Is AI Bringing Us to a Privacy Tipping Point?

Way back in 1975, geochemist Dr. Wallace Broecker of Columbia University published his article "Climatic Change: Are We on the brink of a Pronounced Global Warming?" Today, almost 45 years later, the debate has intensified but still rages on, even as some believe the clock is running out. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns that we have only 11 years to limit the chances of a climate change catastrophe. One can see strong parallels between Dr. Broecker's warnings and those related to our loss of personal data privacy. Society is facing the threat of climate change, which some experts say will reach a tipping point; we may be reaching a similar tipping point with privacy and cyber security. In their paper presented at the 1965 Fall Joint Computer Conference titled "Some Thoughts About the Social Implications of Accessible Computing," E. E. David, Jr. of Bell Labs and R. M. Fano of MIT, warn that "the same technology which has given us new dimensions in communication has been used to implement eavesdropping equipment." They went on to say that "the very power of advanced computer systems makes them a serious threat to the privacy of the individual".