Comedian Michael Van Peel after Antwerp cyber attack: “Our blind faith in government and IT is misplaced” (Antwerp)
“Whoever has nothing to hide has nothing to hide, right?” Van Peel writes on Facebook with two screenshots of articles. One is about the cyber attack on the city of Antwerp, the other about the corruption scandal in the European Parliament.
The Antwerp comedian repeats a quote from Jan Jambon from 2016, then Minister of the Interior. With the statement about the privacy discussion, Jambon caused after he stored the fingerprints of Belgian hamburgers. In between, it is mandatory to leave two fingerprints when you apply for a new identity card.
“So feel free to give all your data to the government, right?” Van Peel continues his post. “That government that is never hacked and can always be trusted 100%… Right? #privacy #therefore.”
Very old
The comedian uses the events of the past week to reinforce his point about privacy. “An old sore that comes back again” he calls it, and for which he has been equal for years. Hate to say I told you? “I don’t want to say it with so much sufficiency, but that’s what it boils down to. We are all listening that this would happen.”
We are all transferring more and more data to the government. Just like that, from a blind trust, according to Van Peel. “This blind faith in the government and information technology is misplaced and can have major consequences. The pronunciation of Jambon (“Those who have nothing to hide have nothing to destroy,” ed.) only applies if the people and systems to whom you entrust your data can themselves be trusted, now and in the future.”
Recent events prove once again that this is not the case. The systems do not sufficiently protect our data, and people can also be corrupted by the government. “The government is not one hundred percent watertight, so you can rely on it not to be,” says Van Peel.
Privacy, according to the comedian, is not about secrets. It is not something for criminals, as Jambon sometimes made it seem. “It is about a balance of power between government and citizen. To put it with an old witticism: in a real democracy, the cameras are focused on the Clean Floor and not on the street. It is the citizens that the government must control. The government must also have some control over the citizen, but the two must be in balance. Privacy provides that balance. The balance is now tilted too much to one side: we are increasingly entering a world in which the government believes that it has a right to all our data.
Van Peel calls it ironic that Jambon’s party N-VA – “the party of law and order” – is affected by this crisis in Antwerp. He hopes that politicians will finally become more alert to the privacy problem.
Damage control
Fortunately, his own data is “safe”, says the comedian with a sense of amazement, because he no longer lives in the city. Where he moved is kept secret for privacy reasons. “If I’ve had the hope for a long time that my data will be handled securely, you know. The genie is out of the bottle,” says the Antwerp resident. “I did deliberately apply for a new identity card just before fingerprints became mandatory. That was my last attempt damage control. But within five to six years I will have to accept.”
Despite his caution, Van Peel was already a victim of identity theft. The perpetrator only needed his name and date of birth, which can be found on Wikipedia. “A subscription with Proximus was taken out in my name,” says the comedian. “I had to defend myself for allegedly not paying my invoice. I spent hours on the line with the bailiff.” A few years earlier, anonymous SIM cards had been abolished, suspected of terrorism. “I still laughed about it in my end-of-year conference on privacy. “Now they have to drive all the way abroad for a SIM card, say!” Turns out it was made even easier. (laughs).”