No one is safe from the internet…
Digital privacy is important, as a lot of our important and personal information is online in some form or another, and deserves to be protected from hackers and others who have no business accessing others personal info. According to the article on key issues associated with internet privacy, personal data has now become a profitable commodity (2015), in which companies sell and exploit or personal information to others in turn for profit, due to the accessibility of sharing data and low limitations. In addition, the article also states that websites and data-collectors should be more open with what they do with personal data, as well as making it easier for individuals to have the ability to have information about data easily deleted, erased, and amended as appropriate (2015). These reasons are just some of the few on why digital privacy is important, and what companies can do to increase digital privacy for their users.
After reading the article report shared by the Pew Research Center, it was made pretty clear that the negative effects of the future of algorithms will outweigh the positive effects in the long haul, and I definitely agree. The Pew research center shared only two positive outlooks for algorithms, and five different concerns that they have. Although algorithms are useful, by being able to make sense of massive sets of data quickly and efficiently, the negative outcomes that tech researchers share were far more concerning. Probably amongst the scariest concern, is that as algorithms advance and begin to write each other, humans will slowly but surely be left out of the loop, and robots will be the ones to make decisions (Pew Research Center). In addition, algorithms have the potential for abuse and misuse, as well as amplify the negative impacts of data gaps and exclusions and also have a lack of accountability on who writes the algorithms, which are primarily designed by white and Asian men with data that will mostly benefit consumers as themselves. To add to the list of negative concerns, researchers believe that algorithms will deepen divides between those who are digital-savvy and those who aren’t, along with deepening social and political divides, in which the effects will be most negative for the poor and uneducated. The last concern I found to be equally as scary as the rest: with algorithms, robots and A.I. are likely to disrupt the workforce to potentially 100% human unemployment, meaning that algorithms may have the potential to replace almost all human workers, leaving them with no real options after being replaced. After reading all of these concerns, I definitely think the overall effect will be more negative than positive, as the very idea that algorithms are helpful is misleading, considering the flipside of who the algorithms are actually helping.
One thing that surprised me, was after reading the “how to protect digital privacy in the era of public shaming” article, and finding out about the steps I can take to further protect my digital privacy. I say this surprised me, because I wasn’t aware to the extent of how careless I have been with my privacy online, and how I can easily do these things to further protect myself. I can definitely say that this class has increased my paranoia about the online world (for good reason), and every week is somewhat surprising!
The case study I found regarded the issue of colleges analyzing data to predict the success or failure of students, which has led to concerns over misuse and abuse of this technology to improve graduation rates and college rankings (Wells, 2016). The article states that universities have been tracking and analyzing student data, but tracking things such as course schedules, enrollment status, and grades is new, and certain schools have been accused of using what Wells calls “intrusive advising”, to pressure students who are struggling to drop out. This was an absurd/invasive thing to find out about certain universities, yet at the same time I am not that surprised. It presents a problem of colleges abusing students and possibly hijacking their success, and if more colleges begin to do so, it is a subtle way to put a lot of students and young adults at a disadvantage.
