This is my first ‘serious’ blog post I wrote back in March of 2015. Unfortunately it was lost in the internets, but I was lucky to piece it back together using my voice notes. I hope you enjoy it.

Audio Version

Text Version

We are living in the age of digital information. A world of data with significant value; and we are all contributing in ways that we may not be consciously aware of. Consequently the concept of privacy is being redefined within the new generation. We volunteer in sharing our lives through many forms of online media, including but not limited to many social media outlets.

But at what cost?

We accept agreements, allow permissions, click ‘next’ through software installations just so we get our fix; That moment of pleasure when looking at an image, watching a video, reading a Top 10 list about some obscure topic. We share our geo-location, food we eat, comments we make, reviews we write, people we email, places we travel to, and believe me I can go on.

This information is always being stored somewhere on the internet. This data is more important than you think. You may not remember what you ate a month ago, but the data stored in the cloud, remembers what you did 5 years, 3 months, 6 days, at 2:11PM on a sunny day in Toronto; and it can process that information faster than you can blink.

Gradually the data will know more about you, than you know about yourself. This data can be used to predict your actions, your tendencies and much more. Things that are outside the scope of your imagination. Maybe one day it’ll even affect your car insurance payments.

Anything that can go wrong will go wrong

Murphy’s Law

The scariest part is that the data is stored in some company’s data centre. The magical cloud. All major technology companies are now offering free storage (and a lot of it) that you can store all your data. All your eggs in their basket. Time will come when you unknowingly be dependent on their services. They may not even offer a convenient way for you to export or delete your data.

For those who say, “I’m careful, I pay attention to my data privacy settings” – my friend, if you’re data is on the internet, it’s no longer private.  There are ways to safe guard your data through encryption methods and a lot of professionals are working hard to protect you. But not all companies follow the same standards. This is not to scare you, but to bring awareness.