Yesterday evening we had a very compelling and insightful talk about online privacy matters, the NSA scandal, censorship and digital civil rights with our valued guests last night. These are the conclusions and resources they shared.

2. Key talking points
1. What is, in your opinion, the most worrisome fact about the online
privacy debate right now?
2. What do you believe were the most important circumstances that
triggered the NSA scandal?
3. How do you think Europe is different from the US in terms of
legislation and the public’s concern for online privacy?
4. How will this debate affect tech companies and the end users? What
type of features do tech companies need to integrate when building
their own software or hardware products?
5. How is the online privacy debate connected to the censorship issues
concerning using web based products?

3. TechHub Meetup Insights
Worrisome facts about the online privacy debate
Bogdan Botezatu – Senior E-Threat Analyst at Bitdefender
Don’t expect privacy on the internet.
Very few aspects of online privacy are actually regulated.
What is legal in my country/city could be illegal in other countries/cities.
Having our data stored on servers who are located who knows where makes it
even worse.
Robert Knapp – Co-founder & CEO CyberGhost VPN
June 2013 – Snowden leaked that we lived in the age of mass surveillance.
Each month, with each leaked document, the information about mass
surveillance practices gets worse. Where does it end?
The fact that they’ve messed with hardware is mind boggling.
We have to wake up from the matrix and actually do something.

4. TechHub Meetup Insights
Worrisome facts about the online privacy debate
Bogdan Manolea, Executive Director of the ApTI (Association for
Technology and Internet)
I’m mostly worried about people who think there should be no privacy on the
internet.
Would you give your credit card and PIN number to anyone you meet on the
street? It’s the same thing with privacy.
Having our privacy invaded means that some of us will lose money, some of us
will lose friends, some of will encounter nasty experiences online and maybe
even offline.
We need privacy.
Privacy is a human right, deeply embedded in our DNA structure.
Most of the people have no idea what’s happening on the internet and with
their data when they connect online.

5. TechHub Meetup Insights
The consequences of the NSA scandal
Robert Knapp – Co-founder & CEO CyberGhost VPN
I think that Edward Snowden is a hero and he did something really great, giving
up a great job and a good life in order to do the right thing.
Due to him, people become more aware every day.
It’s a technical war and we can win that war. Not easily, but we can.
People’s reaction is usually: “it’s not that bad”, which is a wrong reaction.
Question the balance between security and privacy.
Having less privacy to gain more security is an outdated idea and it doesn’t work
in our reality.
You don’t give up a certain percent of your privacy, but all of it.
The war on terrorism: heads of states have been surveyed; embassies have been
surveyed and so on. This is espionage.

6. Source: Robert Knapp, Founder & CEO of CyberGhost VPN

7. Source: Robert Knapp, Founder & CEO of CyberGhost VPN

8. TechHub Meetup Insights
The consequences of the NSA scandal
Bogdan Manolea, Executive Director of the ApTI (Association for
Technology and Internet)
How we understand mass surveillance is important.
Mass surveillance abolishes the presumption of innocence and, instead,
suspects that everyone is guilty of something.
We are humans and we make mistakes, but those mistakes, in the age of mass
surveillance, could become causes for prosecution.
You don’t need to survey anyone all the time.
You don’t know what other people could do with our data.
Privacy cannot be easily or strictly defined.
“Nothing to hide. Nothing to fear.” – that is not an idea to abide by.
Bogdan Botezatu – Senior E-Threat Analyst at Bitdefender
Depending on which jurisdiction you’re in, you can become guilty of countless
issues, such as consuming Skype (which is banned in certain countries),
torrenting, pornography, etc.
No secret service is to be trusted that they will not misuse your data.

9. TechHub Meetup Insights
The consequences of the NSA scandal
Bogdan Manolea, Executive Director of the ApTI (Association for
Technology and Internet)
How we understand mass surveillance is important.
Mass surveillance abolishes the presumption of innocence and, instead,
suspects that everyone is guilty of something.
We are humans and we make mistakes, but those mistakes, in the age of
mass surveillance, could become causes for prosecution.
You don’t need to survey anyone all the time.
You don’t know what other people could do with our data.
Privacy cannot be easily or strictly defined.
“Nothing to hide. Nothing to fear.” – that is not an idea to abide by.

10. TechHub Meetup Insights
The differences between the US and Europe
Bogdan Manolea, Executive Director of the ApTI (Association for
Technology and Internet)
Privacy exists everywhere around Europe, but there are differences from country
to country.
Germany, Austria, France (which has been enforcing its own law on data
protection since 1968) – have influenced the EU’s view on privacy.
Personal data is strictly regulated in the EU, but the concept doesn’t even exist in
the US at all.
This created tensions between the EU and the US – they struck a deal called the
International Safe Harbour agreement (details here).
Privacy is not dead. People want privacy. They thing they have certain rights
online. They think that the state should protect them, but they have no idea
what’s really going on. Still, their need for privacy is the same as people’s from
the ‘60s or from the ‘80s.
Romania doesn’t stand in the privacy debate. We have a data protection law and
a data protection authority, but they are very weak, and almost they have no
technical expertise to enforce these provisions.

11. TechHub Meetup Insights
The differences between the US and Europe
Bogdan Botezatu –
Senior E-Threat
Analyst at
Bitdefender
What is happenign in
Germany with the police
and spyware is different
from the legal aspects
which Bogdan Manolea
talked about (details: 1,
2, 3, 4, 5).
We’re not aware of any
espionage tools
launched by the
Romanian government.

12. TechHub Meetup Insights
Consequences for tech companies & end users
Robert Knapp – Co-founder & CEO CyberGhost VPN
There’s a PR show going on right now, like the one staged by Mark Zuckerberg calling
the US President. This unveils the fact that these guys are scared about the outlook of
their businesses. Various companies where shut down for having backdoors and
allowing government institutions to store this data.
You can’t trust privacy services in the US and you can’t build privacy services in the
US.
So we these opportunities in the EU, to build these services. We need to build
European alternatives to US web products.
We can stop complaining about the lack of funding and a strong ecosystem, but we
have all these opportunities in the EU, as tech startups, to build privacy oriented
businesses.
Made in Europe is, in this case, a real benefit.
We are just building the basis of privacy.
We now need smart people to develop built in encryption technology, embedded in
software and hardware.
We need an encrypted part of the internet – it’s the only way to protect our privacy.
People want to have privacy and they’re willing to pay for it!

13. TechHub Meetup Insights
Consequences for tech companies & end users
Bogdan Botezatu – Senior E-Threat Analyst at Bitdefender
CyberGhost VPN is securing the medium, but we also need to secure the
storage.
The data is carried safely, but it is deposited unsafely. We need to secure both
the communication, but also the storage medium.
We could have a secure and strong cloud here, in Romania. We have enough
technical talent, but not enough funding.
Bogdan Manolea, Executive Director of the ApTI (Association for
Technology and Internet)
There are a number of companies that are working on an European cloud and
the EU Commission is also supporting this effort (details here: 1, 2, 3, 4).

14. TechHub Meetup Insights
Online privacy & censorship
Bogdan Botezatu – Senior E-Threat Analyst at Bitdefender
The lack of freedom of speech can lead to privacy infringement.
Wanting to escape censorship, people become subjects to monitoring and to physical
problems.
Bogdan Manolea, Executive Director of the ApTI (Association for Technology
and Internet)
All digital rights connect to 2 words which are important: free Internet!
The internet was conceived as a free medium.
Net neutrality – the EU Parliament voted yesterday a regulation which included a real
net neutrality principle. It’s only a draft regulation, but it’s a very important step for
us.
Net neutrality means that your Internet Service Provider cannot interfere with the
data they are providing.
They cannot block access to certain services. – no censorship, freedom of speech
They cannot look into your data without a court order, which is specific to a single
person. – privacy, human rights.

15. TechHub Meetup Insights
Online privacy & censorship
Robert Knapp – Co-founder & CEO CyberGhost VPN
The same people that are invading our privacy are the ones interested in
censorship.
All the people who are the backbone of our society (policy makers, laywers,
doctors, etc.) are being surveyed.
We need to change our behaviours as a result of this.
They’re not just interested in the data, but also in what they can do with it.

16. See you at our next event!
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