Ancilla Tilia [twitter: ncilla] is introduced as a former model. She begins by pointing out that last year, when this audience was asked if they were worried about privacy implications of Google Glass. Only two people did. One was her. We have not heard enough from people like Bruce Schneier, she says. She will speak to us as a concerned citizen.

Knowledge is power, she says. Do we want to give away info about ourselves that will be available in perpetuity, that can be used by future governments and corporations? The them of this conf is “Power to the people,” so let’s use our power.

She says she had a dream. She was an old lady talking with her grand-daughter. “What’s this ‘freedom’ thing I’ve been hearing about? The kids at school say the old people used to have it.” She answered, “It’s hard to define. You don’t realize what it is until you stop having it. And you stop having it when you stop caring about privacy.” We lost it step by step, she says. By paying with our bank cards, every transaction was recorded. She didn’t realize the CCD’s were doing face recognition. She didn’t realize when they put RFID chips in everything. And license plate scanners were installed. Fingerprint scanners. Mandatory ID cards. DNA data banks. Banning burqas meant that you couldn’t keep your face covered during protests. “I began to think that ‘anonymous’ was a dirty word.” Eye scanners for pre-flight check. Biometrics. Wearables monitoring brainwaves. Smart TVs watching us. 2013’s mandatory pet chipping. “And little did I know that our every interaction would be forever stored.” “When journalists started dying young, I didn’t feel like being labeled a conspiracy nut.” “I didn’t know what a free society was until I realized it was gone, or that we have to fight for it.”

Her granddaughter looks at her doe-eyed, and Ancilla can’t explain any further.

Categories: liveblog dw