Right to Privacy is a Myth in this Digital Era

As of today, we are surrounded by media, posts, likes, comments, and uploads. We have access to information from all over the world with a click. In our daily life, we are habituated to posting almost everything we eat, buy, wear, cook, make, or do everywhere we visit. We share our lifestyle with people across the globe, sitting in our living rooms with just a device and a smartphone. The Internet has given us the benefit of being constantly connected, and now everyone has an opinion and, most importantly, the opportunity to share it with the world. So convenient, Right? But the question here is, is our shared information or data safe? Is it being kept private? I mean, the sites and applications do assure us that whatever we put online will be limited to us; we even have the option to privatise our accounts, posts, etc., we are being told that whoever we chat with, the messages are end-to-end encrypted, and all our data will be confidential, but are they really?

Well, I don’t think so. Information technology is highly fueled by efficiencies in processing power and storage capacity, rabid consumer adoption of sensor-rich devices, and refinements in machine learning, which have made it easier to hack or track our data. Whatever we do, wherever we go, our locations, consumptions, our posts, pictures, and even our DNA is in one way or another being recorded and interpreted. See, the aim for this may be to improve our experiences, providing us with better services and products, or it could be used by our competitors. Whether harmless or not, our privacy is being compromised, and that is the matter of concern here. The Internet provides us with free services, but what they charge us for is the data, and what we pay for is our privacy. I am not saying that they collect data and put it on the Internet and make it viral (that would be troubling), but still, our personal information is retrieved by organizations or the government and others who profit from our knowledge of behavior. And you know the most interesting part is that almost everybody is aware of this, but we still give up our digital privacy, accepting that information can no longer be controlled if we engage as consumers with it. Earlier, it was easier to share information because it was going only to the entity whom we can trust, like a bank, a government agency, or a colleague, and we can reasonably assume that it will not jeopardize our confidentiality but with the rise of the digital era, it has become complicated to share our details it might be distributed to a broader group and could be used for a different purpose.

Apart from knowing all these complications, we actually cannot do much because the choice is either to use the product or service, or get marginalized from a broader section of society, because no one today goes without a smartphone and internet connection. But what we can do is be a little careful of what and where we share or post and read and think before signing “Agree” or clicking “Accept” to any lengthy digital document.