One of the most disturbing revelations in recent history is that the biggest potential threat to human rights, freedoms and privacy comes not from those who break the laws, but from those who make them. No matter how sophisticated scammers and hackers are, none of them has access to all personal information of every citizen. But governments do, just as they have the capacity to change the laws and remove privacy protections at any time. The consent you gave for the use of your personal data today may be used for a completely different purpose tomorrow.

The good news is that in a democratic society any governmental misdeed can (at least in theory) only go as far as voters allow it. Therefore it is an important obligation of every voting citizen to be aware of what the governments are doing, which privacy-affecting legislations get passed, under what pretext, for what purpose and with what likely outcome, and keep all that in mind when deciding who to vote for next time.

The “if you've got nothing to hide, you've got nothing to fear” is a very detrimental fallacy. Dignity and autonomy are basic human rights, and they cannot exist when a person cannot live their daily life free from surveillance, censorship and manipulation.

For tuning into Australian issues surrounding online and digital privacy, rights and freedoms, you can watch Electronic Frontiers Australia talks and share them with your family members, friends, colleagues and through social media. These discussions may be not highly entertaining, but a responsible citizen in a democratic society cannot afford to be ignorant and want nothing but bread and circuses. Otherwise there may not be any democratic society in the future, nor bread or circuses.