What About Privacy?
OK, I’m worried about my privacy online, and then there is a part of me that doesn’t care. I realize that the part of me that doesn’t care is very stupid. I save my credit card numbers on Amazon without thinking twice who could get access to them. I allow Facebook to show me ads that have so much relevance in my life I wonder if sometimes they are reading my mind.
They in fact are.
Why do I let them do this? Because it’s just convenient.
It has been said that computers know more about us than a significant other knows. That's scary. Period. We should all be scared. Here’s why:
First of all, let’s not pretend that all governments, including ours, are not corrupt. If the government wants to say accuse you of a crime, perhaps they could ask Facebook what you have been searching for online. They could ask Alexa what you talk about when you fold the laundry. They can track all your political views, your social interactions, and your spending habits.
But that’s not the end of it. If say, a dictator like Donald Trump, decides that he wants to profile all the people who hate him and have engaged in hate speech against him, what if he could do that? What if he could profile all the people who are sympathetic to Palestine or are very religious Muslims?
I have posted articles on this very blog proclaiming how idiotic I think Trump is because I still believe we have freedom of speech. But when happens if dictators like Trump try to take that away from us? His friend Putin has killed many journalists.
I’m not willing to die for Trump, but I will not give up my right to rant against him. But how do I know that he hasn’t flagged me in some kind of way as a traitor of some sort? How do I know he’s not collecting data about me to use against me?
I mean I realize I sound a bit paranoid, but this very thing happens in other countries. Writers and journalists are killed on a regular basis. It should scare me that Google knows my exact location at all times, what if someone wants to hack into my system and stalk me? That idea is not paranoid, that’s just reality these days.
Let’s face it, they know what kind of pornography you are into. They can read your emails and your text messages. What if someone wanted to make that information public? What if you have nude photos on your phone? It’s not hard for a hacker to access all that and more.
I’m not involved in anything shady at this point in my life. I don’t smoke pot, I am not even drinking at the moment. But that doesn’t mean I want all of my private information at the hands of anyone or everyone.
So what am I supposed to do? Elect people who care. Start petitions to change privacy laws. March for privacy. Write about it, publish it, put it on social media. Let the record show I am not OK with this.
I don’t trust big companies like Google and Facebook, I don’t trust the government, and I don’t trust the random hacker. All these people are possibly privy to my private information. They even know how much I weigh because I have put it on a few apps, and only like one other person in the world knows that number. If someone posted that online, I would die.
But in all seriousness, this could get really dangerous, really quick. We have to make a lot of noise, this is getting out of control. I’ve heard that the Amazon Echo actually records everything you say all day long. I’ve heard that there are video cameras on our T.V.’s and our computers recording our every move. I’ve also heard rumors that our phones are recording everything we say.
Now at the beginning of this post, I said that there is a part of me that doesn’t care. I still watch my 75-inch smart T.V., not thinking about whether anyone is watching me. I have an Amazon echo which I have not set up properly out of laziness, and partly because I am concerned it will record me. I care, but I continue to use this technology because it’s really cool.
But there is a price for this coolness. And are we willing to pay it? I don’t think I am anymore. We want and need the technology, and we want and need laws to protect our privacy.
This has gone waaay to far.
It’s time to do something about this.
nina