Leave Me Alone:
SALVAGING A SENSE OF PRIVACY IN AN INCREASINGLY PUBLIC WORLD
Salvaging a sense of privacy in an increasingly public world
Today, we live in an increasingly connected world and, inadvertently, this connectedness comes with a price: reduced privacy. Many parties, from hackers to rogue establishments, will stop at nothing to get a piece of our personal information. With our increasing reliance on the internet for a range of tasks from surfing, doing financial transactions to even online-dating, our presence has been identified and detected around the world. Encroaches on our privacy, however, are not just limited to the virtual world: in the real world, prevailing cultural trends and advertisements, for instance, seek to invade our personal space, imposing views and products on us that may be conflicting and ever changing.
In Singapore, online shopping is surging in popularity. As the average Singaporean’s free time steadily shrinks, online retail therapy may be more convenient and appealing than physically shopping along Orchard Road. However, the moment we enter our credit or debit card number online, we are also surrendering our names, addresses and banking details to the unknown. In other words, we are making ourselves vulnerable to hackers or whoever harbours ill-intent. Indeed, hackers will stop at nothing to gain access to our particulars, deliver massive breaches of security and invade our privacy as and when we are not careful. Even though Singapore has put many measures in place to detect and deter such hackers, it is by being observant and vigilant ourselves that we can minimise our risks and avoid being vulnerable. So, if you engage in an online transaction, look for a “https” prefix and a padlock icon on the address bar of the website; this way, you are making sure that your personal particulars will be properly encrypted and secure before making any payment. Also, do not include your personal particulars or any financial information in any email, as email are usually not encrypted when they are sent, thus giving fraudsters a chance to read the content.
When we create an account to a website or subscribe to an e-newsletter, we unquestioningly provide our personal particulars to server hosts who usually store the information indefinitely. Even if we only provide our names and email addresses to these sites, an electronic trail has already been created, and algorithms behind the scenes start linking us to potential products that innocuously pop up via small advertisements, which aim to tempt us into clicking on them. If we do, or better yet, buy the advertised product, the advertiser earns a small commission from the sale. Indeed, sites such as Clickbank exist to connect retailers with their potential buyers through freelance IT people who create sites that press for newsletter or website registrations. By analysing browsing trends, these IT people then come up with advertisements to attract potential buyers. However, the danger arises when links that exploit such “attractive” products, based on our own search history, seize the opportunity to hijack our computers by installing malicious software - for example, trojans and worms - in order to gain access to our personal information in our hard drives, such as credit card numbers and passwords. Fortunately, we can protect ourselves by being a little more savvy. Do not divulge your name and email address indiscriminately and do not respond to suspicious advertisements and emails. Have an up-to-date antivirus software installed and clear out your internet cache and delete cookies regularly and diligently. By taking these simple steps, you can reduce your online footprint and protect yourselves.
Do not include your personal particulars or any financial information in any email
Do you use Facebook or Instagram? Have you realised how easy it is to expose your personal information via status updates and personal photographs? One new feature of uploading photographs on Facebook is geotagging:
The issue of privacy also extends beyond the virtual realm into the physical world around us through a plethora of ways
Exif (Exchangeable Image File Format) data, which includes coordinates of the location where that shot was taken, is included in your photograph. While Facebook has taken active steps to expunge Exif data, the unwitting user may have also uploaded the photo to other sites where the embedded data can be extracted and the user ’s general location calculated. This poses a threat to the user who is now vulnerable to stalking or even kidnap. At the very least, the revelation of the location is a breach of personal privacy. Unfortunately, popular and cultural trends have increasingly led to youngsters compromising on their privacy, especially on social media sites where posting status updates and photos can attract multiple “Likes” from their peers and “friends”, something which is of paramount importance to them.
The issue of privacy also extends beyond the virtual realm into the physical world around us through a plethora of ways. Although print and mass media are slowly giving way to new media on the internet, their influence still remains strong. With many brands competing for our attention, companies typically relied on advertisements on, for instance, television so that we see their ads in the course of viewing our favourite programmes. However, a more alien presence is slowly worming its way into our everyday lives. The Hallyu, or Korean wave, is an initiative that has been funded by South Korea since the mid-2000s where a surge in Korean pop stars, music, dramas and products flooded the world, with many teenaged boys and girls emulating dance moves and listening to songs from Super Junior, 2NE1 and other popular groups. With these groups putting South Korea in a favourable position in the global spotlight, a culture that is steeped in competitiveness, and prides itself on physical attractiveness is also being promoted. This cultural trend has
certainly influenced our youth by invading their personal space and impacting their behaviour, taste in music, appearance and, perhaps, even their sense of self-worth.
Did you know that in the medical industry, a patient’s records can be compromised and sold to third parties either knowingly or unknowingly? In the USA, the Supreme Court ruled that pharmacies may share patients’ information with other companies. So, through data mining, valuable information about the patients’ preference for, and frequency of, the drugs and medications they consume is picked up by complex algorithms. This data is thus noted by leading pharmaceutical companies and forms a basis for promoting alternative medications to the patients. Without our consent, or even our knowledge, what we must consume for our survival or as a cure for our ailments has become a way for pharmaceutical companies to advertise and promote more costly alternatives. This is a breach of patients’ privacy, and it is detrimental to countries with ageing populations. If these practices were to be condoned in Singapore, where an ageing population is already a cause for concern, there would be an even greater strain on the savings of those already ill and in need of care.
On the whole, our sense of a personal space is steadily being eroded by many forces, some of which are malicious and others which are apparently more cultural. Only by taking the initiative to proactively guard our privacy, can we be smart citizens, living in a world where the boundaries between the public and private realm are increasingly blurred.