The Privacy Invasion

Although the profound technological advances of the 21st century have propelled our society, privacy, as a result, has become a thing of the past. Many people would assume technology to be beneficial to the safekeeping of our private information, but this is not the case. The information we give and receive through online technology is constantly being monitored. Even private information about our lives that is offline can be stolen in ways we would never expect. What we can expect, however, is to no longer have the luxury of privacy as long as modern technology consumes our lives. 

 

Almost anything we do online, from texting to searching to shopping to posting on social media platforms, is being tracked and stored. It is concerning to imagine the amount of information that companies have accumulated from their users, especially regarding social media. I use several social media apps to post, share, update, and connect with friends and family. After watching the TED Talks on the seriousness of technological advances interfering with privacy, I am rethinking my willingness to trust technology. Every time we click “agree” to the terms and conditions of an application, or accept the use of cookies on a website, we are fully allowing these apps and websites to collect and use our information for their benefit.  

 

The personal data collected from our online activity, for example, can be used to promote targeted advertisements which in return generate revenue for these online companies. Andy Yen explains in his TED Talk that “this year alone, advertising [revenue] is 137 billion dollars, and to optimize the ads that are shown to us, companies have to know everything about us.” Revenue is probably the largest motivator that compels websites and social media platforms to invade our privacy and steal information. Because these large online corporations are making billions of dollars from the exploitation of our private data, it is unlikely that the government will want to interfere with this privacy concern. In fact, the government indirectly benefits from the successes of these corporations, further lowering their incentive. 

 

Another way the government benefits from the invasion of our private information is through the detailed records that law enforcement gains offline without our knowledge. According to Catherine Crump, police officers are easily able to track and keep tabs on any civilian through advanced technology. Hidden high-tech cameras allow the police to automatically read the license plate of every passing vehicle. They then use this information to check for suspected criminals. However, the data collected is stored whether the results raised suspicion or not. This means that the government has access to the locations and daily movement of almost every citizen regardless if the individual is innocent or a threat. Catherine Crump explains in her TED Talk that we can fight this invasion of privacy by petitioning for the disposal of private information gathered on innocent people, leaving this technology for its intended use on criminal activity.  

In our increasingly technological world, the online and offline invasion of privacy is something more people need to be worried about. The best way to protect ourselves from this technological invasion of privacy is to be cautious. We can be cautious with what we post, share, search, and agree to on websites and applications. My mother uses a special search engine called DuckDuckGo. I remember seeing it on her phone for the first time and questioning her because I thought it was ridiculous that she refused to simply use safari or google. After watching Andy Yen promote the use of this exact search engine, I now understand my mother’s reasoning for using DuckDuckGo as it was developed solely to protect users privacy. Although we may never have complete privacy, utilizing tools such as private search engines, messaging apps, and other similar programs is a step toward better online privacy.