One of the questions that was posed in the 2014 Bilderberg Meetings was the question of whether privacy still exists in the age of the internet. If you don’t know what the Bilderberg Meetings are, I suggest checking out their site, and the Wikipedia page. If you don’t have time to check them out, lemme give you the skinny (if you want to skip this, go to the next paragraph). The Bilderberg meetings are held once a year in which 120 to 150 people meet in to discuss the future and direction of two out of three of the world’s biggest powers: North America and Europe. The people who attend are usually the (political) elite and experts. The meetings are “free to discuss” but no one can quote anyone else to “ensure that the participants feel they can speak freely in an environment of trust”, so there is a measure of secrecy and a lack of transparency. As a result, no one (except the attendees) knows what was discussed at the meeting.
One person who is in regular attendance of the meetings is none other than Eric Schmidt, CEO of Alphabet Inc, the parent company of Google. One of the things that he is renowned for saying is “the Google policy… is to get right up to the creepy line but not cross it”. What does this mean exactly? Well, it means that there are certain things that people think are creepy but what Google tries to do it get right up in your face with, for example, targeted advertising but not completely creep you out by doing things that are rather suspicious, for example send you letters via snail mail. Google (“with your permission”, more on that in a moment) takes your information and provides you with services and suggestions such as nearby shops and places to eat. While this is all fine and dandy, there is a privacy concern associated with this: you are literally being tracked everywhere you go and every search you make is also being tracked. This information is being stored on a server somewhere far away and using the right words this information can be accessed by anyone. In fact, Google answered over 80,000 requests for information in the first half of 2017 alone.
“Our automated systems analyze your content (including emails) to provide you personally relevant product features, such as customized search results, tailored advertising, and spam and malware detection. This analysis occurs as the content is sent, received, and when it is stored.”– Google Terms and Conditions
Google tracks you “with your permission”, which means that you must accept to be tracked and traced like an animal yourself. Ever read the terms and conditions for a Google Account? It says in there that they store and use the information you “provide” them with, but you can switch some of these tracks off. No one cares enough about this however, so we all blissfully walk around with our little HAL 9000s in our pockets reporting back to home everything you are doing. The “My Activity” page shows you all the dirt Google has on you. Suspected of being a threat? Google will happily comply with the authority figures and pass this information over without even letting you know. While I’m aware that there are legitimate threats out there who can be stopped with this technology, most us are not any real threat to public safety yet Google will happily comply with almost any request they get. An example I’m thinking of is a political activist who is standing up against government corruption in their land. They may not be a threat to the lives of people, but they are a threat to the status quo and they would be targeted by the authorities who will use information they gain from the likes of Google to single them out. Not only in this case is privacy at threat, but I’m sure if everyone knew this they would not be happy about being treated like this, that the government (who are already renowned for their mass surveillance, including the MI5, NSA and CIA. I’ll get to that soon) can just pick up all the personal data about you and isolate you if they feel necessary. Sure, you can give the argument that “If you are doing nothing wrong then you should have nothing to hide”, but that’s just silly. Would you be happy letting someone watch you do your stuff in the bathroom? No? Then why are you happy broadcasting all your thoughts, feelings, location history, device usage etc to people you don’t know? Privacy is a basic human right (in America it’s part of the Fourth Amendment, and in the UK it’s a part of the Human Rights Act of 1998, Article 8 to be specific). Today, more than ever, our privacy is at risk and if somebody doesn’t do something soon we will all lose this basic right.
This is one example of a large company that tracks you, another one who does this is Microsoft. Starting with Windows 8, and the introduction of the app store, Microsoft began providing an advertising platform (like Google’s AdSense) for developers to put advertisements on their apps. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m all for putting advertisements on applications to help support app developers and keep the lights on. However, when Microsoft started implementing trackers into Windows 8 to aid “targeted advertising” then there was an issue. These trackers tracked everything, from app usage to typing data. This stuff is intrusive and like Google’s tracking is a large privacy issue because all your information is being stored in some weird black box in the middle of nowhere. To be honest, I’m sure there are people who are perfectly okay with this kind of spying but I’m not and I’m hoping that others aren’t. I’m hoping this article reaches as many people as possible, so the message can get out there. People need to release that things aren’t how they should be.
Talking about targeted advertising, I wouldn’t mind if I was asked what I like so that I can receive offers about what I may like to purchase in the future, however when my computer is spying on me I not so comfortable with receiving offers based on things I’ve never told the damn thing. If I could not be targeted based on what I do and just be provided with information I have requested to be shown. This is different than spying, as I’m telling what I want to see and at the end of the day I’m in control of what I see and ultimately it means that I’m making the decisions rather than some algorithm giving me suggestions constantly and clouding my thought.
I mentioned earlier about mass surveillance. This has been an issue for quite some time now. It has been known that the intelligence agencies of governments, foreign or otherwise have been spying on it’s people using technology either by monitoring social media data or just straight up hacking a computer to get the information they need. I realise that there are practical uses for this like tracking down a mass murderer or similar psychopaths, but you need to see that these agencies are spying on everyone (hence the term mass surveillance). As a result, the actual records on the people who are a threat get lost in an endless stream of social data.
You know, the question of whether privacy exists or not shouldn’t be a thing. Privacy should be a given. If you want to make a start and become more disconnected from this nonsense, I would suggest using the search engine DuckDuckGo. It is a great search engine which is extremely reliable and not only help you start to break the surveillance but also will help you break out of the filter bubble. However, if you feel that you have a specialty in something I would suggest trying to learn as much about that subject as possible. Search engines are good for research but the more you know, the more you leave relying on technology behind. For example, my Wordio app is for people to learn new words but it shouldn’t replace reading books. The more vocabulary you have, the more you can enjoy conversing with other people. Another thing you can do is tape up your webcam and microphone on your laptop. Hackers can activate your webcam and engage your microphone without your knowledge. You may be saying to yourself that you would know if the camera was engaged because the little indicator light beside the camera would be on, however this simple is not the case as hackers can bypass the system and turn on the camera without activities the light, allowing them to spy on you and use what you say or do against you without your knowledge. If you really need your webcam and microphone, you should buy an external one and use it instead, remembering to disconnect it from your computer when you’re finished.
Not only can people get information off you from Google or intelligence agencies, they can also get information off your ISP (ISP: Internet Service Provider, people like AT&T or BT). Your browsing history is stored on their servers and can be sold to the highest bidder. In this case another thing you’ll have do to try in the effort to protect your privacy is to invest in a VPN. There are many free ones out there, but if you want to be sure that the VPN you are using doesn’t track what you are doing I suggest using TunnelBear. They have great speeds with good prices and they offer you 500MB free trail. If you can't afford to buy the service then I would suggest Betternet, but be careful about using free VPNs. They could be just as bad as ISPs. As well as using a VPN if you are really paranoid about being followed on the Internet I would suggest using the Tor network. I’m not going to tell you how to set that up, I’ll let you figure that one out.
Privacy, in the traditional sense, is a thing of the past. It is entirely possible to lead a private life but that would entail removing yourself from all technology and possible moving out to the country side, a method commonly known as “going off grid”. However, I’m sure most people (including myself) are not prepared to give up these wonderful devices so we must take the appropriate steps to ensure that our data is not stolen. Not only can this information be used by governments against you, it could also be stolen by hackers to blackmail you into, for example, handing over a substantial amount of money to prevent your data being leaked. This may result in a loss of convenience, but at the end of the day I’d rather go the long way around than save a few seconds of my time and know that something, somewhere is using that information against me.
How can you help in the fight for privacy? The most important part of a revolution is information. Most people think that revolution entails physical violence, but this may not be the case in this example. If more people are taught that their personal information is being sold to provide targeted advertising and is being manipulated to provide incriminating evidence against them they would think twice about using the “free” online services that are provided to them. Until they stop treating us all like we are guilty until proven innocent we will all be treated like cattle. The first thing you can do is start a conversation about this stuff with people. Start by asking the same question I asked at the start of the article: “Does Privacy Exist?”. From there, start to show people that over the last 20 years we have had our privacy slowly striped away from us and that’s an issue. Take a moment now, after reading this article, and ask yourself seriously: Does Privacy Exist?
