Fingerprinting, giving away our information to keep us under control

Lisot

Are you aware of the traces you leave behind you when you use the internet, maybe you are indifferent to be careful with your data or your opinions on social networks, however in that space where you do not watch what your smart phone or your accounts contain, the battle to know you begins to control you from centralized institutions. If there is an axiom that governments and institutions in the world manipulate very conveniently is the one that says: "information is power", and certainly we provide them with that power through the data we leave unprotected in our electronic equipment or email accounts, social networks or apps.

It is not a matter of paranoia or delirium of persecution, taking care of our own online security is as important as looking after our integrity when we perform everyday activities in the real world, such as when we fasten our seat belts while driving, look both ways when crossing an avenue or avoid walking in a dark and unfamiliar alley. That well-known survival instinct that made us evolve as human beings must also prevail in our virtual lives.

One of the virtues in which the world of decentralized cryptocurrencies stands out is the quality of anonymity, at least in transactions, thanks to that great ally of humanity called Blockchain, a mechanism that since its invention has generated the worst migraines to governments and international institutions due to their inability to manipulate what is recorded there and to know the identity of those who make use of this technology. Replicating this type of protection in all aspects of the web world means closing the doors of our information to those who need it to exercise their control and dominion.

You may be familiar with the Chinese system of social control, a real virtual straitjacket that the citizens of that country must wear every day, 24 hours a day, in the name of security. The global situation due to the Covid-19 pandemic has provided a favorable framework to convince people to use applications generated by the Chinese State and from there to deliver all kinds of personal information, in the name of security and the fight against the pandemic, however we do not know if these applications that we install on our smarts phones were created to observe the content we create, the videos we save or the photos that rest inside our glass rectangles.

Not only governments apply these obvious arbitrariness to our private lives, but also large, medium and small companies and institutions create technologies through apps to rummage through the most intimate secrets we keep in our smarts phones, those devices that are practically part of our bodies. The information they take from us is vital for them to profile us, in this way this data is used to sell us to the highest bidder as if it were an auction.

Maybe you are one of those people who say "I have nothing to hide, this monitoring my data on the web is not with me", you should know that your indifference sooner or later will play against you, a change in the rules of your government can make the conditions of freedom of expression are different and you end up being considered as a terrorist, drug trafficker or an unpatriotic, according to the interpretation that the central power makes about your thoughts or photos shared in old social networks, old phones or email accounts that you no longer use, only then we will realize the importance of protecting our virtual life.