My goal here is to deliver basic information about the privacy side of technology for an ordinary person who is not into IT or Computer Science. This article will help you understand many issues our society faces in this modern age and what are the possible ways you can mitigate them.
What is Privacy?
To grasp the importance of privacy, you first have to understand what privacy is. A quick search on Google will tell you that privacy is a fundamental human right. It exists in virtually any human rights law, including the "Universal Declaration of Human Rights" which was proclaimed by the United Nations in 1948. So, that is it, right? Well, not so much. Let me explain...
In fact, privacy is still quite a new concept. It simply wasn't around 300 years ago. When did it originate? Some date it back to the U.S. Constitution, but it doesn't explicitly guarantee or protect the right to privacy itself. In my opinion, privacy only came into being with Brandeis's "Right to Privacy" in 1890. It was a law review article now considered one of the most influential essays in American legal history. Only after it did other laws and rulings start being implemented, such as the Ruling on Protection of Sealed Mail (1917) in the U.S., the famous U.N. Declaration of Human Rights, and more.
At this point, history was going in the right direction. But then, in 2001, the 9/11 tragedy happened. After this horrible act of terrorism, the people and the government of the United States basically gave intelligence agencies carte blanche to do anything they wanted. The only goal was to find terrorists.
However, these agencies quickly moved from searching for terrorists to spying on average people. The only reason we know about it is the Snowden leaks. Thanks to Edward Snowden, we've realized that the government had illegally spied on millions of people, violating their right to privacy and their constitutional rights. In fact, there is no proof that they ever stopped doing it.
From that point, everything has gotten even worse. Nowadays, we have both governments and multi-billion dollar companies storing and analyzing everything you do on your computer. Creepy, right? But why should you care, you say? "I have nothing to hide."
You May Have Nothing to Hide but Everything to Lose
This is a phrase I heard a long time ago, and it stuck in my head. It perfectly illustrates the state of privacy in our modern age.
Let me give you an example that will definitely make you think about privacy. In Avondale, United States, there was a case where police arrested an innocent man for murder with almost no evidence but data they got from Google saying his phone was there. However, Jorge Molina (the name of the accused) was nowhere near the crime scene at the time in question. Nevertheless, he was transported to jail and interrogated for several hours. After all, he was let go, but the life of this person was almost ruined for nothing.
Mr. Molina filed a lawsuit against the city, chief of police, and several officers for defamation, gross negligence, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. But, unfortunately, he won't get back what he lost. Now, when he tries to get a job, a quick Google search by HR will show his mugshot with an article titled "Suspect in Avondale homicide from March arrested." It will be hard to employ a person after seeing that. And why did this happen? Just because Google collects all the data they can about you. Not only that, they also share this data without your consent or an option to opt-out. This is only one of many instances where data collected about a person harmed said person.
Speaking of Google searches, this is probably how you search the Internet, right? An interesting fact is that Google doesn't actually give you the "raw" results for your query. They filter the results through a proprietary algorithm (meaning we don't have access to it), then arrange them to "better fit your search pattern." The problem with that is that the system and this algorithm can be easily abused. Many researchers have stated that Google's tampering (intentional or not) may sway public opinion. Journalists and tech enthusiasts have also found evidence that this algorithm affects or at least tries to affect the results of elections and other important issues like certain bills and laws.
Going down the rabbit hole, the insane amount of data about you and the ability to sway or even control public opinion is a path to a dystopian future and the fall of freedom as we know it. Nowadays, it is not some sci-fi movie but a real possibility. I urge you to take actions before one of the awful things I described happens to you. Don't let someone else control your actions and your life.
Conclusion
I hope this scares you enough to start making changes. Some of them are free, very easy to do, and won't impact your daily life at all. I urge you to take actions before one of the awful things I described happens to you. Don't let someone else control your actions and your life.
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