Blog Post #7 

Privacy

I used to think everything I did on a personal device or in my home was safe, and I had a sense of privacy. Privacy was never something I thought I would have to second guess about. However, privacy is not what I once thought it was. There is no privacy within the Digital Age that we live in today. The TED talks were very interesting and highlighted the realities of privacy today. 

I've been in a situation where I would be on the phone with my mom talking about a sweatshirt I wanted or something along those lines, and then when I hung up, sweatshirt ads were all I saw. I am also guilty of the situation where when I open a website and the cookies notification pops up, I immediately click accept without thinking. The first TED talk I found that resonated with these situations was Christopher Soghoian's "How to avoid surveillance... with the phone in your pocket". In this TED talk, Soghoian highlights the issue of our phones listening to us. Our phones wiretap, where they can track our conversations and highlight keywords. Then, governments and other companies can exploit this data for profit and overall surveillance. This happens essentially with no consent and our knowledge of it happening at all. He talks about the importance of encryption to ensure our digital privacy—companies like Apple install high-end encryptions to their products so they cannot be easily wiretapped. These encryptions are often built into the products and on by default. This is what makes the government mad. For example, Prime Minister Cameron believes that the government should be able to track communications, and the encryptions are making that difficult. Although we live in a dangerous age with bad people, that should not outweigh the majority of good people's privacy. Soghoian ends with an emphasis on securing our devices and using all necessary encryption tools and devices to take proactive measures to ensure our privacy.

The second TED talk that I liked, was Juan Enriquez's "Your online life, permanent as a tattoo". This video is essential to understand because it emphasizes that your online identity is not as anonymous as some might think. Keeping your digital footprint clean is so important. Enriquez talks about the importance of this because your digital identity sticks with you forever. My business professors have also emphasized this point because future employers will do a search on you when you apply for an internship or job, so it's important always to keep this in mind.