Selling our privacy with the illusion of buying Technology

I have been very reluctant to write these days, I guess it's because of the cold. I have about two write-ups, I've only written halfway and I have just been too slothful to complete them but let’s hope I’m able to complete this. The temperature is falling again but this time I think I adore it, at least for the time being before it goes down to negatives. The past few days, my sleep has been beautiful making me to come to the conclusion that sleep is the best gift to us from God. Blessed is the latter end than the beginning <--- this doesn’t follow when it comes to sleeping in a cold abode especially when it’s the alarm that wakes you.

That aside, what actually prompted me to write on this topic was an incident that happened to me a few weeks back. I was talking to a lady on bbm (for those that don’t know what bbm is, it means Blackberry Messenger but for my mum to know what it means Its ok to assume everybody knows the meaning) and she was able to tell when I left work and when I got home without me telling her anything or giving her any hint. Guess what, my phone did. This was how she knew; since there was Wi-Fi at work and at home which my phone automatically connects to when I’m in the range of the Wi-Fi and bbm voice-chat was dependent on Wi-Fi, she was able to tell I left work when the green color of the bbm voice-chat notification turned grey and then turned green back. It turned grey when I left work and turn green when I was back at home. Without my knowledge, with a smart but harmless approach, I had given my possible location away and she had been able to track my movement to a reasonable degree. She didn't even require any technical skill to be able to track my movement, how sadL.

Privacy, according to Webster’s online dictionary is “freedom from unauthorized intrusion.” Here is what Uncle-Google defines it as “a state in which one is not observed or disturbed by other people”, which I believe gives a clearer illustration of what privacy really is. The minute one is being observed or monitored, they lost their privacy. But the question is, “Is there any such thing as privacy?” We live in a world where it has been said that the US government logs and listens to every call, view every text message, monitor every online activity including random uploads and download, every tweet you have ever sent is logged (and you see some people tweet their privacy away and talk about the most personal things on twitter just to get attention, some folks practically tweet their every action #GetALife). Someone once lamented on how he doesn't understand why some people just posts some things on social media, he simply said, if you can’t hang the post in front of your house, then don’t post it.

I find it rather difficult to liken the pace at which technology is advanced as it seems to be faster than that of light. Technology is faster than fast (Flash). A couple of weeks back, I was planning to get the Nexus 4 since bbm is now on the Android platform but before I was done entering my credit card details to order the Nexus 4, Nexus 5 was out and then I had to take a chill-pill to make a decision. Technology has definitely proven to me that we can be whatever we want to, as long as we believe and set our mind to it. As a kid, I used to think science was witchcraft but over time I realised there was more to science and technology than just witchcraft. It is all about using proven facts to push limits, to push the boundaries set by our minds. I was reading a few months back and discovered that there has been a successful experiment on one individual controlling the actions of another individual using electroencephalography (Neurology). Controlling other objects with your mind is pretty amazing but controlling another human with your thoughts, blew my mind.  Before learning the fundamentals of wireless technology, I actually felt it was a pretty cool advancement but I discovered there was really no ‘abracadabra’ to it and it was just as a result of well-tailored research.

With all these fun and cool stuffs technology has brought to us, the way we live our everyday life is definitely set to change. No doubt technology has obviously eased our livelihood but if not effectively/efficiently, it can be to our very own detriment. An example of this is how easy it is to take pictures and upload it to Instagram and other social media right away with just a click. Little do we know that by default, the geo-tagging of pictures is on by default which is then saved with the properties of the picture. On uploading these pictures, you do so with their properties making it possible for any random person to pick up these pictures, extract the properties and be able to tell your house address, the school you attend, where you shop and a whole lot of other information. Here is a  a video I found on YouTube, it sums it up.

Another example I can think of is the Facebook check-in app they released few years back. With this app, you could check-in to any location you are at any point. I used the app about twice or thrice and my ‘thread-with-care’ instinct came over me. I used it to monitor my friend’s movements though. As awesome as the GPS is, if not properly managed, it can turn to bite us in the ass and remove the brick wall of privacy we molded around ourselves.

I recently learned that Google has a record of every search we have made on the internet, and my reaction was; WHAT!!! Google, in my opinion, actually knows too much about me. Google knows my home address because of course if I want to get directions to anywhere I have been before; it’s usually my start-point, they know my interests and probably know me more than my girlfriend does. Google has my phone number *I had to verify my email*, they have my contact list, they have all the confidential information I have sent via email and sadly, they also have access to this post L. Knowing that Google keeps a track of all you have searched on the internet, someone then asked; “How would you feel if Google posted a list of searches”? Will you still walk with your shoulders high or burrow your face in the ground? Personally, I won’t want Google to post my searches but really I don’t think I have anything to hide. Most of my searches lately have been definition of words *you know when you type a word, Google shows its definition*, school and companies related searches, location of places and probably a few other weird search like “girls fighting”. 

Still on the search list issue, Thelma Arnold was a woman who was identified through her online search lists in the 2006 AOL search data leak. Thelma, who was a 62-year-old widow from Lilburn, Georgia was accurately identified using a list of her searches by the New York Times. It was rather unfortunate but this is just another example to show that there is no such thing as ‘Privacy’ in this modern day.  Our privacies have been violated times over and to some extent as a result of our unconsciousness or rather our truth and embrace of technology and internet. Another hilarious video I thought I should share is a mini movie clips on the search of another woman titled ‘I Love Alaska’.

Another way we let our privacy to be invaded is through the apps we install on our mobiles. Thank God for the advancement in the security of mobiles and the privilege of limiting what apps installed on the new operating systems have access to. We download a lot of free apps these days without even knowing the origin, as long as it looks good. Some of the apps can be used to steal confidential information from your mobile devices. Sometimes back, I installed a screen muncher app on my blackberry and it was requesting access to my phone’s internet resource. For what?! What would a screen muncher want to do with the connectivity; I just deleted the app without giving a second thought. The Application could possibly be munching my screen every few minutes and sending it to a remote location; I wasn't ready to take the pain to find out.

Advancement in science, technology and internet is undoubtedly one of the best assets of this generation but most people aren't really using it wisely not knowing that while embracing technology, they trade it for their privacy and that this can be seen in the country-to-country espionage which is also the order of the day. In conclusion, when embracing new technology, do so with optimum forethought.