https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2btguTTywi0
Apple’s latest ad for the iPhone 12 shows us in a funny way just how scary technology can be. In the ad, a guy orders a cup of coffee from an app on his iPhone, then as he’s leaving the coffee shop, the server jumps over the counter and follows him out of the store. As he goes through his day, the iPhone user picks up people everywhere he goes – his bank, the drug store, even his home. When he sits down on his couch at the end of his day, there is a huge crowd of people with him that he has “picked up” throughout his day. Apple closes the ad by showing us how the iPhone 12 allows us to limit who tracks our data.
We don’t think a whole lot about privacy (at least I don’t) when we Venmo a friend to pay our portion of a meal we shared, order a new pair of jeans from our favorite store’s website, or download a movie to watch on a plane ride. Think about it – companies now know who you ate dinner with and quite possibly where and what you ate, what size pants you wear and where you like to shop, and the kinds of movies and shows you like to watch. So what’s the big deal, right?
Well think about all that these companies can now do with what they know about you. Some of the information can be used in ways that are pretty harmless like suggesting you visit the restaurant again, promoting a sale on shirts that might go with your new jeans, or recommending another movie you might like based on your last choice. But what would happen if the information about the medicines you take was made available? Could a potential employer offer a job to someone else because they know you take anti-depressants?
Before I took this class, my biggest concern about privacy was “Are my parents tracking my location when I go out?” But now that I have seen what and who can track my data, I will definitely need to be careful about who I share my information with and the kinds of things I do online. And I’ll rely on my own good sense as opposed to Apple’s privacy settings because who knows what Apple can track even if my settings are “private?”
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