
Caspar Bowden, UK privacy pioneer, mourned by tech industry - escapologybb
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-33473105
======
throwaway7767
I never met the man, but conversed with him a few times on mailing lists for
opensource projects. He seemed to be a very smart man with a keen eye for
seeing societal changes in their infancy.

He was a great advocate for projects like Tor and the Qubes OS project, and he
put these tools into the hands of people outside the tech circles who really
needed them.

RIP Caspar Bowden, we've lost an important voice against the creeping
surveillance state we all live in.

------
walterbell
2014 Bowden video from CCC,
[https://media.ccc.de/browse/congress/2014/31c3_-_6195_-_en_-...](https://media.ccc.de/browse/congress/2014/31c3_-_6195_-_en_-
_saal_g_-_201412272145_-_the_cloud_conspiracy_2008-2014_-_caspar_bowden.html#video),
_" In 2011 I started trying to warn EU institutions about what we now call
PRISM, after working it out from open sources. Civil society, privacy
regulators, and the Commission all did nothing. This is the story of exactly
how they did nothing, and why, and what is happening now._"

2013 EU report by Bowden,
[http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meetdocs/2009_2014/documents/l...](http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meetdocs/2009_2014/documents/libe/dv/briefingnote_/briefingnote_en.pdf),
_" In light of the recent PRISM-related revelations, this briefing note
analyzes the impact of US surveillance programmes on European citizens’
rights. The note explores the scope of surveillance that can be carried out
under the US FISA Amendments Act 2008 and related practices .."_

2012 EU report by Bowden,
[http://www.europarl.europa.eu/committees/en/studiesdownload....](http://www.europarl.europa.eu/committees/en/studiesdownload.html?languageDocument=EN&file=79050),
_".. the challenges raised by the growing reliance on cloud computing ... the
legal aspects in relation to the right to data protection, the issues of
jurisdiction, responsibility and regulation of data transfers to third
countries ... strong implications on EU data sovereignty and the protection of
citizens’ rights."_

Going forward, data sovereignty is being negotiated in TiSA and public input
is needed.

From [http://www.euractiv.com/sections/infosociety/dont-forget-
big...](http://www.euractiv.com/sections/infosociety/dont-forget-big-data-
ttip-and-tisa-314487), _" Europe can have its own infrastructure without
hindering cross border or, as it were, Transatlantic communications. For
instance, in Germany, France and Finland companies are establishing e-mail and
cloud services that respect European rules for data protection. That should
not be negotiated away in TTIP. It may not be too late to succeed in reducing
the potential dangers threatening Europe's economic and technological
sovereignty."_

From, [http://www.innovationaus.com/tisa-threatens-data-
sovereignty](http://www.innovationaus.com/tisa-threatens-data-sovereignty), "
_TiSA may very well be a good thing. But we need to know its details, we need
debate about its proposals, and we need to ensure that the beneficiaries are
the people who elect the governments that are negotiating on their behalf,
rather than the corporations whose first allegiance is to their shareholders
rather than the public as a whole. "_

------
innguest
Why are people whose last names end in -owden so attuned to privacy issues and
fairness?

The sample size is 2 so I'm being facetious, but it's interesting that "ouden"
is (ancient) Greek for "nobody" which if I remember correctly is what the
Cyclops says their name is, in order not to identify himself.

(I botched that story but someone more knowledgeable might fill in the gaps).

~~~
0xdeadbeefbabe
Would you consider increasing the sample size to 3 because of the fictional
Snowden in Catch-22 by Joseph Heller? (He's the one I think of when I see a
headline about Snowden's secret)

