**The first principle is benevolence. When a computer network collects information on me, that information should be used to help me rather than manipulate me.** Why should we agree to get free email services, social connections, and entertainment from the tech giants in exchange for giving them control of our most sensitive data? -- we should pay in money rather than pay in information **The second principle that would protect democracy against the rise of totalitarian surveillance regimes is decentralization.** -- [[Nex -- The Next Generation Platform for Knowledge]] [[Decentralization fight against the rise of surceillance regimes]] **A third democratic principle is mutuality. If democracies increase surveillance of individuals, they must simultaneously increase surveillance of governments and corporations too.** What’s bad is if all the information flows one way: from the bottom up. Democracy is about balance and mutual surveillance **A fourth democratic principle is that surveillance systems must always leave room for both change and rest.** History is full of rigid caste systems that denied humans the ability to change, but it is also full of dictators who tried to mold humans like clay. Finding the middle path between these two extremes is a never-ending task.