Today at Pinngle we are happy to interview Anton Merkurov, Internet analyst and IT expert. We’ll discuss the opportunities and limitations that give us new technologies, will talk about our freedom of communication and other social and even ethical issues!
Pinngle: In our information age, one of the basic human rights is the right to be informed. Pinngle is an application that works even with the weakest signal of the Internet and in countries where other instant messaging applications are blocked. In addition to the fact that the messenger is a very convenient way to make calls and send messages, we have also opened public channels to which you can subscribe and receive news on any topic of interest. Do you think that these tools are the ones that make information available to people all around the world?
AM: The possibility of global communication is the main achievement of recent years. It does not matter which platforms are popular – messengers or social media, but the miracle is that we can communicate in such different and convenient ways.
Pinngle: Recently more and more people are getting worried about the issues of freedom of digital communication and protection of their personal data online. In particular, after the scandal with Facebook and Cambridge Analytica, (which used the personal data of nearly 87 million users for their political and commercial purposes), a huge number of people got really interested in the means of maintaining the confidentiality of their personal data. Now Russia blocks the Telegram, which may not be the safest messenger, since it’s also vulnerable to attacks, but strives to protect its users and the security of its online space. Do you think that in spite of this people will still continue using digital media and social networks to communicate? Perhaps they will just select the safest platform for themselves more scrupulously?
AM: “Security” is a good message. The user needs that feeling of comfort and safety while communicating with the environment. But this requirement, alas, is not the main one. Today, there are enough tools for safe communication, a large selection of apps. But people are there where fun and hangouts are. For example, on Telegram.
Pinngle: Yes, there is even an opinion that “security is a myth”. But, despite this (or for this reason), we constantly strive to develop and improve the methods of online security protection. That’s why on Pinngle we work serverless and do not save absolutely any data of our users, in order to protect them 100%. Do you think that this makes security on the Internet already real?
AM: Security, anonymity, encryption existed from the first days of the appearance of the Internet. The question did not bother anyone until the states did not start to encroach on our private lives. Now the solution for secure communication is just a service. In reality, not everyone needs it.
Pinngle: New technologies are one of the main means that allow people from all over the world to communicate with each other by crossing the boundaries and bringing together all the humanity. Much credit in this belongs to instant messengers, which today allow people to stay connected every second and almost free of charge. But even today, some states, especially during periods of social unrest, limit the access of their citizens to various means of communication, Internet resources and, especially, to the messengers. Don’t you think that this is a violation of human rights?
AM: Of course, freedom of communication and information dissemination is one of the main threats to totalitarian regimes. It’s good that technologies are cooler than the strange laws that are adopted in this territory. And of course, severe control is impossible without violation of rights. And, in the case of Russia, also without troubles with the stable Internet connection.
Pinngle: What do you think, what kind of ethics should work on the Internet and which rules of communication would be desirable to be obeyed by both organizations and each individual user of the world wide web?
AM: Ethics is a very vague concept. Everyone is responsible for himself. Especially on the Internet.
