Every day, we trade our privacy for convenience. The devices we use store our data, cameras watch us and companies we interact with (including The Times) collect our information. What are the consequences? Times Opinion is embarking on a monthslong quest to find out, help you make sense of it all and suggest solutions (such as what national legislation to strengthen privacy protections should look like). Has your life been altered by information sharing? We want to hear from you. — Alexandra March
Everyday devices that you value are watching you and your neighbors. "Here's the stark truth: We in the West are building a surveillance state no less totalitarian than the one the Chinese government is rigging up."
Picture this: You're in a fertility clinic and the doctor shows you a list of options. "Would it possibly make sense to implant an embryo more likely to get Type 1 diabetes or early-onset familial Alzheimer's or to die young?" What would you choose?
Illustration by Joan Wong; Photographs by Roy Hsu and Tawatchai Prakobkit/EyeEm, via Getty Images
By JAMES BENNET
"Would it concern you if police detectives felt free to collect your DNA from a discarded coffee cup, and to share your genetic code? What if your employer demanded access to all your digital activity, so that it could run that data through an algorithm to judge whether you're trustworthy?"
Remember life before smartphones? There was so much less screen time. It was also so much more inconvenient. This trade-off might be worth it after all.
No comments:
Post a Comment