Privacy in the Digital Age

Issues related to privacy and encryption are some that have rarely crossed my mind. After watching the TED Talks provided, I realize now it is something I should probably think about often. Not only does technology have an impact on our society as a whole, but when you involve the breach of privacy involved with the digital media today, it has a personal impact as well. When listening to the TED Talks, it opened my eyes to the fact that we need to advocate for our own privacy.

The lack of privacy in things like instant messaging and emails silently affect us all. We put a lot of trust into the online platforms we engage on, and what I at least did not realize was that when you privately send someone something, it is almost never only seen by you and that person. This impacts those involved because it feels like a breach of privacy.

The government plays a crucial role in protecting our privacy. They should implement safer ways to communicate without the risk of the information being seen by internet providers, email providers, the government itself, and more. The TED Talks discuss the importance of individual privacy and security, and how there are ways we can work to improve this. There are already multiple companies- Bitcoin, Protonet, Owncloud, etc.- who are providing support and giving new ways to communicate with encryption. Encryption is currently the only way to message/email without it being traced to other outlets before the recipient.

Like I previously mentioned, it is important we protect our own privacy. The TED Talks talk about the importance of being aware that this is going on, and encourage us to use and rely on encryption. Encryption secures our communication and data, and makes sure that our private messages remain private. To stand up for ourselves, we should use encryption tools for messaging and help promote a future change.