Our second identity, protected by a united Europe | Enrico Letta | TEDxVicenza

"Just a couple of years ago, I would have never covered this topic.
Now, in my opinion, that's the key issue of our times."

Enrico Letta, President Emeritus of Italy's Council of Ministers, has been the General Secretary of AREL (Agency of Researchs and Legislation) since 1993, and he also teaches and does research activity at Istituto Sant'Anna in Pisa since 2015. In this talk, he stresses the importance to reclaim Europe's juridical civilization, centered around the inviolability of the individuals and of their rights, before the emergence of a real, unprecedented "second identity" made of all the data detected and processed by our mobile devices.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.

Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

Today I'm going to talk to you
about second identity.

Second identity, second me, second myself.

I will try to cover this,
and I'll first consider

the impact of technological innovations

that are totally disrupting
our personal life,

economic life, political life,
education, social relationships,

interpersonal ones - everything.

What is the second identity?

It has never existed before,
this is the real deal.

We have never had
a second identity before.

Today, if I have to compare

my generation and the youngsters,

kids who are 15, 20, 25 years old today,

I think that the real difference
is the impact of technology.

It's negative for me, for us:

we are not very good,
you are much smarter at it than I am.

But we had an advantage:

every stupid thing we did
left basically no trace.

Every stupid thing you do now,
instead, leaves a trace somewhere.

you may lose your job today
for a stupid thing you posted years ago,

unbeknownst of future consequences.

When I did, as a young boy,
my first job interviews,

I had my face, my nice chatting gab,

three lines in a resume

that accounted for my past experience.

And that was it.

I could bamboozle my counterpart
without any problems.

When you talk now
to your potential employer,

he will be able to inspect, in depth,
everything about you.

So thanks to new technologies,

we have a second identity now,
a second ourself.

And our whole life has been traced back

in an unprecedented way.

So what does it mean
to have a second identity?

First of all it means this.

It means that this,

our smartphone, that has sticked around us

for many years now,

but in the last few years,

a smartphone has become
much more than it used to.

A few years ago,

we could have defined it
a fairly neutral tool,

it was like air conditioning,
even like a car, maybe.

We could even compare it

to any other household appliance.

This is a second identity today.

It is my second identity,
it is your second identity,

in the phone you hold in your pocket.

Why am I saying this?

Because this smartphone encompasses
everything about me.

All the people I've talked to,
all the web sites I've visited.

Here you have a complete toolset
to understand who I am,

if I drive properly or not.

where I currently am,
where I've been in a given moment.

Every single information about myself
is contained in this smartphone.

So those who control the smartphone

will control my actions, thoughts, taste.

So much so that sometimes one goes here

and find out, it knows you better
than you know yourself.

And ultimately, this stores everything.

This is both fascinating and terrifying:
there has never been, in the past,

that could enshrine
my full identity, individuality.

In the past, I was just me;

now it's me and this second identity,

because this thing recapitulates
and stores everything about me.

It is outside of my body,
and other people can sneek into it

much more than one can enter into

my flesh and blood person,
my first real identity.

What does "someone can enter here" mean?

It means that these smartphones
used to be produced in Europe:

most of us had a Nokia phone,
there used to be a EU-driven technology.

That's no longer the case.

Essentially, the phones you have
in your pocket now

are either made in the United States,
in China or Taiwan.

So it means

that all our data are stored
far away from home.

And those who control these smartphones

can also control our second identity.

In my opinion,
future wars won't be fought

for the same reasons
we fough them in the past,

like oil, money, borders.

Wars will mostly be triggered, I think,

to decide who's going
to use, exploit, own these data.

Ultimately, in fact,
these data will allow you

to win electoral campaigns,

hijack markets,

run marketing campaigns
that are much more effective,

monitor people's tastes,

blackmail companies,
nations and individuals.

So our second identity, the second myself,

becomes the real question
to spot lights on,

and tackle from an economic, social,
philosophical point of view.

to design the rules and practises
the future will run on.

And this second identity is in here,

and the technology that controls
my second identity

has totally slipped from EU's hands.

Smartphones are now either American,
or Chinese, or Korean.

We also had European phones,
a few years ago;

now it's basically nothing.

So we have lost this technology game,

and my data - it's a U.S. phone -

will be stored somewhere
in Cupertino, in California,

Who handles these data? Who owns them?
Who takes advantage of them?

I don't know.

And quite honestly, I don't have any trust

that those who can access my data -

if they have to decide

whether to protect my personal identity
or pull some profits from this data,

they'll strongly be tempted
to opt for the second possibility.

There have already been
many egregious cases:

like Cambridge Analytica and Facebook:

a case of unprecedented gravity

now almost completely silenced,
media no longer cover it,

but clearly points out
where this may lead to.

So, United States and Asia on one hand;

and us Europeans, who lost the game
of this technology.

What does this mean?

How do United States approach this topic?

When we talk about
US regulations in this field,

there's a strong feeling

that competitiveness in the hi-tech sector
must come before everything else.

Things like the protection of privacy,
the ownership of personal data -

seemingly count much less.

This is at least my impression,

and I don't like this approach at all.

If I have a look at Asia,
at the other kind of model

championed by China,

they seem to have
a totally different approach;

an almost opposite one:

the exploitation of data,
of this second identity-related data

to quickly, easily seep
into our first identity.

Which is - or at least
is supposed to be - inviolable

but can be reached
through this second one.

And the State can have
a strong interest, through these data,

to control who I am,
what my taste, my behaviour is.

And here we are at a fundamental jucture.

for our future life.

I think that governments
have to be very clear.

They have to fine us
if we do something wrong,

if we break one of it's rules:

but I don't think
the State should interfere

regardless of my respect of the rules.

My person is inviolable,

even the second one
now stored in my mobile phone.

If this is the case, then how can we win
this war of influence

about who's going to impose
rules that can protect us

from the rush, the frenzy activity

of these hi-tech giants?

Two old fashioned words
come back to my mind now:

"Politics" and "European Union".

Why politics, and why European Union?

Because it is clear

that either politics will regulate this,
or an unleashed market will.

Or, simply, the State
will impose its will.

And I'm terrified, frankly.

I have goosebumps at the idea
that the market regulates itself on this,

because our fundamental
individual rights are at stake.

Politics has to call the shots.

Politics, which is us:
not the market, not high tech companies.

And I think, it'd be even better for them
to have unavoidable rules

so they're not tempted to do wrong.

And then we have the European Union.

Why European Union?

Because, as I said before,

it feels like the other world's giants
are taking a different path.

We, the Europeans,

either Swdish, Portuguese,
Italians, French or German,

share a consistent philosophy,

one that professes the inviolability
of the individual identity.

And this should be ported,

in an ethical, democratic
and philosophical transition,

on this new second identity too.

Because my person is there:
classified, stored, recapitulated,

but it's there, and it is as inviolable
as my real, true, first identity is.

And if we had 28 Brexits in Europe,

a disintegration of the continent -

we just could not influence
the world with our philosophy,

which is exquisitely ours,
as I said before,

These are our rules,
this is our juridical civilization.

That's why a unified European Union
has now another mission,

a different, much more committing one;

one that's also more important

than the typical mission
we used to assign it.

The European Union has always been
an engine for peace,

has been trying to tear down
barriers, frontiers, borders,

to find new rules for living together

for development,

to represent Europe all across the world.

But now there's much more at stake:
the future of our people.

And this is not science fiction:

when we talk about these things,
it always sounds like science fiction.

But just a couple of years ago,

I would have never covered this topic.

Now, in my opinion,
that's the key issue of our times.

And be careful: this second identity
is the first second identity we know.

Perhaps, in a couple of years time,
we might be tempted -

not me, maybe, I'm not an expert,
but someone else -

to talk about another second identity,

which may be AI, machine intelligences,

what machines can replace human beings at.

Another second me.

What rules will this AI act upon?

Here, we can understand
what this evolution leads to.

Again, politics has
to call the shots, not the market.

Not even the technology, for that matter.

In the meanwhile, European Union
has to impose itself, and the others,

with its rules of juridical civilization

centered around personal inviolability.

In short, and wrapping up,

if everything I've have said up to now
makes sense, and it is true,

and has some relevance in this transition
towards a hypertechnlogical future,

then politics has to play a decisive role.

and we can't dismiss it like we do now.

The European Union
has to make a difference.

I mean, a united European Union,
not a scattered one.

A united union.

I think of my future,
I think of the future of my children,

and I think, we can all share
the same line of thinking here.

I don't want to have a future
where I am forced to decide

whether I am a Chinese
or a US colony - I don't like it.

I like Americans, I like the Chinese,

but I want to be Italian
and I want to be European.

We can't be forced into
either a Chinese or a U.S. colonization.

I want to have the opportunity
to believe in my values.

And when I say values,
I say the inviolability of the person.

To me, this means
to be Italian and European.

Only with a strong policy,

and a unified European Union,

we will deal with this topics

and be able to understand
-myself and all of us-

that the inviolability of the person
is at the center of everything that we do.