Nothing to Hide? Why Privacy Matters More Than Ever

Date: 5th October 2023 Time: 15:45 Location: Blackbox, Esplanade building (Tilburg University)

Do you believe that your online presence is as transparent as a freshly cleaned window? Well, think again, and learn how to properly preserve your privacy in the digital age. This symposium is part of the yearly Tilburg University Privacy & Security Awareness Week. (English / SG-Certificate*)

Time: 15:45-17:30 hrs.
Admission is free, no registration required.

Out in the open

You might have heard people say, "I don't care if I get hacked, I have nothing to hide online anyway." During this symposium will show you why that's a bit like saying, "I don't mind if I leave my front door wide open; I have nothing to steal!" The naked truth is that there are many risks that come with a casual attitude towards online privacy and security. We're talking about identity theft (and why that’s not just a plot twist in a spy movie), AI's growing influence (spoiler alert: it's not always benevolent), and the sneaky ways big tech companies use your data to make a buck (or a billion). Knowing this, what's still stopping people from safeguarding their online activities effectively? During this interactive symposium, our three renowned guest speakers will try to answer this and other related questions from different academic perspectives (Law, Communication and Psychology). The symposium will be moderated by Lucas Jones, lecturer at the Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology, and Society.

After the symposium there will be an optional drink at Grand Café Esplanade.

Law perspective: Hide and seek

Privacy means having spaces in which you can be yourself. Spaces in which you can hide, when necessary, or simply to withdraw for a moment from the scrutiny of others. Everyone has something to hide, at least from some people, some of the time. But the digital age offers ever more opportunities for others to seek information about you, and makes it ever harder for you to hide. Are there still spaces left in an all-connected world where you don’t have to fear that information about you might be used, by someone, at some point, to your detriment? If we want to preserve some breathing space for living in the digital age, privacy remains vital. The law plays an important role in this, but it is in many ways outdated. And the law is not enough – other protection mechanisms are equally important, starting with awareness. In which directions can we seek to preserve a livable level of privacy protection?

Communication perspective: effective strategies

We currently spend more time than ever online: we shop online, we stay up to date with our friends and family through social media, we communicate online for work. The personal data we share online is an important source for advertisers to personalize their messages and ads. But the growing power of tech giants like Google and the increasing number of data breaches clearly show how important privacy and data protection have become in our lives today. Yet, people rarely take actions to protect their privacy online. Research points to several reasons for this lack of protection: lack of knowledge and skills, lack of trust in protection options available, privacy fatigue to name a few. dr. How can this research be turned into effective strategies that empower individuals to take privacy matters into their own hands?

Speakers

Bert-Jaap Koops
Full Professor of Regulation & Technology at the Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology, and Society

Bert-Jaap Koops main research fields are cybercrime, cyber-investigation, privacy, and data protection. He is also involved in topics such as DNA forensics, identity, digital constitutional rights, ‘code as law’, and regulatory implications of human enhancement, genetics, robotics, and neuroscience. He currently teaches the courses Cybercrime, Law & Technology and Privacy & the Protection of Personal Data at Tilburg University. In his keynote talk, he will share insights from his NWO VICI project (2014-2019) that investigated how to protect privacy in the 21st century.
Joanna Strycharz
Assistant Professor of Persuasive Communication at the Amsterdam School of Communication Research

Joanna Strycharz is a researcher and teacher at the University of Amsterdam. She is also co-director of the Digital Communication Methods Lab. Her research focuses on how insights gained from data can be used to adjust communication between organizations and consumers. She is also interested in how such data-driven communication impacts cognitions, attitudes, and behavior of consumers as well as what unintended effects such communication has on individuals and the society.
Nicole Huijts
Assistant Professor of Psychology of Conflict, Risk and Safety at the University of Twente

Nicole Huijts is a researcher in the domains of risk perception, environmental psychology and human-technology interaction. The focus of her research is on the public perception and acceptance of beneficial but potentially also risky technologies in the domains of energy, ICT and transport. Nicole has extensive experience with multi-disciplinary research and education, particularly bringing together the fields of psychology, engineering and ethics. Previous to working at the University of Twente, she worked at the TU Eindhoven and TU Delft.
Lucas Jones
Lucas Jones. Lecturer Law & Technology at Tilburg University

Lucas Jones is a lecturer at the Tilburg Institute for Law, Technology, and Society (TILT). Since 2019, he has been the thesis coordinator and a general education coordinator for the Law and Technology program at Tilburg Law School. His research interests regard the intersection between neurotechnology and human rights law, as well as the regulation of medical devices in Europe.