• Artificial Intelligence - “The theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages.” (Oxford Dictionary)

• Big Data - “Extremely large data sets that may be analysed computationally to reveal patterns, trends, and associations, especially relating to human behaviour and interactions.” (Oxford Dictionary) Controversy Point: Big data can highlight trends in information not visible indiscriminately, leading to developments in cures for diseases, understanding of traffic flows in megacities and social media relationships; however, big data can jeopardize individual privacy if data can be tied to an individual and issues surround ownership of monetization from big data analysis results.

• Biometric - “Relating to or involving the application of statistical analysis to biological data.” (Oxford Dictionary)

• Cybersecurity - “The state of being protected against the criminal or unauthorized use of electronic data, or the measures taken to achieve this.” (Oxford Dictionary)

• Domain Name System (DNS) - “The system by which Internet domain names and addresses are tracked and regulated.” (Oxford Dictionary)

• E-government - “The use of information and communications technologies (ICTs), and particularly the Internet, to achieve better government.” (OECD)

• Encryption - “The process of converting information or data into a code, especially to prevent unauthorized access.” (Oxford Dictionary) Controversy Point: Encryption can protect individual communications so outsiders are unable to access conversations thus guaranteeing the right for privacy, but it can also protect criminals and terrorists from being spied on and ultimately arrested caught by national governments.

• End-to-End Encryption - “A system of communication where the only people who can read the messages are the people communicating. No eavesdropper can access the cryptographic keys needed to decrypt the conversation—not even a company that runs the messaging service.” (Article by Andy Greenberg in WIRED)

• Five Eyes - “A secretive, global surveillance arrangement of States comprised of the United States National Security Agency (NSA), the United Kingdom’s Government Communications Headquarters(GCHQ), Canada’s Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC), the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD), and New Zealand’s Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB).” (Privacy International)

• Hack - “Gain unauthorized access to data in a system or computer.” (Oxford Dictionary)

• Internet of Things (IoT) - “The interconnection via the Internet of computing devices embedded in everyday objects, enabling them to send and receive data.” (Oxford Dictionary)

• Internet Service Providers (ISPs) - “A company that provides subscribers with access to the Internet.” (Oxford Dictionary)

• IP Address - “A unique string of numbers separated by full stops that identifies each computer using the Internet Protocol to communicate over a network.” (Oxford Dictionary)

• Mass Surveillance - “The subjection of a population or significant component of a group to indiscriminate monitoring. It involves a systematic interference with people's right to privacy. Any system that generates and collects data on individuals without attempting to limit the dataset to well-defined targeted individuals is a form of mass surveillance.” (Privacy International) Controversy Point: Governments argue mass surveillance allows them to spot and stop terrorist organizations and criminal groups; however, issues arise of overreach, where individual privacy and discrimination of minorities are institutionalized by the government. Moreover, the efficiency of mass surveillance in preventing terrorist attacks is often questioned.

• Metadata - “A set of data that describes and gives information about other data.” (Oxford Dictionary) Controversy Point: Metadata can provide governments and companies information about how a certain tool or technology is being used and also help technical teams to intervene in case of a “bug”; but it can also put individuals at risk of their behavior exposed as only a few pieces of information about a user can reveal the individual behind the data.

• PRISM - A U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) undisclosed program revealed in 2013 “which allows [NSA] officials to collect material including search history, the content of emails, file transfers and live chats,” directly from U.S. service providers, even if the individuals sending and receiving messages are in foreign countries. (Article by Glenn Greenwald and Ewen MacAskill in The Guardian)

• Privacy - “Privacy enables us to create barriers and manage boundaries to protect ourselves from unwarranted interference in our lives, which allows us to negotiate who we are and how we want to interact with the world around us. Privacy helps us establish boundaries to limit who has access to our bodies, places and things, as well as our communications and our information.” (Privacy International)

• Security breach - “A security breach is any incident that results in unauthorized access of data, applications, services, networks and/or devices by bypassing their underlying security mechanisms. A security breach occurs when an individual or an application illegitimately enters a private, confidential or unauthorized logical IT perimeter.” (Technopedia.com)

• Sensitive Personal Data or “Special Categories of Personal Data” - “Personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, or trade union membership... genetic data, biometric data for the purpose of uniquely identifying a natural person, data concerning health or data concerning a natural person’s sex life or sexual orientation…” (Article 9, General Data Protection Regulation) Controversy Point: Sensitive personal data can be controversial when many pieces of anonymous sensitive data, used in big data to explain trends, can be analyzed together to deanonymize someone and put at risk their privacy.

• Server - “A server is a computer that provides data to other computers. It may serve data to systems on a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN) over the Internet.” (Techterms)

• Stingrays - “Stingrays, also known as "cell site simulators" or "IMSI catchers," are invasive cell phone surveillance devices that mimic cell phone towers and send out signals to trick cell phones in the area into transmitting their locations and identifying information. When used to track a suspect's cell phone, they also gather information about the phones of countless bystanders who happen to be nearby.” (ACLU)

• Web Hosting - “The activity or business of providing storage space and access for websites.” (Oxford Dictionary)