The perils of the electronic information age

Quantum leaps in electronic data processing have been made in the past 50 years. Our cellphones now have more data processing and computing power than a roomful of the old IBM mainframes of the ‘70s. Life, businesses and relationships have changed very significantly in the past 20 years as exponential improvements have been made in both chip technology and systems applications.

This age of electronic information has toppled industry giants of the ‘70s, and many have declared bankruptcy; while entire business models such as the global taxi industry and the hotel industry have been shaken by new ideas driven by electronic systems applications now called apps.

As a result, on the personal and street level, many things heretofore deemed pipe dreams, are now reality. Online shopping is a great boon to many who have little time and little inclination bear traffic and parking to go to traditional stores and instead do it in the comfort of their homes or offices. Many of the chores we had to do before — go to the grocery, buy an airline ticket, order pizza — are now as simple as pushing a few buttons on our cellphones.

The electronic information age, however, is not the utopia it was meant to be by the pioneers and developers of electronic systems and devices. While it was meant largely to improve the quality of life, it has a dark, terrifying side that could cause untold damage to people, businesses and security.

When asked to fill in forms for credit card applications, for home loans or whatever and wherever personal data is required, these are easily digitized and unless specified, are passed on to whomever, which poses a security risk to the person involved.

Commonly, these application forms are digitized and sold to people or organizations that make use of your personal data to sell you things like products, real estate or whatever. That is the reason why one receives all sorts of offers for cash loans, real estate, and other assorted merchandise on one’s cellphone, which is a mild irritation and causes unwanted congestion on your messages or e-mail.

Another is that when we download apps to our cellphones, laptops or desktops, we usually are asked that the apps provider be allowed access to our address book, location, photos and other data contained in our electronic devices. In the wrong hands, this constitutes a serious risk as it exposes the applicant to the risk of blackmail, theft and unwanted advances, commercial or otherwise.

The foregoing constitutes the commercialization of data which the Data Privacy Act seeks to abolish or minimize. It is doubtful, however, that this practice will be eliminated unless the forms we usually fill in clearly specify that the data given cannot be shared without permission of the person or entity providing data. In the case of the apps providers, there is very little one can do, unless we forego with downloading the app entirely. Almost all the apps which are commonly downloaded give virtually unrestricted entry into our electronic devices — address book, names, location and photos, virtually everything.

It is a delicate balancing act, however, for the person. Can we do without Google maps, Grab, Airbnb, and other commonly used apps? Can we abstain from doing mobile banking? Can we do without Facebook, which accesses virtually all of the data in our devices and shows whom we regularly communicate with?

Today, it is difficult to become a virtual digital hermit, but that is seemingly the only way to minimize risk of unwanted information exposure.

There are more malevolent dangers of cyberspace. There is the presence of hackers who deliberately violate your data privacy to steal data for advantage, whether economic, personal or military. Businesses, persons and government, including the military now have to spend untold sums of money to defend privacy.

Undefended systems can result in the most terrifying of all the dangers: data ransom and terrorism. Just a year or so ago, a data hijack for ransom group was able to hack into the systems of businesses and a few hospitals. Can you imagine if hospital patient files were to be destroyed, including diagnoses, medication and frequency of treatment? Needless to say, many businesses and establishments chose to pay, rather than have