“You’re being watched………………….” 

Jonathan Nolan (producer). Person of Interest [Television Broadcast] Bad Robot Productions, Kilter Films, Warner Bros. Television

Starting monologue of perhaps one of the best TV shows airted till date. The line becomes more real with every passing moment. And yet, most of us couldn’t care less. 

It’s not like we were always thrilled with the idea of being watched. We do raise flags and concerns over governments being able to monitor our personal messages, conversations yet we have voluntarily handed over the same and so much more to private entities.

This brings us to the almost hidden dystopian world of today. Where you and I are less of a person and more of a product. And the worst part? We chose this for ourselves.

How it all started

While a summary wouldn’t do this topic justice, I’ll have to do that just for the sake of staying relevant to the main topic. Perhaps at a later time, I’ll do a deep dive article and link it here. 

Now, let’s look at the three things that needed to happen for us to be led on this path.

1. The rise of technology

Internet became available to households, and websites started appearing. While people paid for connectivity, the web as a whole remained free. And people liked it that way.

As with any space, screenspace too got sold as advertising space. This was considered a good revenue source as people would rather have free things on the internet than pay for them.

Fast Forward, technology improved, infrastructure became cheaper, companies started collecting and storing an insane amount of data and using machine learning to interpret those. They gained the capability to target users at an unprecedented level.

Gone are the days where advertisers had to come up with a campaign that appealed to the masses. Individually targeted with particular messages are used. These are bound to make us tick, make us believe, make us behave the way they want us to.

But that only explains part of the story, right? Just because having the technological capability on its own does nothing. There needs to be actionable data to drive this machine. Now, where did that come from?

2. Emergence of free Dopamine Delivery Systems

The internet is a place of innovators. And these innovators have always sought ways to make people’s lives easier, convenient, and so on. 

Who doesn’t like being able to access their mails from anywhere in the world instead of having to pick them up from a designated location? Who doesn’t like being able to chat with a friend? Who wouldn’t want an app that allows you to send unlimited messages to your friends as long as you’re connected to the internet?

And let’s not forget social media! You get to see what your friends are up to, share your life stories as they happen, and stay updated with the latest trends. 

And the best part? You don’t have to spend a dime for it. All you need is an internet connection. In some cases, even if you haven’t bought data plans, you can still access specific social networks. Why? Because certain companies are paying for your data usage.

In a world where there are no free lunches, there seem to be many free services. Billion-dollar companies are providing their services for free, so who’s paying for these?

Short answer? Advertisers. Do you see that sponsored post in between every 4-6 posts on your feed? Or those usually unskippable ads that you see in the middle of a video? That’s what pays for the free services you use. The more time you spend across these platforms, the more money the platform makes. 

To maximize revenues and profits, companies make decisions that sacrifice users’ well-being in favor of user’s time spent on the platform. Everything the platform knows about you is put under the microscope. Your searches, messages, posts, comments, likes, reacts all of it are analyzed. But there’s more, even when you spend time on other websites, these advertising giants are following you there even. 

They know more about you than you consciously know about yourself. And with that knowledge, they create your own Perceived Digital Utopia, where all you see is what you agree with, be it a truth or a lie that’s irrelevant. All you see are what you want to see. 

At the same time, this “utopia” comes with just the right amount of things you disagree with. Not the small stuff that you can ignore, but things that you find are outrageous. Something where you must speak up, showcase your moral superiority. Feel good about yourself for doing so. 

It’s all about that engagement. Your achievements in life, your milestones, your losses. Your agreement/disagreement with others and a chance to stay connected, feel good about yourselves. All the platform cares about is that you do so with their services.

We love this, every bit of this. Free services, freedom to express yourselves. Getting that social validation from our friends through likes and comments. Or even just that easy navigation with traffic updates that we get on our phones for the very free cost of sharing our phone GPS data with them. Isn’t that just a steal!

Like Pavlov’s dog, we are hooked. Every notification sound rings up those dopamine centers, leaving us wanting more. We keep on sharing more photos, engage on more posts, make every milestone in our lives known. Just so that we could have our next fix, another dose of dopamine.

The more data we share, the better-targeted ads are shown to us.

3. Gross indifference towards data privacy

I actually started writing this article long ago but then gave up. What was the point of it anyway? Nothing I was going to do was going to change anything. 

The crisis we face today with privacy is not unknown. Just overlooked and underestimated. 

I have been trying to switch my own closest friends to more privacy-focused services for a while now. And trust me, the reaction I have faced ranges from polite “No thanks yous” to “Are they paying you to advocate for them?” 

Whenever I bring the topic of privacy up, I usually hear the following:

1. I don’t really mind them having my data; I am not involved with anything illegal.
2. It’s not like they are going to leak my information online.
3. What can I do? All the friends and family are on this platform.
4. It’s really the most relevant source of content out there.
5. It’s free, so I don’t mind.

And the most dangerous statements of all

“I kinda like these targeted ads. I usually find what I’m looking for via those ads.”

Way too many people

Companies know this. They know how much you don’t care. And even when incidents came out that showcase how much you really should care, the same targeted ads mechanism was used to downplay its gravity. For different users, a different message, a different dosage, at the right frequency to change their minds.

Since the majority don’t care or can be influenced not to care. This dystopian reality need not come to an end. 

What it means for us

While there is no doubt that we voluntarily gave up perhaps one of the most important things in our life. It doesn’t have to stay this way. For that, we need to understand a couple of things:

1. Just because you are not involved in anything illegal doesn’t mean you don’t need data privacy.
2. Your data, as valuable as they are to the companies, is just a tool for revenue. Their priority is to show you relevant ads, not protecting your data. The high-scale breaches should give you an idea of how little companies care about protecting your data.
3. Your friends are not switching to better alternatives because you are not switching to those services. Very seldom we find options worth switching to. Sticking to worse options when better solutions are available means you’re part of the problem.
4. It might seem like a service that doesn’t track you gives less relevant content. Still, in reality, it provides you equitable access to everything. Just because something doesn’t match your worldview doesn’t mean it’s not worth checking out. Maybe you’ll learn something new.
5. And just because the ads you see give you access to things you were looking for doesn’t mean you’re getting the best deal out there. The only one winning here is the advertiser who paid and configured their promotion correctly. Making you go for the purchase for something you really didn’t need at the moment. Or targeting you with lies to influence the outcome of an election. Still not scared?

Is there a way out?

I understand switching to privacy-focused alternatives is much easier said than done. For many of these privacy-intrusive services, there aren’t any good alternatives yet. 

But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing we can do about it. We have to really show that we care about privacy. That we will adopt privacy-focused alternatives whenever possible, even with slight compromises. 

That doesn’t mean a complete boycott of the rest in an instant. 

For example, if you want to search for something, maybe first give duckduckgo a try before other search engines and see if the content is relevant. If not, then go ahead with your preferred one.

When messaging your friends/family, check if they have Signal installed before hitting them up on another IM app. If you have it installed, chances are others who already have it will also knock you there.

Why I use Signal

I wanted to give a special shoutout to Signal for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, because of how privacy-focused they are. But also because it’s a non-profit and open-source software. This helps to clear any confusion about their motives and make them more acceptable. 

From what I understand, Signal has the state of the art end to end encryption. And being open-source software, independent developers have the option to validate that claim.

But another reason I am particularly highlighting Signal is that it’s a complete messaging solution with no compromises. It’s not only a Whatsapp alternative. In many ways, it’s better. 

So your quest to go privacy-minded will come without compromises. And guess what, it’s free too!

But aren’t you the product when something is free? Who’s paying for it?

Signal is a non-profit that runs off donations and grants. Nothing is really free; servers cost money, developers have to earn. But all of it comes from the loyal userbase that wants this product to succeed. You can donate as a one-off donation or have a donation subscription if you can. Or just use it for free. That’s how it’s designed. Those who can help, help everyone else.

Check them out at www.signal.org.

Final Thoughts

Privacy is a human right that is much ignored. And the crisis we face now isn’t going to go away overnight. Switching to better alternatives like Signal is just a start. It’s not going to solve everything. But it’s a start never the less. The more we show the world we care, the more incentive they have to respect our wishes.

We have to be vocal. Whenever we can affect policy with our voices, we should encourage our policymakers to help us achieve this fundamental right. GDPR is one of those things that is protecting this right of European citizens to some extent. It’s time the rest of the world also cared.