What does your location say about you?
To warriors,
Many smartphones in the market have the ability to pinpoint your exact location, we the users, manufacturers of the devices and service providers make use of this function as to better serve us but do we ever ask, who gains the most in the location function. Do we even think about it?
I certainly did not. Well, I do now but I never thought of it until I started to grapple with topics regarding our use of technology such as privacy, ethics and safety in AI and machine learning.
At first, I thought turning my phones location would be give me privacy but I quickly learnt that it was almost pointless as my device can be tracked through Wi-Fi coverage from my device or by the applications that I have on my device. I found this daunting and worrying as privacy is a priority for me. I only had these few options;
To dump my smart phone and go back to a dumb phone? (cheap), or
To use a degoogled phone? (pricey), or
To be completely incommunicado (harming my social life)
Of course, I naturally opted for option 1 cos of limited funds and I simply just got tired of unnecessary communication but I cannot say it did not come with it’s own challenges and set backs. I still opt for my choice and I do not regret it at all. I have gotten lost in recent times but also found new places that I would not have explored if I had not gotten lost. This choice has made me realize another side of myself and exposed me to lost and abandoned behaviors.
Location data is increasingly important even more so in our technological society. The “plandemic” tracking is also utilizing it, the surveillance state relies on this data, hackers and criminals also need this information as 30 dollar apple airtags are used to track unsuspecting individuals to stalk them or to steal their cars.
To add to this challenge, politicians in the US just approved a new law that will install automatic kill switches to shut down engines in all new cars. So our cars can now be remotely controlled? This is only becoming a nightmare scenario.
I am finding it difficult to muster the benefit of location tracking from the users perspective apart from the convenience. Nothing else. Of course, it would not be fair to also point out that from the government’s perspective, there can be some good use cases such as the Italian mafia fugitive that was tracked down in Galapagar, Spain where he had lived undetected for 20 years has been arrested after Google Street View sighting. But the worry is government overreach and targeting.
How do we ensure that big brother is not being used to target innocent people? or profile them? Who gets to decide what data is collected?
Questions abound with no clear answers. you have any?
See you tomorrow!
- Ope