" of online friends. This makes it much more perverse.
With focus on the government's grip over surveillance, the public debate over privacy has ignored citizen-led data initiatives to regain power in the digital age - and the war being waged against them.
Like most Europeans, Spaniards were shocked by revelations of extensive US spying on European citizens. Yet, there has been little or no public debate on state surveillance in Spain since then. Why not? (from our new Joining the dots series)
In principle, Germany is a state committed to democracy and international peace. This is why three recent political scandals, which exposed the vulnerability of German citizens to the surveillance institutions of their state as well as the development of drones, came as a surprise to many.
At least at first, freedom dies without human beings being physically hurt. The author is convinced that the freedom risk is the most fragile among the global risks we have experienced so far. He calls for a digital humanism.
One of Britain's most distinguished political theorists on republicanism, freedom, Machiavelli, Hobbes, the Reformation, Shakespeare, Milton and much more. Has modern society lost touch with Roman conceptions of freedom, and at what cost?
