Is privacy on the Internet possible?
How many of you don´t have an e-mail account and a profile on any social network? Who doesn´t use Whatsapp? Who has never bought anything on the Internet? Never before had we given so much access to our personal information as today because of the Internet. Are we risking our privacy every day and we don´t even care about it? Can the new technologies prove to have negative consequences?
Computers, laptops, smartphones, tablets... We are surrounded by tools with which we can be connected to the net as much time as possible. Nowadays we couldn´t imagine living without Internet. Not so many years ago we didn´t have it and because of that we didn´t need it. But this situation is not possible anymore. Every day we consume and publish a lot of information on the Internet. Even many people are developing kind of addiction to be connected and/or informed all the time. This short film called "Information Gluttony" from the designer Myra Wippler describes it well: http://vimeo.com/109277921
It is very important to use the new technologies and taking care of the information that we publish on it. For instance, everybody remembers the story of Edward Snowden, who filtered massive amounts of information to show the power that the US government has over citizen´s private data. One of the consequences of that was a worldwide debate about privacy and control of information.
We need to think deeply about how we use the new technologies and the inevitability of being connected to the World Wide Web. Even if you are not publishing any personal information or photos, someone can do it for you without your consent. This situation is more dangerous if we talk about teenagers and children, who are completely used to the new technologies but maybe are not aware enough about the consequences of using it in a wrong way. There is a general lack of awareness about the importance of protecting the information and using the new technologies and all of its advantages in a safe way. So it is up to us to be careful with the information that we publish, especially on social networks like Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, which have become part of our lives.
At this point, I would like to recommend a great fictional TV series that can explain all these fears in an extreme way. Black Mirror is not just about the Internet, each episode is a separate story with its own plot, characters and atmosphere set in a twisted, dystopian future in which the new technologies have become a negative tool. This British TV series, created by Charlie Brooker, won an International Emmy in 2012 for Best TV Mini-Series. It started on December 2011 with its first season; the second one was released on February 2013 and the fans are still waiting for a confirmation about the third one. Every season has 3 episodes with independents stories which make us think about the magnitude of the new technologies in our lives and the dehumanization that they can involve.
Isabel Barragán
