A world where privacy is priceless

You and I think we’re free to do and say anything we want, but at what cost? In today’s digital world, there are consequences that we need to consider. Let’s talk about consent in terms of personal data.

I recently watched a TED talk by Jennifer Golbeck. She explains why sharing our personal data online is an issue. If we knew the ramifications of our actions, most of us would behave quite differently online. We share information, updates, news and likes ‘innocently’ and we avoid thinking about the reality. The reality that algorithms in the background are using all the data to craft an understanding of us in an effort to sell us more products i.e. they are keeping our eye balls on the screen so that we see adverts from companies who sell products/services.

Unintentionally giving consent

So what does this mean for us on a daily basis?

We upload photos to social media thinking our aunty in London or cousin in Australia can watch our kids growing up when, in fact behind the scenes, we are giving away millions of little pieces of information that are very indirectly sold to the highest bidder.

So why is nobody taking a stand against this surveillance economy?

As Malcolm Gladwell mentions in his book Talking to Strangers, we are encouraged on a societal level to be more trusting than discerning, more agreeable than confrontational and more passive than aggressive. This is necessary for the world to run at the pace that is does.  

People see the good side of social media and ignore the less attractive parts. Ignorance is bliss, isn’t it? And now, we seem to be too far down the rabbit hole to reverse. So we need to find a viable way forward that ensures some level of privacy with us still sharing a certain amount online.

Outsmarting the beast

I infamously love telling the Facebook and Instagram algorithms that the ads they are showing me are “irrelevant”. In my head, that’s a big middle finger to them, like a “Haha, you think you know me, take this!” kind of thing.

What I’m actually doing by marking ads irrelevant is taking back some semblance of control in my online existence, something most people don’t think is necessary. If AI is coming, and let’s be honest, it’s already here, then we need to take responsibility for what we allow it to know about us. Otherwise it will make up its own mind about who we are and we may struggle to claim back our sense of self.

Do we still have the power to take back our consent?

Yuval Harari has forecasted that soon AI will know us better than (or before) we know ourselves. If you think that is impossible, listen to some of his talks where he describes the tools that AI will use to get to know us and you’ll realise it’s not future, sci-fi mumbo jumbo anymore.

What I understood from watching Jennifer’s TED Talk is that now is the time to put our own boundaries in place, because nobody in this Capitalist world is going to do it for us.

If you’re looking to outsource the creation of your communication strategy or content, let’s grab a coffee!