called on BlackBerry to suspend its messaging service: Sky News Newsdesk, Twitter post, August 9, 2011, 5:32 a.m., https://twitter.com/SkyNewsBreak/status/100907315603054592; Bill Ray, “Tottenham MP Calls for BlackBerry Messenging Suspension,” Register, August 9, 2011, http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/08/09/bbm_suspension/.
“when we know [people] are plotting violence”: “PM Statement on Disorder in England,” Number 10 (official website of the British Prime Minister’s Office), August 11, 2011, http://www.number10.gov.uk/news/pm-statement-on-disorder-in-england/.
“give the police the technology”: Rich Trenholm, “Cameron Considers Blocking Twitter, Facebook, BBM after Riots,” CNET, August 11, 2011, http://crave.cnet.co.uk/software/cameron-considers-blocking-twitter-facebook-bbm-after-riots-50004693/; Olivia Solon, “Cameron Suggests Blocking Potential Criminals from Social Media,” Wired UK, August 11, 2011, http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-08/11/david-cameron-social-media.
industry cooperation with law enforcement was sufficient: “Social Media Talks About Rioting ‘Constructive,’ ” BBC, August 25, 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14657456.
Bitcoins: Bitcoin is the most successful experiment in digital currency today; it uses a mix of peer-to-peer networking and cryptographic signatures to process online payments. The value of the currency has fluctuated wildly since its inception; the first publicly traded Bitcoins went for 3 cents, and a little more than a year later they were valued at $29.57 apiece. Bitcoins are held in digital “wallets,” and are used to pay for a wide range of virtual and physical goods. At the illicit online market called the Silk Road, where people can use encrypted channels to buy illegal drugs, Bitcoins are the sole currency and generate approximately $22 million in annual sales, according to a recent study. See Andy Greenberg, “Black Market Drug Site ‘Silk Road’ Booming: $22 Million in Annual Sales,” Forbes, August 6, 2012, http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2012/08/06/black-market-drug-site-silk-road-booming-22-million-in-annual-mostly-illegal-sales/; Nicolas Christin, “Traveling the Silk Road: A Measurement Analysis of a Large Anonymous Online Marketplace” (working paper, INI/CyLab, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA, August 1, 2012), http://arxiv.org/pdf/1207.7139v1.pdf.
“there is no clear mechanism”: Bruno Ferrari in discussion with the authors, November 2011.
not democratic or democratic in name only: Arch Puddington, Freedom in the World 2012: The Arab Uprisings and Their Global Repercussions, Freedom House, accessed October 15, 2012, http://www.freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/FIW%202012%20Booklet_0.pdf.
among the least connected societies in the world: See low percentages of mobile phone and/or Internet users of countries considered to be among the world’s most repressive societies, such as Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea and North Korea, in Worst of the Worst 2012: The World’s Most Repressive Societies, Freedom House, accessed October 15 2012, http://www.freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/Worst%20of%20the%20Worst%202012%20final%20report.pdf, “Mobile-Cellular Telephone Subscriptions Per 100 Inhabitants” and “Percentage of Individuals Using the Internet,” International Telecommunication Union (ITU), ICT Data and Statistics (IDS), accessed October 15, 2012, http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/statistics/.
“Today’s dictators and authoritarians are far more sophisticated”: William J. Dobson, The Dictator’s Learning Curve: Inside the Global Battle for Democracy (New York: Doubleday, 2012), 4.
Dobson identifies numerous avenues: Ibid.
“conscious, man-made projects”: Ibid., 8.
the world’s autocracies will go: See low Internet penetration rates of countries considered to be among the world’s most repressive societies, such as Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea and North Korea, in Worst of the Worst 2012: The World’s Most Repressive Societies, Freedom House, accessed October 15, 2012, http://www.freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/Worst%20of%20the%20Worst%202012%20final%20report.pdf, and “Percentage of Individuals Using the Internet,” International Telecommunication Union (ITU), ICT Data and Statistics (IDS), accessed October 15, 2012, http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/statistics/.
A team at Carnegie Mellon demonstrated in a 2011 study: Alessandro Acquisti, Ralph Gross, Fred Stutzman, “Faces of Facebook: Privacy in the Age of Augmented Reality,” Heinz College and CyLab, Carnegie Mellon University (presented at the 2011 Black Hat security conference, Las Vegas, NV, August 3–4, 2011), http://media.blackhat.com/bh-us-11/Acquisti/BH_US_11_Acquisti_Faces_of_Facebook_Slides.pdf.; Declan McCullagh, “Face-Matching with Facebook Profiles: How It Was Done,” CNET, August 4, 2011, http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-20088456-281/face-matching-with-facebook-profiles-how-it-was-done/.
Constituted in 2009: “UIDAI Background,” Unique Identification Authority of India, accessed October 13, 2012, http://uidai.gov.in/about-uidai.html.
collectively called Aadhaar (meaning “foundation” or “support”): “Aadhaar Concept,” Unique Identification Authority of India, accessed October 13, 2012, http://uidai.gov.in/aadhaar.html.
unique twelve-digit identity: “What Is Aadhaar?,” Unique Identification Authority of India, accessed October 13, 2012, http://uidai.gov.in/what-is-aadhaar-number.html.
a person’s biometric data, including fingerprints and iris scans: Sunil Dabir and Umesh Ujgare, “Aadhaar: The Numbers for Life,” News on Air (New Delhi), accessed October 13, 2012, http://www.newsonair.nic.in/AADHAAR-UID-Card-THE-NUMBERS-FOR-LIFE.asp.
bank account that is tied to his or her UID number: Surabhi Agarwal and Remya Nair, “UID-Enabled Bank Accounts in 2–3 Months,” Mint with the Wall Street Journal (New Delhi), May 17, 2011, http://www.livemint.com/Politics/Go6diBWitIaus61Xud70EK/UIDenabled-bank-accounts-in-23-months.html; “Reform by Numbers,” Economist, January 14, 2012, http://www.economist.com/node/21542814.
less than 3 percent of the Indian population is registered to pay income tax: “Salaried Taxpayers May Be Spared Filing Returns,” Business Standard (New Delhi), January 19, 2011, http://business-standard.com/india/news/salaried-taxpayers-may-be-spared-filing-returns/422225/.
Identity Cards Act of 2006: “Identity Cards Act 2006,” The National Archives (United Kingdom), Browse Legislation, accessed October 15, 2012, http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/15/introduction.
Britain’s newly elected coalition government scrapped the plan in 2010: Alan Travis, “ID Cards Scheme to Be Scrapped Within 100 Days,” Guardian (Manchester), May 27, 2010, http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/may/27/theresa-may-scrapping-id-cards; “Identity Cards Scheme Will Be Axed ‘Within 100 Days,’ ” BBC, May 27, 2010, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8707355.stm.
States must get the full and informed consent: “Opinion 15/2011 on the Definition of Consent,” Article 29 Data Protection Working Party, European Commission, adopted July 13, 2011, http://ec.europa.eu/justice/policies/privacy/docs/wpdocs/2011/wp187_en.pdf.
Member states are further required: “EU Directive 95/46/EC—The Data Protection Directive: Chapter III Judicial Remedies, Liability and Sanctions,” Data Protection Commissioner, http://www.dataprotection.ie/viewdoc.asp?DocID=94.