Online privacy is a huge thing in our generation. With many people being, I would say, chronically online, information is being dumped every day onto online platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and a plethora of others. I would be very familiar with this because I spend a lot of my time playing video games, and I use online communication platforms all the time.
After listening to all of these TED Talks, most of the information that was discussed was relatively concerning. Growing up, I think most kids were told to be careful about what you post and say online because it can come back to bite you, and that is very true. However, I think these TED Talks really show just how easy it is to gather this information and how privacy is kind of a myth.
If I had to choose one TED Talk that stood out to me the most, it would be the one about how police forces use something called a Stingray to locate phones and gather information about the people using them. The idea that technology can be used to figure out what phones are in a certain area and potentially identify people inside a house was very concerning to me. It makes me wonder if privacy really exists in our day and age.
I think another really scary fact is that even if you aren't chronically online like the older generation of people, your information is still findable. A majority of people have credit cards or cars, and as one of the TED Talks said, your location can be tracked through license plate readers to track where you're going and other information about your movements. Your credit card information, where you've used your credit card, and other things can also potentially be accessed. So, there really is no escaping this privacy problem that is rising with the advancements of technology.
I also wanted to talk about data privacy and consent. In today's world, whenever you log onto a website or use an app, there is usually some kind of privacy agreement that you have to accept. From what I have been told, many of these privacy agreements can be thousands and thousands of words long. They also tend to be very complex and difficult to understand. Most people never really look through them or read them because we are impatient and just want to get to whatever we are trying to get to.
A good example Fred Cate gave in his TED Talk was when you update your iPhone and are presented with an agreement. You can have it emailed to you, download it, or accept it, but there is no real way to simply say no and continue using your phone. Not accepting it would essentially mean giving up your ability to use your phone. This makes me question how much of a choice we actually have when it comes to consent.
With all of that said, I do feel like the government could do a couple of things to maybe address these issues. First and foremost, I think all technology companies that produce cellular devices, laptops, etc. should make privacy and encryption a high priority. I understand that because of this, it could be harder for the government to track down certain individuals through wiretapping and other methods. But overall, privacy in the world is a very important thing, and I think it directly links with our free will.
I think regarding the consent problem with data privacy, the government could require companies to make the language a lot more understandable. This would allow people who may have trouble comprehending or understanding privacy agreements to know what information is being collected and what they are actually agreeing to. Another thing could be requiring specific consent agreements, so you can consent to certain things but not consent to others, such as giving up your location or allowing your information to be used to train AI. If the government requires companies to give people a genuine choice instead of forcing them to accept everything against their will, then consent would actually become consent.
I think there are a couple of things we can do to protect ourselves. One of the TED Talks talks about how messages and phone calls are said to be highly secure, and Apple themselves have said that their communication services are highly secure, along with other phone companies also making similar claims about their forms of communication. So, using applications that are highly encrypted and secure can be a good way of protecting our information. I think it's also important that we are very self-aware of what we are posting online through social media and other platforms. An overall rule of thumb for our generation and generations to come is to be aware that nothing online is completely private, even if it says it is.
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