Navigating Privacy Landscape in the Age of Data: techniques for a secure future

Abstract

It was early June 2013. Edward Snowden, a former NSA(US) staff, revealed to the world about the surveillance programs of the U.S. Government. The classified NSA documents leaked by Snowden brought the topic of “problematic surveillance programs” to international attention through journalists. Around the same time, a British consulting firm (Cambridge Analytica) collected about 87 million Facebook users’ personal data via Meta’s Open Graph Algorithm & built psychological profiles using specific questionnaires. These profiles were allegedly used for analytical assistance in US presidential campaigns in 2016. The same firm was also widely accused of interfering with the UK’s Brexit referendum. These 2 major events brought to public awareness the extent of psychological targeting using personal data.