Blog Post #2: Techonolgy Truths Revealed

Technology has only been around for hundreds of years. That number seems like a lot, but in all honesty, that number is very low considering the number of years we had before us. However, the rapid advancement of technology in recent years has revolutionized the way we live our lives. From smartphones to social media, technology has become an integral part of our daily routines. It has made communication easier and more efficient, connecting people from all corners of the world. It has also made information more accessible, allowing us to learn and discover new things at a faster pace than ever before. The healthcare industry has also been transformed by technology, with medical breakthroughs and advancements in treatments that have saved countless lives. But what if I told you that this is the beginning of the loss of privacy?

It's true that after listening to the Ted Talks you have lost your own privacy, and you may never get it back. Most of these issues brought up within the TedTalk affected me in some way, while the others really did not have an effect on me. The four Ted Talks were about the following: electronic tattoos, camera enhancements, phone surveillance, and revenge porn, but most people know it as cyberbullying.

Starting off with electronic tattoos can mean you can unlock your phone with a simple swipe of your wrist, but it could also mean the beginning of a new time of privacy concerns and data tracking. When you send a message, the data can be seen by anyone who can access the database and get any information that they want. This one and the one about phone surveillance are the ones that would affect me the most, and this is why. Just say I would be on the phone and would have to give out personal information, such as my credit card information. That would mean that if someone were to hack into the database where all that data is stored, I would lose my card information because now the person who was able to access the database has all the information they need to do whatever they want with it.

The next two issues that were discussed in the videos were camera enhancement and revenge porn. I am not affected by either of these, but I will discuss what each of them means and how they impact others. Camera enhancement refers to the use of a camera, mainly within the police department, because one of the examples in the video shows cameras located on police cars. The camera located on the cars would scan each license plate that passed it, run it through a database, and see if the individual was on some kind of watch list. So if you were to pass by a cop and they took a picture of your license plate, they would be able to know everything about you. Revenge porn is basically like cyberbullying but with inappropriate photos of someone else that are put onto a website. This is why they tell you to be careful about what you put on the internet because once it is out there, you can never get it back. The lady in the video shares her story about how this exact thing happened to her. This type of thing happens all the time, and people's lives are getting ruined because of it. 

The next thing to ask is what the government is going to do about these issues. That is going to be hard to do due to them being responsible for three out of the four issues. The government could maybe be able to only use the devices for what they are used for, rather than taking advantage of them and using them for other unnecessary things. For example, camera surveillance, camera enhancement, and revenge porn could all be prevented if the government put something like a fireball around them and did not let other people access those databases to see everything that was stored in them. 

Finally, the last thing you should wonder is, what would be the best way to reduce the invasion of our privacy? That is a good question. The only thing I could think of would be getting rid of technology altogether. That solution would never happen because of the generation we have today, where everything revolves around the use of technology. After closer consideration, it would not work to completely take away technology because the healthcare field has been thriving due to the enhancement of technology. So the next idea is that if we had the ability to control who could access our personal data, we could feel more secure and protected in our online interactions.