The Internet of Things
Hello,
Welcome to my severely delayed blog post.
I was never aware of how many companies there are that just buy and sell mass data. The fact that nobody really knows about these companies is slightly troubling, but even for people who know, what can/should you do? There are many benefits to having things tailored for you based on your data, but it is also annoying to realize that you are being manipulated (or worse, be ignorant of this fact). Technology is always like this; it brings about many good things, like efficiency and safety, but it also carries potential for different kinds of danger, especially concerning privacy and security.
As an uninteresting college student, I’m not personally very worried about data collection. People can collect data on my Amazon purchases, and I don’t feel threatened. But what if I become famous one day? Will click-bait articles exploit the fact that I buy lots of banana guards on Amazon? Details about celebrities are always being leaked in click-bait articles and it illustrates the issues surrounding privacy that need to be more thoroughly considered by the companies introducing new technologies. Average, everyday people are not always aware of the importance of these issues because they feel no direct sense of threat. In this way, data collection companies can remain in the dark and continue to buy/sell data. Companies can release new technologies that are embraced without enough consideration of privacy and security concerns. This is a problem, but honestly I don’t feel enough of a threat to do much about it.
Mike Smith
October 10, 2017 @ 9:58 pm
It is encouraging to hear you thinking about the difficult issues here. That’s the first step to a better, more thoughtful future. You might want to pop over and read Hannah’s blog post for this week. She explores more of the immediate gratification versus delayed threats tension in the question you raise.
Becca DiFabbio
October 31, 2017 @ 2:39 am
You absolutely bring up some very valid points and I agree that it can be alarming at how much of our personal data, like Amazon purchases, is tracked and bought from the internet. I’ve never thought about it as a threat as well, but I guess that’s only because I never had a reason to, whereas, like you said, a celebrity might have more concern with the business of buying and selling online data. However, if I did have a reason to feel threatened by this issue, what do you suggest could be done? Are we too small in the technology world to even have a chance of involvement?
cindizzle4
November 1, 2017 @ 3:43 am
Hi Becca,
Thanks for reading my post! I think that I am quite pessimistic and I do not know the best way to guarantee privacy and security for the individual, but the first step is definitely educating ourselves on this issue so that there can be more dialogue surrounding what can/should be done–this is especially important as more and more technology starts to invade our personal and private lives.