Privacy

Privacy is a basic human right that we can only dream of having in all its entirety. Ironic isn’t it? Something so simple, easy to respect, and so personal, is the one thing that we cannot have solely to ourselves? As the days go by, it has come to my attention more and more how the only thing we have to its entirety is our minds and our bodies—unless you’re a woman, then (in some states) you just have your mind. In the group of Ted Talks I’ve watched regarding our cyber footprint and the discussion of privacy, I’ve found many discussion-worthy points about the government’s involvement in our privacy, and the ways in which we ourselves can hinder our own privacy. 

The most impactful video I’d watched in this series of Ted Talks was the Juan Enriquez talk regarding “electronic tattoos.”  In his talk, he essentially described the internet, social media, and all its inner workings as our own “electronic tattoo,” in which everything we choose to post to the internet stays there forever. And, through this, we can research anything from a person’s credit score to an image of their family within seconds. Additionally, the face.com reference made by Eriquez also implies now businesses and companies can have images of you, in which they can use your likes and desires to form your own personal target market. Realistically speaking, these accounts we create and the content we post will be immortal: and outlive both us and any generations still left to come. The things we post and the beliefs/opinions we share will be plastered on the internet forever; what’s a more privacy violating notion than that? Essentially, this finality and permanence of our words on the internet have everlasting generational effects. For example, if my grandfather had posted something on the internet of questionable taste, and a future employer or “fans” if I were to become famous, look back at my history and my family, they would see this statement or this string of beliefs and hold me accountable. Thus, damaging my reputation and hindering my ability to find employment. 

If there's one thing I have now instilled in my brain in this class, it is the difference between private and public entities. Given that social media sights such as Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok are all private corporations, there is not exactly much the government can do on the social media front in regards to protecting our privacy. Besides, the government does more to violate our privacy than it does to protect it anyway. In fact, about 66% of Americans think the data collected by the government about our personal selves has a higher risk than it does reward (Pew Research). The best and most efficient way the government can help us with regards to privacy, is starting with themselves. Until they can reassess the way they violate our privacy and take accountability, it would be hypocritical to buckle down on any sort of new privacy protection laws. Only then, when they realize the role they play in this violation, can new privacy laws be made, or old ones redefined.

For me, having all of my content I put onto the internet be permanent doesn’t fully bother me, as I’m more of a “like other people’s posts and stalk” type of person, and seldom post my own content. However, I don’t like the idea of permanence in any form of my life, but even though I do not post as much as others, I would still like to know I have the ability to freely post and not worry about it coming to haunt me in fifty years. Therefore, I think the best way to protect ourselves from this issue, since the only thing the government seems to do about it is add fuel to the fire, is try our best to avoid posting personal content onto the internet or its platforms. Although this can be very difficult, it is more than obvious our government doesn’t plan on saving us any time soon, and so it is now every man for himself. One of my favorite history teachers in high school told me this concept in the sphere of historical learning, and it is something I often apply to my everyday life: “there are no absolutes.” For this specific case, what I mean by using this idea is that social media and the internet is completely unavoidable; nobody can detox it and shove it out of their lives completely. We live in a world where this is our new reality, and so we must adapt. Conversely, nobody should be posting every single thing they do or all their opinions on social media, either. Life is about balance, and although this scale might be ever so slightly in constant teetering back and forth, maintaining that balance of personal life and public information is key to attempting to restore what is left of our privacy.