The internet debate has always been a controversial topic.Is, to a large extent, the age of the internet an advantage or disadvantage especially in the 21st Century? .I’m not old fashioned or anything but if you seriously peep through the crack, you’ll see the internet hasn’t always been a total blessing as presumed by many.I remember growing up and was never left out of debates in my primary school.The one on the effect of the internet would always be fascinating to me because I honestly believed the internet was here to help us all.
But as I grew up, I realized just how wrong I was.The internet brought with it a fair share of problems. From child exposure to pornography at an early age,cyber bullying to social media that is systematically but definitely ‘stealing’ personal data and selling it to consumer companies. Don’t you sense insecurity right there?The bigger question is who is to blame?Is it the software companies with their lack of regard for privacy?Is it the governments that have allowed the internet to traverse without proper regulations?Or is it us, who chose convenience over safety?
First,let me explain how software companies never get blamed for all this madness.Software companies obviously entertain very mentally talented individuals who will do just as much to ensure they don’t get sued even if they meddle with your personal business. Selling your personal data to the highest bidder for marketing is one such thing .One good example is Facebook where Cambridge Analytica(a branch of Facebook dealing with analytics) has been accused of selling data to Trump during his campaign for the US presidential seat and in Kenya to the Jubilee Party for Uhuru’s re-election into office.Now Mark Zuckeberg,Facebook, founder was grilled intensely over the issue by the Senate Committee but they availed to nothing.He claimed he had no such information and that users agree to such processes the minute they accept the Terms and Conditions during signing up.That’s how Facebook makes money,he added, by advertising.I think he meant by selling data to anyone in need of advertising.No pun intended.
As for failure by governments to regulate the extent to which the internet influences its citizens, a few countries have actually taken steps.In Taiwan, children aged 18 years or less are only permitted to use electronic devices for a “reasonable” length of time. What is “reasonable,” however, is yet to be defined. owing to the adverse effects it might have on them.Just imagine what this government found out in order to put such a regulation in place.It begs for a lot of questions and subsequent answers but they are not as black and white as they may appear.And by the way, they are not the only government in the world to do that. In Japan, in an effort to combat cyberbullying, certain areas have introduced curfews that ban children from using smart phones and mobile devices after 9pm.
By choosing convenience over safety, I mean we as a race have decided to put it all out there.We continuously choose to post our personal stuff, very private stuff, on the internet without thinking of the repercussions.Every time you buy a new device that can access the internet or create a new Google account, they ask you to accept the terms and conditions before proceeding.I bet you a majority of the world population don’t even know the first term or condition on that list and here-in lies the first of many errors .A joke has even been made of how if you do not like something or someone, you do away with them like Terms and Conditions.Ha ha, crazy folks.
So the next time you want to put yourself to the world out there on social media, giving ownership of personal data to market hungry developers, remember you chose convenience over safety.You ultimately gave Facebook and Google the power to sell your information to companies that might be interested in selling their products and services to you.Heck, they even have your exact location nowadays, thanks to Geo-Tagging and Google Maps.
I’m not waging a war against the internet, it’s hard to beat it anyway but I must admit, we as humans have taken a risky path that profits tech giants to the tune of billions of dollars at the expense of our own safety.Talk about selling your soul to the devil..
Metropolitan 