Online Privacy

Question about online privacy

"What are your thoughts on embracing the digital age at the expense of personal privacy? So many actions and services linked to Facebook, cookies, etc... We leave traces to a lot of people even if we have nothing to hide. Do we embrace the internet even if it has its costs?"

My Response:

This question is probably the biggest debate about the internet deserving an entire book to adequately answer it. What i would like to do is outline the topic here and go into detail on each sub-topic over time.

The internet is the most power tool ever invented by mankind. It facilitates information creation, sharing and storage in quantities and speeds that we would not have even dreamed of a few decades ago.

The biggest problem that I see with the rapid pace of technology is that it is outpacing our ability to deal with it in a responsible way. We have given ourselves great power and freedom without thinking about its consequences and how to use it correctly.

The first issue is that people often do not protect their own privacy. They openly publish intimate details about their lives, parading in front of people they do not know.
I once commented on a picture of a female friend in her underwear, hinting that it's not appropriate to share on social media, and her reply was: That was a special moment and now you've tainted it!

I really don't understand people like that who put their personal memories on the net, expecting the audience to honor them. You need to understand that it is your responsibility to keep your information private. The very definition of publishing information is to make public what was private.

The second issue is companies that exploit us and the information they gather on us for their own profit. When the internet first gained popularity, all valuable services came with a price tag. There were either once of costs or membership subscription fees.
Today, just about everything is free.
The bad news is that there is no such thing as a free lunch. If you are not paying for something, then you are the product being sold.
If you classify a company by how it goes about making its money, then I would classify the big social media companies as surveillance firms.

Their biggest interest is in what you're going to buy next and thus show you relevant advertising because the more appropriate the advertising the bigger the revenue they get.
To know what you're going to buy next requires understanding you and your purchasing habits.
They store everything about you that they can and then use machine learning (AI) to figure out where you'll be next and what you'll buy there.

The third and biggest issue I see is about influence. We crossed the line a long time ago where we no longer just use the information we gather to predict what's going to happen next, but rather to influence what is going to happen next.

So back to the question: "Do we embrace the internet even if it has its costs?"
The first game changer for man was fire. Used correctly it could cook our food, give us light. When misused it kills.
The same thing with the internet. Would you have a large open fire in the middle of your house? Would you leave small children around a fire that has no protective barriers?

Let's embrace it, but remember that it's potentially a loaded weapon.