BLOG POST #5: HOW TO RETHINK ONLINE PRIVACY: THE PERCEPTION OF YOUR DIGITAL TRACE

During the TED Talk videos, I carefully reviewed my online usage and compared it to the ways that these people informed us about how to use the internet. I realized that most of my decisions while online contribute to the problem that they brought up. The term digital tattoos is a great way to describe the digital traces that we leave behind after every post, comment, and like. While I would like to describe myself as careful, my online past may allude to something more immature. At the time, being a 12-year-old on an Instagram account is bound to cause some issues. Especially since I’ve used the same account to this day, it may look bad for my future endeavors. 

Although I am strictly against government overreach, I believe possible ways the government can encourage safe behavior include: warning younger people (under 14-15 years old) about the risks of having social media, posting private information online, and engaging in controversy. This would increase public awareness among the younger demographic, preventing them from self-sabotage digitally. We should also start by informing parents and the companies that run social media to prevent younger kids from accessing inappropriate content, such as violence, nudity, and political misinformation. As we all know, kids are the most vulnerable to these threats, as they are in their prime developmental stages.

As I think about the meaning behind technology, the intentions are positive, but the results may not always be. Technology is created to make our lives easier, yet it makes our lives harder to control. Crucial information is lost to the internet once you let technology take over the process; it is essentially like giving your credit card to a cashier. Although there is an inherent risk, you assume that they will use this information solely for the payment. This is like trusting the internet; once your information is no longer in your hands, it is no longer yours.



We should wake to the realization that trusting multi-billion-dollar companies with our valuable personal information is not the right choice. We should protect our information, but in reality, we are giving consent to open our lives up like a book to companies that live off our stupidity. We need to change the perception of phrases like “whatever you put on the internet stays on the internet.” When I think about my online trace, I often, and regrettably, say, “Oh well, what am I going to do about it? They know everything about me anyway…” I could bet that thousands, even millions of people have said a phrase along those lines, and to be frank, that is absolutely scary. 

The state of the world is very unclear. Whether you believe that AI is the future of technology, are unsure of its future ramifications, or are triggered by the mere thought of artificial intelligence being in a sentence, you should pay attention. Why should you pay attention? Well, imagine everything mentioned previously- the data leaks, the lack of encryption, the digital footprints- but instead of it being in the hands of malicious people, it is in the grasp of non-sentient systems that are incapable of having emotions. Combined with the lack of emotions the fact that AI is trained, it is certainly a recipe for disaster. Legally speaking, charging AI with cyber crimes is like charging Waymo with a traffic violation. Ownership can’t be tracked to a single individual; rather, liability claims can be sent to the owner of the given company. That is a whole different topic for another day, but to put it simply, AI is dangerous. Whether it affects you or not as the individual is not the cause for concern, for now. Rather, how it uses your data to learn every single detail of your existence.