Digital Footprints: Navigating Privacy and Security in the Information Age

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Dear Hive Friend and Hive Learner Members,

We are living in an era where most of the activity is in the digital world. Many real-life activities have been shifted to digital life, and this has led to the term "big data." All activities in the digital world create a database, and this data often contains sensitive information. This sensitive data may be used for good or for bad purposes based on the intention of the individual or group of persons who have access to this information. Every tiny activity in the digital world leaves a trail, and there is technology dedicated to analyzing this data.

As I mentioned, the information from the data we generate in the digital world can be used in good or bad ways for any individual or group of people. Let's take a simple example: many social media users often post their day-to-day activities on various platforms. Many times, they use the check-in feature, which shares the physical presence of someone on social media. By doing this, we are sharing our location with all unknown people on social media, and there are many ways that malicious individuals use to track someone.

The government is also tracking data and gathering information to use in many ways. I came across a news story some years back that was very interesting. It was about some people who used to throw big, high-profile parties but did not show the income source on their ITR. One wing of the government was gathering information from social media. Mostly, they were using the pictures uploaded on social media to get the information. They tried to analyze the expenditure for the parties and the number of events in a month. From the information, they got leads and came to know that the highlighted persons were spending lakhs and crores on those parties, and when they checked their ITR details, they were not convinced about the source of income. This was a big achievement for the government in capturing black money. It's not that the government only uses the technology for the good of society; there are many examples where the government used this to suppress voices against them. It is very easy for the government to ban the social media account of any individual or institution in the name of national security. The truth is they used the technology to target people who raised their voice on some issues and the government did not want to highlight those issues for their own gain. A recent incident was seen during the Farmer Protest of 2020-21. Many social media platforms were banned throughout the nation, and many were targeted personally for directly supporting the protest.

Some global companies are very strict when it comes to data security. I remember an incident involving the US government and Apple, where the government asked Apple to retrieve data from one iPhone. The news created a big noise when Apple denied the government's request. They had very good logic behind it: first was their data policy, and second was the technical issue. They declared that if they were to retrieve the data, it would open the back door for others also, which would be a more dangerous situation.

In my opinion, data and digital information are the personal property of any individual, and it's their own wish to make it personal or public. But it's also true that if the data or information is on social media, it will most likely become public as it's available to all. We as individuals also need to take care when we share information on the web domain or social media so that it does not give ill-minded people a chance to use it against us.

Please do share your views in comment section.

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