Summary

The article discusses the importance of privacy and the risks of over-sharing personal information on social media, particularly in the context of increasing technological surveillance and data exploitation.

Abstract

The author expresses concern over the amount of personal information shared on social media during the COVID-19 quarantine, highlighting the creepy feeling of being observed by anonymous entities who use this data for various purposes. The article references Robert Frost's poem "Mending Wall" to argue for the necessity of boundaries in the digital age, especially in light of intrusive technologies like AI facial recognition and emotion tracking. The author warns that such technologies, exemplified by AI in Chinese classrooms, could lead to dehumanization, job displacement, and a loss of freedom of expression. The piece calls for stakeholders and politicians to protect individuals' privacy from the overreaching eye of AI, urging a reevaluation of the blind trust in technological advancements.

Opinions

The author believes that while social media can be a fun way to connect, the data shared on these platforms is being used in ways that are not transparent or necessarily beneficial to users.
There is a growing unease about the lack of privacy due to technological intrusions, such as AI face recognition and other surveillance technologies.
The author suggests that the convenience of technology comes at the cost of our data, which is then used against us, leading to potential dehumanization and job loss.
The use of AI in classrooms to monitor students is seen as a step towards creating subservient individuals, potentially rendering human teachers obsolete.
The article argues that constant surveillance changes people's behavior, leading to a society where genuine freedom of expression is stifled.
A call to action is made for society to reassess its relationship with technology and to establish boundaries to protect personal data and freedoms.

No, It’s None of Your Business!

Why we have to stop giving away information

Lately, I’ve been sharing a little more on social media. I suppose it’s due to the quarantine. Covid-19 has trapped me in my house, which isn’t a bad thing, I like my house.

However, since face-to-face meetings have been few and far between, I’ve found myself relaxing on social media sites. I’ve given a couple more likes on Facebook, dutifully tweeted a few responses to aspiring writers, encouraged a couple of virtual friends, debated the statue controversy, threw my two cents into the virtual windmill — all in an effort to stay connected.

However, I’m becoming increasingly creeped out by the observers, the anonymous people out there reading, commenting, judging, censoring, archiving, and using the information I and a gazillion other users are supplying on a regular basis.

So, having people know it’s your birthday is fun. In fact, this part of Facebook is my favorite. I get a notice and never have to worry about forgetting someone’s birthday again. However, where’s all the rest of the information going?

Who’s watching and why? Paranoia, you say, but actually it is the “reimagining” of a society where there are no good neighbors as Robert Frost writes in his memorable poem, “Mending Wall.” The poem is a conversation between two people — the speaker questions the value of a repairing a broken wall, while the neighbor repeats the age-old wisdom: “Good fences make good neighbors.”

In the poem, the speaker repeatedly suggests that a wall is no longer necessary as there is no conflict of interest: cows, orchards, or anything else:

“Why do they make good neighbors? Isn’t it

Where there are cows? But here there are no cows.”

or,

“There where it is we do not need the wall:

He is all pine and I am apple orchard.

My apple trees will never get across

And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.”

When I first read this poem, I waxed poetic about how wonderful it would be to have no dividing wall, how nature abhors a wall, and how it is just not necessary. People will naturally respect each other’s boundaries. Let’s let nature have its way, I thought.

However, I am now of the mind that boundaries are needed, not always of course, but in the field of technological intrusion, AI face recognition, and other intrusive technologies, privacy must be protected.

There must be a fence. One reason is that new technologies are a one-way street. That is, they are getting information and data from us, but then turning it around and using it against us. So, from an armchair, layman’s perspective, I’m getting worried.

Facial recognition, and programs that track emotions, focus, concentration (educational AI developed in China) levels feed a gargantuan algorithm that will then belch out all this information to the highest bidder.

Under AI's Watchful Eye, China Wants to Raise Smarter Students

9/19/2019 5:30 AM A growing number of classrooms in China are equipped with artificial-intelligence cameras and…

www.wsj.com

What are we getting out of this? Hard to say as the efficiencies that are promised just seem like job-killing, dehumanizing consequences. In the case of classroom AI, won’t these “controlled” kids be easier to handle, more passive, less likely to raise thoughtful questions?

If the job of a teacher becomes “easier” because the kids will be robotic and subservient, why have teachers at all? Couldn’t we just program a suitable robot? After all, if the teacher’s primary role is to monitor all the data, can’t a machine do it better?

Of course, as a life-long educator, I think we’re going down a rabbit hole and laughing all the way in our naive assumption that if it’s new and techy, it will all work out just fine. Why are we giving away our data and wisdom, only to have algorithms use it to destroy our institutions?

Watching people is also wrong because it will change the person who is being observed. Freedom of expression will eventually be a thing of the past. There will be an obsessive interest in portraying, curating, staging, and presenting ourselves in the most favorable light.

Who will determine what is favorable or not? Who knows? It’s time for stakeholders and politicians to protect people from the watchful eye of AI. If we could stop being amused and impressed by the shiny objects of technological innovation, we might be able to figure out where the fences go before we give everything away.

Originally published at http://writingforeverydayliving.com on June 24, 2020.