Even before the triumphant rise of the internet, media sociologist Professor Jan van Dijk had published The Network Society. He explained in his book how linked media networks would change society, and many of his predictions have since come to pass. Prof. Van Dijk will deliver his farewell lecture at the University of Twente on 6 April, issuing a call for more privacy. “Companies like Facebook and Google will never really work to protect their users’ privacy. If we fail to take the privacy issue seriously, we will risk losing our freedom and sacrificing our democracy.”
It all started in 1984 when Van Dijk, who had just received his PhD, analysed one of ABN’s big projects. The major Dutch bank had recently connected all workstations in a single, massive network. While studying this project, Van Dijk saw things occurring at the bank that would prove to be precursors to a key development in society, specifically that the rise of new media would lead to the emergence of a network society. He wrote The Network Society: Social Aspects of New Media on this topic. At the time, no publisher showed any interest in his manuscript, for only a couple of hundred technically-minded people in the Netherlands had ever even heard of the internet. Today, many of Van Dijk’s predictions have become reality. The book is now a standard work that has seen four editions.
Predictions
As an example, Van Dijk defined three phases of connectivity: First, people are connected, then things and finally our bodies. The first phase has already come to pass in recent decades with the rise of the internet and social media. We are currently coursing through phase two, in which all sorts of devices, from energy meters to pedometers, are connected to the internet. We are now also taking our first steps into phase three. For example, Van Dijk refers to a link between a pacemaker and the internet, enabling a doctor to monitor the device remotely.
Security
According to Van Dijk, there are many potential advantages to these prolific connections, but there are also risks, security first among them. Devices and critical infrastructures that are connected are susceptible to hacking. Even today, the security in many devices leaves much to be desired, thus opening the door to malicious intent. Van Dijk therefore calls for a decentralized Internet of Things that only transmits basic information. The real ‘intelligence’ is found in the devices themselves, and the user can ensure that everything is properly secured.
Privacy
The professor points out another major risk involved in connecting people and things: the loss of our privacy and even our freedom. According to Van Dijk, privacy – the right to be left alone – is a basic condition for freedom, democracy (without privacy there will be no more mutual trust) and innovation. Nevertheless, in practice he sees that people give up their privacy all too easily to take advantage of free services (free in a financial sense, in any case). The best strategy for recovering our privacy would be to make public all algorithms behind social media and the devices that make up the Internet of Things. Nevertheless, Van Dijk is convinced that powerhouses such as Facebook and Google will never consent to such a step. This opens up the playing field for a European, publicly regulated network that truly does protect privacy. As Van Dijk explains, “I cannot say if such a network will ever get off the ground, but I have become more optimistic since the recent referendum in the Netherlands on the Dragnet Act and the outcry following the latest Facebook scandals. I am sure that people will be wise enough to turn things around in the end.”
Farewell lecture
Professor Jan van Dijk will deliver his farewell lecture entitled ‘Everything Connected, Everywhere and All the Time: the Internet of People and Things’ on 6 April at 15:00. The lecture is open to the public and will take place in the Waaier Building, auditorium 2, on the University of Twente campus. You can register to attend here.
