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< | Privacy in the Digital Age: Welcome to the Parade
-- by LisaXia - 19 Feb 2016 |
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> | Modern Loss: Sharing Grief and Finding Solace on Social Media
-- by LisaXia - 21 Apr 2016 |
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< | Introduction:
You’ve heard it before. We are now all products of a system - a system which proclaims to be an expressive medium: one in which you can voice your thoughts and hear what others think, one in which you are free to explore and free to play...one in which you can expose all of your habits, your likes, your dislikes, and more...one in which you can give people information about yourself that you may not even have known about yourself so that those systems can use it for their own profit and benefit. |
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> | Today, I received a text message from my dad: “I know you knew Donna. On 4/18, Donna and her family were involved in a tragic car accident while on vacation in New Zealand. Donna has passed. Parents are in critical condition.” |
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< | This system is the social network and the devices that are connected to it. They track our habits and our spending habits. They track our friends and our locations. They tell us, subliminally, how to act and how to think while keeping us submerged in an “illusion of group free will.” This type of system breeds conformity, squashes eccentricity, and creates a dichotomy between “us” and “them”. But worst of all, it creates a passive population. A population of people who don’t care who knows what about them. A population of people who are losing their right to privacy. A population of people who don’t even notice that this is happening - and if they do? |
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> | At 22, Donna was a couple years younger than me. We danced together in the same community Chinese dance group. We volunteered together at Hand-in-Hand Chinese in Atlanta. We went to Chinese school together as children. Other than the occasional like on Instagram and Facebook though, the last time we talked was when we ran into each other randomly during the intermission of a dance performance hosted by our old studio several years ago. |
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< | Oh well. We are a passive population anyways. Apathetic. |
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> | Our conversation was probably generic. Unmemorable, but friendly. We exchanged pleasantries, smiles, and talked about how much all the younger kids from our dance studio had grown. We were acquaintances at best, but we were acquaintances who shared a community and a long history of growing up together. |
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< | The Problem
As a part of that passive population, I have recently begun thinking about the issue of digital privacy. Yes, people are inherently social creatures, but people are also private creatures. Yet when we speak in the context of our digital lives, many of us think that it doesn’t matter — after all, who cares if I’m getting more targeted ads? Isn’t that actually better for me? I get exposed to new and interesting products that are in line with my interests. Why is this a bad thing?! I strangely don’t find it appalling that companies can profit off of my personal data. It almost seems intuitive to me — something that just happens. It’s not a big deal, I think. After all, I have nothing to hide. I’m not a “bad” person; I don’t do “bad” things. At the end of the day, wouldn’t I just fade into the background of any type of government surveillance program that might be keeping tabs? This kind of mindset is problem. |
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> | I didn’t know how to process the news. I drafted text messages to several people that I knew were mutual friends, but eventually decided against sending a single one. I was scared that they hadn’t heard the news yet. I was scared of being the one to tell them about it. |
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< | The Root of the Problem
Privacy is a fundamental human right, but why does it feel inconsequential? Maybe it is because the system advocates groupthink. By making “us” feel like a part of a larger group, are we more okay with the idea of being surveilled? |
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> | Just days ago, I remembered seeing her post a photo of a wine tasting in New Zealand. Someone had commented on the photo: “omg! you’re traveling everywhere lately!” “yeah,” she replied, “I’m just trying to see the world :)” |
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< | Social theorist Jeremy Bentham designed the concept of the Panopticon, which was later used by Foucault as a metaphor to advance the idea that a modern society no longer needs chains and other traditional forms of visible power to control a society. A panopticon works by pushing the idea that while an entire society cannot be monitored closely all at once, the idea that any individual could at any time be closely monitored would create enough of a social pressure to behave. I’ve heard arguments that extend this metaphor. That is, by compromising privacy for security, we are allowing ourselves to be subject to surveillance at any given time. The knowledge that we can be surveilled at any give moment causes us to squash our individuality and causes us to change the way we act and portray ourselves. |
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> | Days later, she changed her profile picture. “Enjoying the seaside breeze.” |
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< | But I am not wholly convinced by the idea, and I believe a lot of my peers may feel similarly. |
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> | The morning of her death, she posted six photos to the last Facebook album she would ever make: “New Zealand Adventuuures: exploring a beautiful corner of the world.” |
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< | Is it then more helpful to view privacy as important to keep our information secure from the “bad” guys (aka, the people who want to use our information to do criminally bad things like steal our identity and credit card info, etc.)? I also do not feel like this would be the right approach to take to get people to care more about this issue. In terms using the idea of privacy as a security threat (not really speaking in terms of national security so much, but more individual security, if that makes sense) to make more people care about it also seems fruitless. Once again, we are caught the groupthink of “It won’t happen to me,” and thus, people still will not be moved to care… |
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> | In the wake of her death, these things are haunting and beautiful - they are a testament to her person. The long drawn out U’s in “Adventuuures” are whimsical and playful. A caption to a photo reads: “Los suspiros son aire y van al aire. / Las lágrimas son aqua y van al mar. / Dime, muter, candy el amor se olvida, / ¿sabes tú adónde va? — Bécquer, Rima XXXVIII” A reflective girl. Do you know where you are going? |
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< | What then would be the way to get this “passive population” to understand why digital privacy is important? Once the mainstream wants to advocate for it, what is next? What are the goals? |
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> | Facebook, a place used generally for sharing links, likes, and preferences, is transformed into a place for sharing grief. Posts flood her wall: |
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< | Conclusion [area for future solution when I figure out the answer to the questions?]
I want to fight for privacy, but I’m having trouble figuring out why it matters. I accept as true the idea that privacy is one of the most important basic rights, but find it really difficult to understand how my life is being affected right now as my “digital privacy” dwindles and as my online profile gets exploited over and over again. Is this group of passive people so entrenched in our current ways to change? Is the solution to learning to value privacy teaching our youth to value it? Maybe we need to start educating people about the importance of privacy from an early age. Maybe it’s time to emphasize the important of privacy in society today in schools at the same time as when they teach kids to value things like individuality, diversity, and hard work, etc... |
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> | “Thank you for sharing your limitless effervescence and geniality with me and so many others. You will be dearly missed.” |
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< | Note
[Not part of Essay]
Privacy is an issue that I have recently found really fascinating to me. However, I am still relatively new to the topic, and don’t know too much about it. I wanted to write about it so that I could continue to explore it more in depth and then be accountable for articulating my thoughts and reflections on it rather than simply passively reading the information. I hope that by the third draft, I will have obtained some more insight on the matter, and that I can start understanding and defending what I believe to be fundamentally true. |
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> | “I will never comprehend what I did to deserve the privilege of your endless smiles and hugs…or the surprise chocolates in my lab coat pockets every day…you said they were because I did not smile enough. Sweet girl, I was so lucky to have known you. Your enthusiasm could have lit a fire in the coldest of hearts. I will carry your light with me like so many who loved you. Thank you for everything. I will love and miss you always.” |
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> | “To the love of my life and the girl of my dreams…You had the brightest smile and the kindest soul that any human being could have had and I miss you dearly…Words can barely describe what you meant to me.” |
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I think your endnote concerning your purposes makes sense. The next
draft takes one step: it asks why you care about other fundamental
rights that seem more to be "affecting [your] life right now." Do
you also feel about your freedom of speech not very strongly, or
would threats to freedom of speech affect your life? How about
academic freedom; freedom from arbitrary detention, etc. Is the
"affects my life right now" test a good test? If so, what does it
teach you?
I think your questions about privacy rights and how to care about
them can be answered, as you want to do, in a third draft, if the
second draft shows us how to care about other rights the way you
want to care about privacy.
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> | Facebook provides one way for people to cope with a death. A Facebook page is so personal that even after death, it seems as if it is a portal that can be used to communicate with the deceased. Posting to a wall, sending a private message, tagging them in a status - whatever your preferred method of expression is - you can communicate it in that way. The Facebook profile serves as an outlet - where people can reach out and feel as if they are still able to send the deceased a message somehow. And despite the public nature of the posts (except private messages), the posts are still personal - and sometimes even cathartic. Posts speak of specific memories and talk about the special value of friendship their relationship had. These posts honor the deceased and help to show the world (her universe of friends) her best qualities and traits. And reading these posts help - if only just a little. The posts show that you are not alone in your grieving and also provide new support networks that you can reach out to. |
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> | I think the ability to experience other people's relationship with the deceased is a good way to remember him or her. It allows you to put yourself in the shoes of the person writing the post and to experience how he or she was in various contexts. It provides a deeper insight and adds [perceived] value into the loss that someone feels. By immersing yourself in these remembrances, I think you are honoring the person in the best way you can: by appreciating all of her traits and qualities - not just the ones you were familiar with. |