Privacy

Privacy, something that we seem to have taken for granted. Some time ago we traded our right to total privacy for the ability to use the technology we now take for granted. Never stopping and wondering what actually goes on in the devices we pump full of our personal info. Acting non the wiser we go along not questioning whether we are being monitored or not. Its a scary thought to think about and yet its the reality of the situation we live in.

While watching through some of the TED talks given to us, I became fascinated with one video in particular done by Juan Enriquez that actually brought up an interesting way of thinking about digital footprints. Juan begins the talk by comparing digital footprints to tattoos saying that both are "permeant" and "tell stories". He goes on to say things like the things we say and do online are like "electronic tattoos" once its online it doesn't go away, even if you delete it, it doesn't really go away. 

Juan then states that facial recognition software has improved well enough over the last couple years that it is 84 - 94% accurate. This means its getting harder and harder to completely wipe yourself from digital space. Juan then goes on to explain some of the applications of facial recognition and how in 2012 a website by the name of Face.com was bought by Facebook. Face.com is a API database with as of 2011 18 billion faces. 

Another video that peaked my interest was a TED talk by Finn Lutzow-Holm. In the video he discusses the issue of internet privacy and how easy it is for 3rd parties to access your personal info just because you skipped passed the terms of service and agreed to them. This is a serious issue because not only are companies giving out your info, they are making it easier and easier to spy on you through deception. Companies do this by making it incredibly difficult for the common person to understand what they are doing behind the scenes this way no one tries to dig into what they are doing.

Many of these issues effect the world around us many times I have accepted the terms of service without question. We always joke that people are always listening in on us and yet it doesn't seem like a joke anymore. There are people out in the world with no care for who they hurt and they can very easily gain access to your information and use it to there benefit. All because you blindly accept the technology used in everyday life. It's scary to think that someone at anytime of the day can learn what you look like, where you are and just who you are in general.