Recently, we have heard much about how our phones continue to spy on us. In fact, sometimes you will even think of something and the next day it will be advertised on your phone! It makes one question if anything they’re doing or saying is private. Seemingly, there is no escape without giving up your electronics.
My Experience:
Last semester I was sitting around with my friends. To see if our phones were listening, we jokingly spoke about wanting to go to Colorado to go skiing for 5-10 minutes. The next day, I woke up and had an advertisement for SIGHTSEEING IN COLORADO on my phone. Who would’ve thought an advertisement like that even existed? My other friend had flight advertisements on his phone.
Is this Ethical?
While it may be helpful that I can talk about needing something and the next day have may suggestions that appeal to my needs, this is not ethical. It is an invasion of privacy. Recently I watched a Netflix documentary, The Social Dilemma. It explained that data is being collected at all times. Your location, your searches, your background, the time you spend on each exact post. This data is used to manipulate consumers into staying on media and into following ads that are catered to appeal to them. In fact, your phone is probably catering political posts to your phone knowing your stance.
This is quite scary. One should have to release specific information, to have it be known. There shouldn’t just be a sentence in the terms of agreement that I need to accept to use sites. Personal data should not be stored every time I have a picture on my screen. Are we really safe inside our minds? I’m not so sure anymore.
