We’re in the middle of a technological renaissance. A huge transformation is happening. Technology is moving at a faster pace now then ever before. Even though some industries (such as medical) remain pre-digital, the majority of our online world is moving at a rapid speed. It’s exciting and scary.
Now, our digital lives have the ability to be stored and monitored forever. Whether this technology is good or bad depends on your perspective. Text, chat, email, video, voice: It’s all surveillance data. It’s easy to not care, or give it much thought, when the technology is ubiquitous. Everything is fine and rosy until we find that we’ve suffocated ourselves. And the technology is now a barrier to our freedom of expression.
Few of us seem to care that our communications can be monitored. Many of us are willing participants. But how can we defend ourselves from this technological frenzy?
As much as I love new technology, I frequently think about all of the possibilities for this technology to be used against us in the future. Now, I don’t want to seem like I’m a Paranoid Android (ok, maybe just a little), but I think it’s important to assess where we’re going with this information. And why this may lead to opportunities for abuse by less scrupulous companies.