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Digital shadows

In a digital world, where a single piece of data may be copied and backed up a thousand times, is privacy now an illusion?

When you search the internet or pay with a credit card, do you ever wonder who might be snooping over your shoulder, mining the data about you that leaks out?

Increasingly, computers and algorithms don't need human intervention while monitoring and piecing together the secrets of our lives from the scraps of information which we unwittingly leave behind in cyberspace.

So does this mean that privacy has become obsolete? Or are there either technological fixes or policy initiatives that can at least halt, if not reverse, the tide?

Joining Bridget Kendall to discuss digital privacy are IBM Chief Scientist Jeff Jonas, Professor Nigel Shadbolt, UK government鈥檚 adviser on digital data, and ground-breaking electronic artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer.

Illustration by Emily Kasriel: Can we expect privacy in the digital age?

Available now

41 minutes

Last on

Sun 25 Mar 2012 11:05GMT

Chapters

  • PART 1

    Nigel Shadbolt

    Duration: 14:15

  • PART 1

    Jeff Jonas

    Duration: 08:45

  • PART 2 60 Second Idea

    Ration the use of car horns

    Duration: 03:56

  • PART 2

    Rafael Lozano-Hemmer

    Duration: 13:29

Broadcasts

  • Sat 24 Mar 2012 23:05GMT
  • Sun 25 Mar 2012 02:05GMT
  • Sun 25 Mar 2012 11:05GMT

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