Part 5: Getting Personal

My use of new technologies is not a priority for me, but I do see the benefits, like cheap goods direct from the 'factory' rather than a heavy markup by Australian retailers. The instantaneous responses to otherwise closed communications methods as well as a greater source of current and immediate information thus creating informed citizens.

The issue of privacy is one of the main reasons for my resistance to putting information online. My details apparently have value to advertisement agencies and whoever they sell that data on to. It is in my nature to be private and reserved. A journal article written by Tavani goes into detail about the concept of privacy, he argues that privacy is intangible and can be breached in a number of ways and can be perceived in a number of ways. He talks of a need for balance between individual privacy and business' interests.

Upon learning about Facebook and Google employing data-mining tactics, I was hardly surprised, as is common of my highly cynical nature. I feel justified in my reluctance to share my data online. I also feel these organisations are making me live like George Orwell’s 1984, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and like Jeremy Bentham’s Panopticon all combined on a digital scale. To deal with these issues, I tend not to be connected to social media, I try to limit information I put out online, and I do not subscribe to anything or anyone. And I always log off and reset things (although data-mining is likely not halted by that). My method of disengagement also means that I have little to no trust of people online and therefore, do not have any Internet friendships.

Reference List

1. Tavani, H. 1999, "Privacy online", ACM SIGCAS Computers and Society, vol. 29, no. 4, pp. 11-19.
2. Orwell, G., 1903-1950 & Fromm, E., 1900-1980 1977, 1984: a novel, Signet Classics, New York, N.Y.
3. Huxley, A., 1894-1963 2006, Brave new world, HarperCollins, New York.
4. Bentham, J., 1748-1832, Engelmann, S.G., 1961, Schofield, P., 1958 & ebrary, I. 2011, Selected writings, Yale University Press, New Haven.