Digital Privacy and Security. Welcome to the Anti-Surveillance Economy
Etic Lab LLP, a digital research and design company based in Mid-Wales, are proud to announce the launch of Kuva – a new digital communications tool that allows professionals to deliver their services online without risking the security of their clients’ data.
Summary: Kuva’s key premise is that the existence of the surveillance economy necessitates the development of an anti-surveillance economy. The internet as it currently exists is built on digital surveillance. Every time we make a search or open an app, personal information about us is captured and sold on to an international network of data brokers and ad exchanges. Profiles are formed on all of us, based on our interests, habits, gender, sexual preferences and other sensitive details. This system is far too complex for any of us to offer our informed consent and operates outside of the privacy policy of any individual organisation. We don’t believe that people should have to participate in this system to access essential services such as therapy or legal advice, so we’ve built an alternative.
Available now: Kuva is Etic Lab’s first investment towards the construction of the anti-surveillance economy. It provides a completely secure and private online space for professionals to meet with their clients, including video, text chat, document transfer and appointment booking. Kuva does not monitor or record client sessions. It provides the digital equivalent of a therapist’s private room. We process the minimum amount of data required to set up a call, and destroy it as soon as it is no longer in use. Our aim is to provide a way to deliver confidential services online without exposing providers or clients to any third-party surveillance.
Coming soon: Keep an eye on the Kuva website for the forthcoming release of a new range of data privacy tools, in addition to new publications showcasing our research and reports delving deep into the mechanisms and machinations of the digital surveillance economy: https://kuva.org.uk. These aim to help us all better understand how websites and apps use our data, and to provoke new conversations about how to design a new online infrastructure for service provision, where data privacy and security are the baseline. Welcome to Etic Lab’s vision for an anti-surveillance economy.
