Blog #5 Issues of the Digital Age

 Technology and Its Risks 

With the increase of technological advancements and usage has come a risk for personal information and ongoing surveillance across all platforms. Many issues were discussed in the TED talk videos, and it has made me realize the lack of privacy social media and government surveillance has brought. Whether it's a phone call or location tracking, the government knows our every move, and it's storing the information on everyone in case it may be useful. This is a threat to all especially because the government is invading personal privacy in every aspect.

Juan Enriquez introduced the idea of "electronic tattoos." When we use apps like Twitter, Facebook, Credit Card Score apps and so forth all the information we give is collected and stored forever. Facial Recognition is a new advancement that can be very useful for quick login and access, but with our face being registered to store all of our information, each of the "electronic tattoos" being collected on you are now identifiable with your face. This is an issue now for privacy, but also a threat to immortality, the data collected on us will live much longer than we do. 

Mass surveillance allows the government to gather mass information on all of us, said Catherine Crump. The government has gone as far as tracking vehicles and using our traveling information to paint a picture of who they thunk we are, and whether were a threat to the community or not. Police departments hold on to all of the information they gather in case it may be useful one day, and even track the movement of our phones to see where we are when not driving our cars. This shows just because we may not see it doesn't mean it's not there, this is a threat to civil liberties because movements of innocent people are tracked and could be used against citizens.

Christopher Soghoian discussed how yes, many are aware that telephone companies and the networks that carry our calls have access to our information, but what we don't realize is this can be surveilled by our government, other governments, stalkers, hackers and so on that gain access to the tracking networks. We have no control over who can access the networks, and there have been times in the past were Microsoft and Google have been compromised by the Chinese government, and used against citizens.

These informative TED talks showed me how important it is to give as minimal information as possible to online networks. It's scary to think that even when we aren't online, movements are still be tracked, and nothing is safe. I will make sure to inform family and friends on the power the government has and uses with surveillance.