Privacy is a Myth
Are you astounded, are you amazed by reading the title? Or were you aware beforehand, that privacy is a myth? And if you are indeed aware, do you know till what depth this statement goes? Is this statement even true? Is privacy really a myth? Let’s debunk.
You are the Product
The world has come a long way since mobile phones and computers were invented, we have come to a stage where talks of artificial intelligence and 5G networks aren’t something new. There is no denying the impact of science and technology, their impact is ubiquitous. While we’re on the topic of technology, let’s talk about mobile apps, shall we?
So, mobile apps have made our lives so much easier, haven’t they? From offline dictionary apps to social media, and even maps? Oh, what services these apps provide us! Navigating through our day would be so much more difficult if we didn’t have these apps, these free applications providing their services. Now, why do I stress on the word free here? Well, because we are so used to free stuff. Oh, the glorious internet! You don’t have to pay for a thing! Information is for free, here, knowledge is free!
However, this is a capitalistic world, and in order to gain something for free, you are giving something, this is a give and take relationship. Here, you are giving away your privacy. You are the product here.
But I am sure this isn’t news, is it? All the client-user agreement policies that you glance over through and click on “I agree”, whenever you give apps permission to view your internal files, you are giving away your privacy. You are happily giving away your privacy and in turn, you’re getting to use apps for “free”. For some, this is not worrisome, because in today’s world, if you don’t possess a credit card, if you don’t shop online, what do you even have to worry about, right? We read articles about data leaks and hacks, but rarely bat an eyelid, because what do you have to lose anyway?
Think about it, if companies are using your data every day, something more, something bigger than you think it, is on the line. You and I are products here. We are all an open book in a larger sense, a book that anyone with a bit of knowledge and time on their hands could read. Would you like to be exposed that way?
We all know about how we get advertisements on YouTube related to what we search on Google and vice versa. Isn’t it spooky that an algorithm is designed to specifically track your every move? Everything you do, from liking a video, to tweeting about it, everything is tracked.
Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries made a statement about this once. His words were,” In this new world, data is the new oil. And data is the new wealth.” As long as you use the internet, someone somewhere is benefitting from it. We are the products here.
The Curious Case of Zuckerberg’s Curiosity
As I talked about the impending issue earlier, sometimes people do not care enough about their data being used. Facebook made good use of that.
Tech Crunch, an American online publisher focusing on the tech industry carried out an investigation, which revealed that since 2016, Facebook had been paying users to download their VPN. Desperate to keep the application in the market and in order to know about more trends that attract the users, Facebook would pay users $20 to use the VPN, in return, the users would have to compromise on their data. Here, we should note, Facebook’s aim wasn’t the user’s data, but the applications that these users frequently visited, a data harvesting project.
This is a quote from the official website of Tech Crunch,” Since 2016, Facebook has been paying users ages 13 to 35 up to $20 per month plus referral fees to sell their privacy by installing the iOS or Android “Facebook Research” app. Facebook even asked users to screenshot their Amazon order history page. The program is administered through beta testing services Applause, BetaBound and uTest to cloak Facebook’s involvement, and is referred to in some documentation as “Project Atlas” — a fitting name for Facebook’s effort to map new trends and rivals around the globe.”
Facebook has, in the past, has done questionable things to keep themselves in the market, and in the process, has played around with user’s data. The privacy that they boast about - and the CEO of Facebook had even written an essay of 3000 words on the same – are just mere words. This is one of the biggest corporations in the world that we are talking about. If they are misusing user’s data, playing with user’s privacy, what’s to say that other tech companies aren’t doing the same?
.jpg)
Mansi Pandey
When I'm not busy contemplating the bizzare phenomenon which is life, I pen down some words and try to make sense of them. I'm constantly learning, reading, exploring, and then writing about it.
