WEEK11 Part 2 Privacy: What if we know what they know?

    Another disputed topic is online privacy, should we have complete privacy? It is a very complicated discussion as the counter argument is strong. Complete privacy also ensures a high degree of anonymity therefore making it more difficult for law enforcement to identify criminals or other wrong doers. However, an individual with no intentions of criminal activity will feel wrongfully treated.

    The NSA and other security agencies run security checks on specific words, phrases and activities on certain websites. If the words “bomb”, “how to build a weapon” etc. are searched the user will most probably be registered by their system. In such cases I would agree that an increased interest in such topics should be monitored as they could pose a certain threat, but as somebody that studies engineering and is sometimes merely interested in knowing how things work and the science behind certain technologies, I feel uncomfortable doing research on such topics. Furthermore, investigative journalists, or scientist or historians might be interested in just reading facts and not being monitored by some government agency. And then again to guarantee their innocence the agencies need to collect further information on the individual, creating a profile so that it can be proven whether he or she is a threat or not, which infringes on a person’s privacy even further.

    I would find it interesting to know what kind of profile exists on myself. Just in theory, if everybody would have access to their own profile: What information does the government or any other institution have on you?, how would that change peoples behavior on the internet? Many users think that privacy mode in a browser ensures privacy, what it merely does is hide to other users of the computer what the search history is. By not saving cookies and deleting the history it gives users a feeling of safety and privacy, however the IP addresses and other information on the user are still saved on the servers of the platforms used. That is all information on an individual that can be collected, stuff somebody chose to do in the incognito mode because they feel safe. Does the government track which adult websites individuals use, or whether they are on dating apps, or are having an affair? It is evident that not only information on activities involving possible threats is saved, as without additional information a profile could not be created.

    A year ago, I a friend visited me, who himself was in the German military and he told me about practice operations and the weapons they use, topics that I usually have nothing in common with. A couple of days later I visited a friend who was in the Estonian military service at the time, who again described his experiences. The next day my YouTube homepage was a mix of cooking videos, DIY clips and “How a tank is built” or “how to disassemble the standard German military rifle”. I did not search anything close to that, I just spent time with people who might have such interests, or my microphone picked up the conversation. However I felt very unsafe and worried about my privacy, as violence and guns are not topics I have any interest in. A couple of day later my dad told me, how he sat in the train for several hours with my cousins wife, who is Bulgarian, and the next day got advertisements on “Young Bulgarian Women”. It is obvious that an algorithm works the data and creates advertisements or home pages based on that, however the question is rather who has access to that data, for how long does it stay on the internet and how does it affect my profile?

    I think everybody should have the right to access their own profile as it is their personal information. For security reasons, complete privacy would be dangerous, however users should be more aware of what information is gathered on them, not only by having access to their profile but by generally being more educated what privacy mode means, what the terms and conditions entail, what apps track what information, even myself who is involved a lot with IT and technology mostly have little knowledge of what my phone tracks, last week I found on a far end of google maps, many GPS tracks of my movements, even of hikes and bike rides I did in 2014, however they notified me of the existing information which at least I found respectful, but  still uncomfortable knowing that they have all that information.