Why privacy is priceless

Why privacy is priceless | Global Stage | GZERO Media

If someone were to get a few pictures off your phone without your permission, what's the big deal, right? Don't be so blasé, says human rights attorney David Haigh, who was prominently targeted with the powerful Pegasus spyware in 2021.

"If someone breaches your private life, that is a gateway to very, very serious breaches of other human rights, like your right to life and right to all sorts of other things," he said. "That's why I think a lot of governments and public sector don't take things as seriously as they should."

Right now, he says, dictators can buy your privacy, "and with it, your life."

Haigh spoke with Eurasia Group Senior Analyst Ali Wyne as part of “Caught in the Digital Crosshairs,” a panel discussion on cybersecurity produced by GZERO in partnership with Microsoft and the CyberPeace Institute.

Watch the full Global Stage conversation: The devastating impact of cyberattacks and how to protect against them

More from GZERO Media

- YouTube

China is conducting near-daily military exercises in the Taiwan Strait and the risk of conflict is getting higher. Could Beijing and Taipei be heading toward war? Ian Bremmer sits down with Bonny Lin, director of the China Power Project at CSIS.

Protesters are blanketed in smoke along Alondra Boulevard during a standoff with law enforcement following multiple detentions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), in the Los Angeles County city of Compton, California, U.S., June 7, 2025.
REUTERS/Barbara Davidson

On Saturday, US President Donald Trumpdeployed 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles to quell protests against ICE immigration raids.

View of what state media KCNA reported was a test-firing of the weapons system of the new "Choe Hyon-class" warship, in this picture released on April 30, 2025, by the Korean Central News Agency.
via REUTERS

Welcome to the new global arms race: faster, smarter, more dangerous and more expensive than ever. In 2024, world military spending surged toa record $2.7 trillion, the steepest annual increase since the Cold War's end, driven largely by European, Asian and Middle Eastern nations.

Inter Miami Forward Lionel Messi controls the ball during the first half of an MLS match against the Philadelphia Union at Subaru Park in Chester, Pennsylvania, on May 24, 2025.
Kyle Rodden/CSM/Sipa USA

The FIFA Club World Cup kicks off on Saturday, with the United States acting as hosts for a competition of the top teams on the globe.