How has the fight for anonymity and privacy advanced since Snowden’s whistle-blowing?

Abstract

This article examines the legal, social, and political forces in a post-Snowden era that clarified the stakes around privacy and anonymity all while pulling more people into the orbit of a contemporary privacy and anonymity movement. It compares and contrasts the 100-year period in which US courts fleshed out free speech ideals and recent grass-roots privacy and anonymity initiatives that have come to reach a critical mass, highlighting the importance of civil society, journalists, and especially hackers whose aggressive pursuit of practical solutions have created the conditions for acting anonymously and securing privacy in our current era.