Privacy-What it means in today’s world.

“Arguing that you don’t care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don’t care about free speech because you have nothing to say.” “When you say, ‘I have nothing to hide,’ you’re saying, ‘I don’t care about this right.”- Edward Snowden.

In today’s world, everything seems to be obvious, there is a constant war or let’s call it a struggle between privacy and publicity. Some may argue that no sort of publicity is bad publicity while others might not even care about their privacy so far, they can get the required amount of attention that they crave, intentionally a number of us, willingly give out private information about our lives for content on social media. But all this information you may give out both willing fully and unwilling fully may in return jeopardize even our fundamental human rights, as a result, gradually these bits of data collected in an atomic scale goes on to become chunks of information by the big data companies which in return use it to generate revenue, the moment you accept their terms and conditions for their products or services you are bound to them for a very long time, and it’s a one-way journey one in which they ecstatic generate as much revenue from you without your knowledge or consent. But I simply asked if a person agreed to the terms and conditions should it mean that their rights be stripped from them and abused because of a naïve indecision?

A few weeks ago, someone asked a bit of a question on why he got several notifications on a particular product few days after checking it out over the internet or even discussing it with a friend or colleague. And he sounded so distraught that I could feel he felt violated in a large extent but also felt helpless because he needed those products and services. The internet has grown over the years into what we call the clogging chain of data, it chugs out bits of data, from everyone, and this data is transformed into what generally becomes the social psychology of the person. In this case, the user. There’s a whole lot your computers or mobile devices know about a person, even the social media apps or web sites you frequent, can build an exact figurine of you on the internet and it would be an upgraded version of you, but it’s not magic, it’s simply a data collecting and management tool in its finest form. We live simply in an age where people are not conscious of their privacy or they require a temporary attention at the sake of a piece of themselves, and others might simply shrug and ask you, “what do I have to hide?” when you try to call their attention to being careless with their private data. Although a lot of companies are genuinely dishonest and irresponsible with the utilization of users private data and information a lot of users are also complicit, they willing fully give out such data independently, which may pose a security threat to them among other sorts of threats in the future. With a rapid increase in kidnappings and identity theft all around the world, it’s imperative to note that a couple of them stem from victims divulging their private information’s on social media, even false unemployment postings are sent to users who had one way or the other hinted that they were unemployed at a particular time. Some online blogs are known to generate traffic through the use of such social media postings, leading to a resultant rise in fake news. There’s a popular internet terminology for people putting out all their lives and risking their privacy on social media at the altar of attention and it’s called “Clout” it’s another name for vain, at some points in our lives a lot of us, were vain and so it’s not a dysfunction. We all want to show who is doing better or who is doing great among our peers, so we post both the relevant and the irrelevant on social media, and in return hackers and other criminals get their cues from such postings to do you harm. Most times the harm isn’t targeted at the individual who made the posting it may be intended at a second person, which could be a close relative or friend. Often I almost always wonder what people derived from making everything about their lives known to internet strangers but to be honest I wouldn’t be one to judge, because it would be hypocritical of me since we all need a dose of happiness to keep us sane and celebrating our “small wins” shouldn’t cause any harm, but unfortunately, some people get drunk in the happiness of it. So, while we may all be complicit at some point or the other there’s also a growing concern about data theft which both developed and developing countries may face, and even the most careful individuals may be victims. So, after highlighting all of these issues, the growing questions in your minds maybe, what could be done?

Well, the big data companies are giants and we’re just minuscule in the whole big game of revenue generation fuelled by greed. We don’t exactly have a say, because most of their products are already a part of our daily lives and its also important to note that quite a number of these tech companies including network companies are in bed with either our government or several other foreign governments, and they’d argue that the data is needed for surveillance and security sake. But there’s something we can do, firstly, we have to be responsible internet users, it’s not everything that goes on in your daily life that you need to post or talk about, keep your life mysterious, not everyone is entitled to know everything except you’re a reality tv star and you generate a revenue from the posts. Secondly, avoid the temptations of posting people in public places, it is illegal to record a video or conversation of a person without their consent, while many of us may be guilty of this, we are always in a rush to bring out our mobile devices to record things in public, people have a right to their privacy, but unless its an emergency then you may not need to record them at any time. Thirdly, avoid posting screenshots of conversations between you and a second party without their consent, this is most common in today’s world because everyone needs receipts but unless it’s also an emergency or a court order is issued to clear your name, you should stay off doing that. Fourthly, be conscious of the websites and apps you use, and check their policies on privacy, if it seems shady, its better to stay safe and run, and also avoid pornographic sites, they are famous for viruses and hackers and also avoid entering websites that so many ads are parked on, might be a red flag, although certain devices have strong firewalls to protect you, there are also a lot of free plugins you can attach to your browsers. Lastly, in case you feel, your privacy has been violated at any point, delete the app or your postings, encrypt your data and emails and report to the app developer or the relevant authorities promptly. I must also add that, it’s better to be conscious with your privacy because you never can tell who is watching you illegally, read your privacy rights for every app and product you subscribe to, do not be careless with your private information like credit/debit card details, social security numbers/bank verification numbers, etc.

Note: This article remains solely an opinion of the author, does not represent any factual assertion.