The most vexing issue of the Digital Age

 How would you feel if a group of people that are strangers to you knew what you were doing throughout the day, every day? 

Unfortunately, this is a current issue that is not being talked about enough and many people continue to be unaware of it. Whether you are driving around and having your license plate read by the government, using your phone and having cell towers gather information about what's on your phone, or even calling people on the phone and getting wiretapped. 

Some people may think that the government having this information on you may not be the biggest deal because "what are they going to do with it" when you aren't doing anything to harm them. Well, a lot more people have access to your information than you would believe. Hackers, terrorists, outside governments, etc. 

Throughout these TEDtalks, all four speakers provided critical evidence and information about surveillance your devices provide others into your lives. For example, one of the women talked about her very emotional experience with her ex-boyfriend, the stalker. Her ex took explicit photos and videos of her, posted them on a website and sent the website to her husband. When she became aware of this website, she was confused and went into a depression. Unfortunately, it took months for her to get this website taken down due to restrictions and loopholes. 

She finally was able to get it taken down after many had viewed it and then realized this is "common" for many women, it's called "revenge porn". The reason she spoke about this situation was to bring into light how easy it is for the wrong people to access your devices, and personal information can be shared. 

Another instance of surveillance that was brought to light, that even I did not know much about, is license plate readers. I have been told by my parents where license plate readers are located, however I did not know these readers are keeping this data where it can be viewed by the police force and the government. I understand that these people need this data in case they are catching a criminal, but they are also "spying" on the innocent. 

With the help of cell phone towers and the stingray device, we are constantly being watched. Strangers know where we are, at what time, and what we are doing constantly. Not to mention, wiretapping which is easily accessible through phone calls. To "prevent" wiretapping, it is suggested that we use apps such as: Facetime audio, WhatsApp, or Messages, which doesn't even fully prevent wiretapping. By using these apps, our messages are encrypted and it is a lot more difficult, almost impossible to encode them, which is why it is suggested.