Report says, Team USA athletes heading to Beijing for the Olympic games have been advised to leave their personal phones to avoid being tracked while or after the Olympic games and are being encouraged to use burner phones while they there.
This really makes me wonder, with how far we have come using smart mobile devices, smart security systems for our homes, etc. If corporations or the government decide that they want to track us, is there really a way to avoid it? Do we go back to using archaic means of communication? Do we stop using the technology that has been developed?
Measures like the ones that have been advised to Team USA will cause discomfort, it might not be a lot but the discomfort is there. Although, they tried to find a solution to this by advising the athletes to use burner phones instead, It makes it difficult to talk to their families who are not going to be allowed to travel with them to Beijing due to COVID-19 protocol. It also does not allow them to make posts to social media which could be important for them as they will want to show the world that they won a medal as soon as possible but can not and have to wait until the end of the Olympics and go back home.
With all the technological developments that have been made and how they work, the only solution to protecting our privacy will be similar to those that the athletes have been advised to take, using older forms of technology. For some people, using older forms of technology will not be a big deal, but for a lot of people that depend on technology a lot, it will affect how they go about a lot.
Smart Security
Lots of people use smart security in their homes. They have cameras at their front doors, in their homes, Locks that are connected by networks and so much more. These cameras are connected to networks and these networks can be tapped. Changing security systems and going back to using keys and locks may not prove difficult but it does incur cost on the owner.
Televisions and Entertainment
Lots of speakers and TVs now have in built in microphones in them that listen for you to give them instructions. These are usually connected to the internet as well and are possibly always listening except, perhaps, they are unplugged. Using older TVs and other forms of entertainment should not create a big deal but it depends on the person that we’re talking about and how much that person depended on these systems.
Smartphones
Our phones are devices we carry about everywhere and where we probably keep a lot of our information on. It is probably an extremely efficient way of watching people, you basically monitor their every move. Using Burner phones like the way the USA athletes have been advised to do will actually change the way of life for a lot of people because I believe that a lot of the world’s population depend on their smartphones a lot.
References
- https://www.cnet.com/news/team-usa-reportedly-tells-athletes-not-to-take-their-phones-to-winter-olympics/
- https://www.eff.org/issues/privacy
Considering Olympics is one of the huge sporting events in the world and that they still had to advice the athletes to use burner phones, shows how far we are left behind in terms of privacy protection. Athletes who train for years and sacrifice so much for this very day can’t even post something about it on their social media. Furthermore, the pandemic has surely put more pressure and stress on the athletes on top of the smartphone issue. In my opinion the US should listen to the athletes and do what is best for them rather than demotivating them. After all they are competing for their own country. Interesting post!
You state that people may want to revert back to using keys and locks, but this would only make it easier for criminals to break into a building or home, so going back to that is not an ideal option either. it’s incredibly easy to find information on the internet regarding almost anything, and information about lock picking is especially plentiful considering its illegal nature. Just doing a simple google search on “how to pick a deadbolt,” which is one of the most common types of lock for external doors, gives you several videos, articles, and step-by-step guides explaining exactly how you can break through these locks. In other words, though our current state with technology based security systems may be, as you stated, capable of being tapped into by criminals, going back to just having a basic lock and key is not a better option, and may in fact be worse. Though, that depends on which you believe to be the worse option, having a security system that anyone with an internet connection can break or risking the possibility of someone spying on you as you bring your groceries in the front door.
I agree, this definitely puts a lot of people in the difficult decision between being tracked against their will or not being able to enjoy the comforts that such devices provide. I suppose the only real way around it is to prioritize the data you want to keep away from prying eyes the most on certain closely held devices or off of devices entirely, and sacrificing only less important data to be at risk. This allows the freedom of enjoying the ability to communicate with friends, family, and fans across the world while not risking any of your personal data being leaked while you’re there.
That was a well written post! It’s very difficult to accept the fact that devices are putting users at risk and making them feel discomfortable. It seems like that every mobile app nowadays you install requests access to your location data. I believe that each one should make sure that they understand what information is being collected and tracked before installing or enabling location-tracking technology or apps and I would say individuals should be really extra cautious nowadays.
Nice post!
From my perspective, since technology is advancing so quickly and privacy issues of this kind are still relatively new, I imagine that we just haven’t learned how to deal with these threats properly yet. As more data is gathered over time on which weaknesses are the most common and general knowledge in tech increases, I think that security systems will greatly improve if the time and money required to do so is invested into them. Maybe better security is possible with newer technology or potentially some kind of standardized approach to constructing secure systems, but there’s only one way to find out.
This was an interesting post, I feel that technology now plays a huge role in our life as we use it everyday like our phones as you’ve said in your post. Although these devices are putting us at risk because we can get tracked which would expose people’s location and invade their privacy. But overtime I think that as technology keeps evolving, security systems will also evolve resulting in a more secure system where people can worry less about their information (or location) being exposed.
This is a fascinating article! It is difficult to stay away from these devices in today’s modern environment, but what we don’t know is that we are willfully putting ourselves at risk. Without our knowledge, data is being collected. Businesses are keen to drain every piece of information from their consumers for insight, smart speakers and other household gadgets transmit information to advertising companies and other third parties. ‘Can we REALLY avoid it?’ is the question you pose in the headline of your piece because we’re so reliant on technology I don’t think it is a possibility.
As others have mentioned in regards to your title, no I don’t think this can be avoided. Companies can get our data if they really want it, and I have no doubt that government entities could keep tabs on our every move if they wanted to. I think that as we advance further with technology we shouldn’t make this a discussion of privacy, but rather a discussion of trust. We should be able to trust that when we sign up for Facebook that our data isn’t going to be collected and used for an extremely targeted advertising campaign, and yet, here we are. The worst part is that I don’t think there is really anything we can do about it at this point. The huge percentage of the online services that we use daily are owned and controlled by a select group of people. I don’t want to say that acceptance is the only way forward for the average user, but at this point I’m really not so sure. I’ve always argued for the benefits of competition, but as Facebook and Microsoft continue to expand their empires by buying out competitors, it’s looking harder and harder to compete.
Nice post! Using a smartphone is indeed easy to locate, but with the advancement of technology, smartphones have become a part of everyone’s life. It’s hard to convince athletes to keep their phones and use burner phones. They need to share the joy with family and friends back home. I think there are ways to reduce the risk of being targeted than not using smartphones, for example, we can use other methods to avoid being tracked: virtual location, making fake locations to confuse others.
Really a very interesting post and headline as well, “Can we avoid it?”. Yes, it is truly a misfortune for brilliant athletes who have put so much into this big event and they cannot even carry their smartphones with them but it is also evident at the same time that China is very mischievous about tracking and hacking one’s personal information. In my opinion, they should provide them with the best anti-malware and anti-virus software along with a good VPN for their protection instead of stopping them. Nice Post!
Interesting post! As we depend on technology more and more, and with the way things are interconnected nowadays, I think it would be hard to avoid tracking in some form. There are two possible approaches where you could just accept it and hope the people tracking you aren’t using your information maliciously, or you could attempt to reduce dependance on technology, but as technology evolves everyday, it is almost impossible to no be dependent on it.