The Battle for Power on the Internet: Bruce Schneier at TEDxCambridge
-
0:13 - 0:17So we are in the middle of
an epic battle for power in cyberspace. -
0:17 - 0:19On the one side,
it's traditional power, -
0:19 - 0:21think of organized institutional powers
-
0:21 - 0:24like governments and large
multi-international corporations. -
0:24 - 0:26On the other side,
think of distributed power, -
0:26 - 0:28both the good part
and the bad part: -
0:28 - 0:30grassroots movements,
dissidents' groups, -
0:30 - 0:32hackers,
criminals... -
0:32 - 0:36Initially, the Internet gave
power to the distributed. -
0:36 - 0:38It gave them
coordination and efficiency -
0:38 - 0:40and made them seem unbeatable.
-
0:41 - 0:44Today, traditional powers are back
and they're winning big. -
0:44 - 0:48What I wanna do here is tell the story
of those two powers fighting. -
0:48 - 0:52Who wins and
how our society survives their battle. -
0:54 - 0:55So back in the early days
of the Internet, -
0:55 - 0:58there was a lot of talk
about its natural laws. -
0:58 - 1:01Censorship was impossible,
anonymity was easy, -
1:01 - 1:04police were clueless
about cybercrime... -
1:04 - 1:06The Internet was
fundamentally international -
1:06 - 1:08and it would be a new world order.
-
1:08 - 1:10Traditional power blocks are bended,
-
1:10 - 1:14masses empowered,
freedom spread throughout the world, -
1:14 - 1:16and this will all be inevitable.
-
1:16 - 1:18It was a utopian vision,
-
1:18 - 1:21but some of it
did actually come to pass: -
1:21 - 1:24in marketing,
entertainment, mass-media, -
1:24 - 1:28political organizing, crowd funding
and crowd sourcing... -
1:28 - 1:31The changes were dramatic.
-
1:31 - 1:34eBay really did normalize
the world's attics. -
1:34 - 1:37(Laughter)
-
1:37 - 1:41And Facebook and twitter really
did help topple governments. -
1:41 - 1:45But that was just one side of
the Internet's disruptive character. -
1:45 - 1:48It's also made traditional power
more powerful. -
1:49 - 1:50On the corporate world,
-
1:50 - 1:53there are two trends
that are currently feeling this: -
1:53 - 1:56First, the rise of cloud computing
-
1:56 - 1:58means we no longer have
control of our data: -
1:59 - 2:03our email, photos, calendar,
address book, messages, documents, -
2:03 - 2:06they're now on servers
belonging to Google, Apple, -
2:06 - 2:08Microsoft, Facebook and others.
-
2:09 - 2:12And second, we are increasingly
accessing our data -
2:12 - 2:15using devices that are tightly
controlled by vendors. -
2:15 - 2:18Think of your iPhone, your iPad,
your Android phone, -
2:18 - 2:20your Kindle, your Chromebook...
-
2:21 - 2:24And even the new computer OSs,
Microsoft and Apple, -
2:24 - 2:27are heading in this direction,
with less user control. -
2:28 - 2:31And both of these trends
increase corporate power -
2:31 - 2:35by giving them more control
of our data and therefore of us. -
2:36 - 2:39Government power is also
increasing on the Internet. -
2:39 - 2:42There's more government
surveillance than ever before. -
2:42 - 2:45We know now the NSA
is eavesdropping on the entire planet. -
2:45 - 2:46(Laughter)
-
2:46 - 2:48There's more censorship
than ever before. -
2:48 - 2:49There's more propaganda.
-
2:49 - 2:52More governments are controlling
what the users -
2:52 - 2:54can and cannot do on the Internet.
-
2:55 - 2:59Totalitarian governments are embracing
the Internet as a means for control. -
2:59 - 3:02And many countries are pushing cyberwar
as a reason of a control. -
3:05 - 3:06On both the corporate
and the government side, -
3:06 - 3:09traditional power
on the Internet is huge. -
3:10 - 3:13And in many cases,
the interests are aligning. -
3:14 - 3:16Surveillance is
the business model of the Internet, -
3:16 - 3:20and business surveillance
gives governments access to data -
3:20 - 3:22it couldn't get otherwise.
-
3:22 - 3:23But you could think of it
-
3:23 - 3:25as a public-private
surveillance partnership. -
3:26 - 3:27So what happened?
-
3:27 - 3:32How in those early Internet years
did we get the future so wrong? -
3:33 - 3:37The truth is that technology
magnifies power in general, -
3:37 - 3:39but the rates of adoption are different.
-
3:41 - 3:44The distributed can make
use of new technologies faster. -
3:44 - 3:48They're small but nimble,
they're not hindered by bureaucracy, -
3:48 - 3:50and some of these are not
by laws or ethics, -
3:50 - 3:53and they can adapt faster.
-
3:53 - 3:55And when those groups
discovered the Internet, -
3:55 - 3:57suddenly they had power.
-
3:57 - 3:59It was a change in kind.
-
3:59 - 4:01We saw that in e-commerce.
-
4:01 - 4:03Can you remember,
as soon as the Internet -
4:03 - 4:04started being used for commerce,
-
4:04 - 4:08a new bread of cyber criminal
emerged, like out of the ground, -
4:08 - 4:11immediately able
to take advantage. -
4:11 - 4:14And the police who are like
trained on Agatha Christie novels -
4:14 - 4:16(Laughter)
-
4:17 - 4:19took about a decade to catch up.
-
4:19 - 4:22(Laughter)
-
4:22 - 4:23We also saw it on social media:
-
4:23 - 4:25right marginalized groups
started to -
4:25 - 4:27immediately use
the Internet's organizing power. -
4:27 - 4:31it took corporations, what, a decade
to figure out how to co-opt it. -
4:31 - 4:34But when big institutions
finally figured it out, -
4:35 - 4:36they had more raw power
-
4:36 - 4:38to magnify and they got
even more powerful. -
4:38 - 4:40So that's the difference.
-
4:40 - 4:44The distributed are more nimble and
quicker to make use their new power. -
4:44 - 4:48The institutional are slower but
able to use power more effectively. -
4:49 - 4:52So all the Syrian dissidents
used Facebook to organize. -
4:52 - 4:55The Syrian government used Facebook
to identify and arrest dissidents. -
4:56 - 4:58So who wins?
-
4:58 - 5:00Is the quick or the strong?
-
5:00 - 5:03Which type of power dominates
in the coming decades? -
5:03 - 5:06Right now, it looks like
traditional power. -
5:06 - 5:10It's much easier for the NSA
to spy on everyone -
5:10 - 5:12than it is for anyone
to maintain privacy. -
5:12 - 5:15China has an easier time
blocking content -
5:15 - 5:18than its citizen have
getting around those blocks. -
5:18 - 5:21And even though it's still easy to
circumvent digital copy protection, -
5:21 - 5:23most users can't do it.
-
5:23 - 5:28And this is because leveraging Internet
power requires technical expertise. -
5:29 - 5:33Those with sufficient ability can
always stay ahead of institutional power. -
5:33 - 5:36Whether it's setting up
your own email server or -
5:36 - 5:38using encryption or
breaking copy protection, -
5:38 - 5:41the technologies are there.
-
5:41 - 5:43This is why cyber crime
is still pervasive -
5:43 - 5:46even as police power gets better,
-
5:46 - 5:48this is why whistle-blowers
can still do so much damage, -
5:48 - 5:52this is why organization like
Anonymous are still viable forces, -
5:52 - 5:55and this is why social movements
still thrive on the Internet. -
5:55 - 5:58Most of us though
are stuck in the middle. -
5:59 - 6:02We don't have the technical
ability to evade -
6:02 - 6:04the large governments and
corporations on one side, -
6:04 - 6:06with the criminal hacker
groups on the other. -
6:06 - 6:09We can't join any dissident movements.
-
6:09 - 6:11We have no choice but to accept
-
6:11 - 6:14the default configuration options,
the arbitrator terms of service, -
6:14 - 6:16the NSA installed back doors
-
6:16 - 6:20or the occasional complete loss
of our data for some inexplicable reason. -
6:20 - 6:22(Laughter)
-
6:22 - 6:25And we get isolated as
government corporate powers align, -
6:25 - 6:27and we get trampled
when the powers fight. -
6:27 - 6:31Where there's Facebook,
Google, Apple and Amazon -
6:31 - 6:32fighting it out in the marketplace,
-
6:32 - 6:36or the US, EU, China and Russia
fighting out in the world, -
6:36 - 6:39or US vs. the terrorists or
the media industry vs. the pirates, -
6:39 - 6:42or China vs. its dissidents.
-
6:42 - 6:45And this will only get worse
as technology improves. -
6:46 - 6:49In the battle between
institutional and distributed power, -
6:49 - 6:52more technology means more damage.
-
6:52 - 6:53And we've already seen it:
-
6:53 - 6:57cyber criminals can rob
more people, more quickly -
6:57 - 6:58than real world criminals;
-
6:58 - 7:02digital pirates can make
more copies of more movies, -
7:02 - 7:06more quickly than
their analog ancestors. -
7:06 - 7:07And we'll see it in the future.
-
7:08 - 7:103D printers means control debates
-
7:10 - 7:12are soon gonna evolve
guns and not movies. -
7:13 - 7:15And Google glass means
surveillance debates -
7:15 - 7:17will soon evolve
everyone all the time. -
7:19 - 7:22This is really the same thing as
the weapons of mass destruction fear: -
7:22 - 7:25terrorists with nuclear biological bombs
-
7:25 - 7:28can do a lot more damage than
terrorists with conventional explosives. -
7:29 - 7:33And like that fear, increasing
technology brings it to a head -
7:35 - 7:39Very broadly, there is
a natural crime rate in society, -
7:39 - 7:42based on who we are
as a species and a culture. -
7:42 - 7:45There's also a crime rate that
society is willing to tolerate. -
7:45 - 7:48When criminals are inefficient,
-
7:48 - 7:52we're willing to live with some
percentage of them in our midst. -
7:52 - 7:56As technology makes each
individual criminal more effective, -
7:56 - 7:59the percentage
we can tolerate decreases. -
8:01 - 8:05As a result, institutional power
naturally get stronger, -
8:05 - 8:08to protect against the bad part
of distributed power. -
8:09 - 8:11This means even more
oppressive security measures -
8:11 - 8:13even if they're ineffective,
-
8:13 - 8:15and even if they stifle
the good part of distributed power. -
8:17 - 8:18OK, so what happens?
-
8:18 - 8:20What happens
as technology increases? -
8:20 - 8:24Is a police state the only way
to control distributed power -
8:24 - 8:25and keep our society safe?
-
8:25 - 8:29Or do fringe elements
inevitably destroy society -
8:29 - 8:31as technology increases their power?
-
8:31 - 8:35Is there actually no room for
freedom, liberty and social change -
8:35 - 8:37in the technological future?
-
8:37 - 8:39Empowering the distributed
-
8:39 - 8:41is one of the most important
benefits of the Internet. -
8:42 - 8:45It's an amazing force for
positive social change in the world. -
8:45 - 8:46And we need to preserve it.
-
8:47 - 8:49In this battle between
the quick and the strong, -
8:49 - 8:51what we need is a stalemate.
-
8:52 - 8:55And I have three recommendations
on how to get there. -
8:56 - 8:59In the short term, what we need
is transparency and oversight. -
9:00 - 9:03The more we know
what institutional power is doing, -
9:03 - 9:04the more we can trust it.
-
9:06 - 9:07Well we actually know this is true,
-
9:07 - 9:09we know it's true about government.
-
9:09 - 9:10But we've kind of forgotten it
-
9:10 - 9:12in our fear of terrorism
or other modern threats. -
9:12 - 9:14It's also true for corporate power.
-
9:15 - 9:17Unfortunately, market dynamics
-
9:17 - 9:19will not force corporations
to be transparent. -
9:20 - 9:22We actually need laws to do that.
-
9:23 - 9:27And transparency also helps us
trust distributed power. -
9:27 - 9:30Most of the time distributed power
is good for the world. -
9:31 - 9:35And transparency is how we
differentiate positive social groups -
9:35 - 9:36from criminal organizations.
-
9:38 - 9:41Oversight is the second thing.
It's also critical. -
9:41 - 9:44And again, it's a long understood
mechanism for checking power. -
9:44 - 9:45And it's a combination of things.
-
9:45 - 9:48It's courts that act as
third party advocates, -
9:48 - 9:52it's legislators that understand
technologies, it's a vibrant press, -
9:52 - 9:55and it's watchdog groups
that analyze and report -
9:55 - 9:56on what power is doing.
-
9:57 - 10:00Those two things,
transparency and accountability, -
10:00 - 10:03give us the confidence
to trust institutional power -
10:03 - 10:05and ensure they'll act
in our interest. -
10:05 - 10:08And without it, I think
democracy just fails. -
10:10 - 10:11In the longer term,
-
10:11 - 10:14we need to work
to reduce power differences. -
10:15 - 10:18The more we can balance power
among various groups, -
10:18 - 10:19the more stable society will be.
-
10:21 - 10:23And the key to all
this is access to data. -
10:24 - 10:26On the Internet, data is power.
-
10:26 - 10:29To the extent the powerless have
access to it they gain in power, -
10:29 - 10:32to extent the already
power have access to it -
10:32 - 10:34they further consolidate their power.
-
10:35 - 10:38As we look to reducing power imbalances,
we have to look at data. -
10:38 - 10:41This is data privacy for individuals,
-
10:41 - 10:43mandatory disclosure rules
for corporations, -
10:43 - 10:45and open government laws.
-
10:45 - 10:48This is how we survive the future.
-
10:49 - 10:52Today's Internet is really
a fortuitous accident. -
10:52 - 10:56It's a combination of an initial lack
of curse commercial interests, -
10:56 - 10:58of government benign neglect,
-
10:58 - 11:01of some military requirements
for survivability and resilience, -
11:01 - 11:04and a bunch of computer engineers
building open systems -
11:04 - 11:05that work simply and easily.
-
11:06 - 11:08We're at the beginning
of some critical debate -
11:08 - 11:09about the future of the Internet,
-
11:10 - 11:14Law enforcement, surveillance,
corporate data collection, cyberwar, -
11:14 - 11:17information consumerism
and on and on and on. -
11:17 - 11:22This is not going to be an easy period
as we try to work this out. -
11:22 - 11:25Historically, no shift in
power has ever been easy. -
11:25 - 11:28Corporations are turning the Internet
into enormous revenue generator -
11:28 - 11:30and they're not going to back down.
-
11:30 - 11:31Neither will governments
-
11:31 - 11:33who have harnessed
the Internet for a good control. -
11:33 - 11:37And these are all very complicated
political and technological issues. -
11:37 - 11:40But we all have a duty
to tackle this problem. -
11:41 - 11:43I don't know what the result is gonna be
-
11:43 - 11:48but I hope that when,
generations from now, -
11:48 - 11:51society looks back on us
in these early decades of the Internet, -
11:51 - 11:53they're not going to be disappointed.
-
11:53 - 11:56And this is only gonna happen
if each one of us engages, -
11:56 - 12:00makes this a priority
and participates in the debate. -
12:00 - 12:02We need to decide
on the proper balance -
12:02 - 12:04between institutional
and distributed power, -
12:04 - 12:07and how to build tools that
will amplify what is good in each, -
12:07 - 12:09or suppressing what is bad.
-
12:09 - 12:10Thank you.
-
12:10 - 12:15(Applause)
- Title:
- The Battle for Power on the Internet: Bruce Schneier at TEDxCambridge
- Description:
-
Bruce Schneier gives us a glimpse of the future of the internet, and shares some of the context we should keep in mind, and the insights we need to understand, as we prepare for it. Learn more about Bruce Schneier at https://www.schneier.com
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDxTalks
- Duration:
- 12:28
Helene Batt edited English subtitles for The Battle for Power on the Internet: Bruce Schneier at TEDxCambridge | ||
Ivana Korom edited English subtitles for The Battle for Power on the Internet: Bruce Schneier at TEDxCambridge | ||
Ivana Korom commented on English subtitles for The Battle for Power on the Internet: Bruce Schneier at TEDxCambridge | ||
Elisabeth Buffard approved English subtitles for The Battle for Power on the Internet: Bruce Schneier at TEDxCambridge | ||
Elisabeth Buffard accepted English subtitles for The Battle for Power on the Internet: Bruce Schneier at TEDxCambridge | ||
Elisabeth Buffard edited English subtitles for The Battle for Power on the Internet: Bruce Schneier at TEDxCambridge | ||
Elisabeth Buffard edited English subtitles for The Battle for Power on the Internet: Bruce Schneier at TEDxCambridge | ||
Elisabeth Buffard edited English subtitles for The Battle for Power on the Internet: Bruce Schneier at TEDxCambridge |
Ivana Korom
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