Privacy in the Digital Age

 

I was never the person to worry too much about the privacy aspect of our phones and social media. I remember there being quite a big uproar when the fact that apps like Facebook or Instagram compile our data in order to create a feed more suited to our interests and an even bigger uproar when it was discovered that these same apps listen to our conversations in order to display targeted advertisements. While the majority of people around me were freaking out about these obvious breaches of privacy, I wasn’t too upset. I thought it was pretty cool and definitely helpful that I could talk about needing a new hair straightener or product and later on that day log into Instagram and find an ad for exactly what I wanted. At the time, the biggest issue I saw with the whole thing was the enabling of quick fixes or immediate satisfaction rather than having to do a little bit of research and go buy the products ourselves. I can see the concept of solutions to our minuscule problems being handed to us so easily becoming a problem with our decision making and problem solving capabilities later on- especially for the younger generation going through their key developmental years with everything at the touch of a finger. However, after watching those TED Talks, I am definitely much more alarmed. Much like Christopher Soghoian in the third video, I am less concerned about the government or police officers having access to data, as I am about predators and criminals having that same access. In today’s society, young children are being given technology that can be used to very easily cause harm. For example, many years ago when iPhones were still relatively new products and having games on our phones was mind blowing, there was an app called Talking-Tom. It was targeted towards kids as an animated tabby cat that you could talk to, play with, and go on adventures. It was a pretty popular app that a lot of kids, including my younger brother would, download onto their parents phones and play. Not too long after the app came out, began the stories about people hacking into the app and being able to talk to the children using it to find out if they were alone, what they were doing, etc. While I believe these stories have been debunked, it makes you think about how truly dangerous these kinds of applications and devices really are. Just as Finn Myrstad says when discussing the alarming toy doll “Cayla”, what is the point of locking a house if anyone can enter it through a connected device?