While civil libertarians and conventional national security advocates have typically found little to agree on, today they share a profound anxiety about the trajectory of state intelligence gathering. For some, this reflects concern about invasions of privacy made possible by a digital environment in which every click and inquiry can be tracked and where our homes and workplaces have welcomed internet-aware appliances that could be repurposed for surveillance.
For others, there is a sense of undue empowerment of those who wish to cause harm and disruption, thanks to technologies that permit untraceable communications and cultivation and rallying of like-minded extremists.
Through a concrete hypothetical–ripped from tomorrow’s headlines, if not today’s–we explore the difficult decisions to be made around these issues, including actors from business, government, civil society, and the citizenry at large.
