Privacy (or not) across Technology

 

From a young age I was always taught that whatever you put on the internet will be out there forever. I never really took it seriously because I didn't think it was true. To an extent I still believe it is not true depending on who cares for whatever you are looking for. When company's like Facebook who owns Face.com have a reputation for targeting users based on their digital preferences and internet footprint, then I believe that whatever you post on sites like these is worth caring about. I also started believing more in what you post always stays on the internet when targeted ads started to become more prevalent. Everyone would always joke that the government or our phones were listening to us, but then it turned out to be true. Companies claim to only use this data to market to its users, but something still rubs me the wrong way knowing that they are listening to you. Luckily tech companies like Apple do an excellent job at assuring their customers data is private, especially from the government, which reassures me a little bit, but I'm am still a little wary. 

Similar to the first Ted Talk, the second one was also a bit worrying because as it relates to phones, they are the basis for wiretapping and electronic surveillance. In fact according the Ted Talk phones were invented with the intention of surveillance. This makes total sense to me because I believe that anything that is connected to the internet and an electronic network can be easily accessed by the government. Around the time that phones were invented, almost every technological phenomenon was controlled by the government, including commercial flight schedules. So of course the government would want in on it especially if it meant that they could intercept potential enemies of the state. So in the grand scheme of things I agree with the speaker of the second Ted Talk in that we should be grateful for some encryption instead of none and the companies that utilize it, because it ensures some right to ever so fading privacy.