Recording with your pants down

When I hold and record a webinar, I have to explicitly state that I am going to record the session to the audience, even if it has already been agreed earlier. There are laws about recording of conversations that have to be considered, however how does this work in regard to devices that listen in like Siri, OK Google and Alexa.

While I have these "features" turned off on my phone, I can't guarantee that those I talk with will have it turned off in theirs. This means that it is listening to all conversations, as long as there is at least one device within earshot, but no one has given permission to having their voice recorded. With the ability to locate and position us through our ow devices, even without our consent they are able to identify our voice and then track it wherever it may appear.

While I am probably not doing anything wrong, I do not want my voice recorded nor my every move tracked through the streets on cameras that are monitored by AIs with facial recognition software, yet that must be happening to at least some degree. Who do I apply to for my right to be forgotten and how are they going to be able to scrub video content that can obviously be used for identification purposes? Even if they only keep a recording for e week for example, how can I say that I do not want to be recorded in the first place and where have I ever agreed to this?

While cameras might be in public areas, private corporations are doing the monitoring and as far as I know, the records they keep aren't open for public access. If it is okay for them to monitor because it is public, is it okay for me as a private citizen to install my own camera network around my city and use it for whatever purpose I choose?

Can you imagine if after a drunken night out, I was able to input your public profile picture available from Facebook and then track you on your intoxicated journey through the streets of the city. And, I was able to do this for everyone using a few data points. What would I discover, and how could I use the information for profit?

This is of course an extreme example perhaps, but the thing is that with enough data points to filter, mass information can become very granular very fast and be used in all kinds of ways. As said, knowledge is power in the way that knowledge is used - sometimes just holding it is enough leverage.

In a discussion with a colleague about this, she said that she didn't understand how people get so excited over Alexa listening in their homes, but doesn't mind having Siri listen. Her justification for the difference is the tool (her phone) has features she likes, it is convenient. Things like automatic scheduling in her calendar when she books a ticket and suggestions for various products. Convenient!

Convenience is why the coming Artificial Intelligence revolution is going to be accepted steadily and quietly. It is already happening with much of our digital content being AI filtered in order to deliver us what they want, when we want it. On-demand services are highly convenient and we will keep buying into them as long as the cost is low (they deliver for free - what a deal!) and we do not feel the encroachment into our lives of consumption.

Yes, you can pay with your face these days which makes it very easy as no cards are required, but that data is highly accessible and versatile to be used to extract more consumer spending. It all comes down to tracking and leveraging consumer habits in order to identify new products and ways to make a little more profit. The easier it is to spend, the more that gets spent.

The value of the data that the funnels have is because we as individuals value our privacy. Because we do not want people we associate with to know what we get up to but desire and support convenience, the funnels can collect and filter without having to ever open their information pools to others. This makes the content scarce and highly valuable as it is what indicates and can be used to drive consumption and it is protected because we don't want that information available publicly, like the footage of that drunken night out.

While I do not think that radical transparency is ever going to happen, our desire to be anonymous makes the information that only a very few organizations have access to highly valuable. It is a bit of a lose/lose situation for us as consumers and puts a stranglehold on our ability to act freely or perhaps more importantly, challenge the status quo.

Losing privacy might give us freedom as we then have nothing left to lose, but losing privacy will cost us as social implications will retard our behaviors, making us not free. This catch-22 allows that narrow set of organizations to continually collect data that increasingly protects them from us being able to challenge them as they can dictate social terms and if that fails, they have a lot of data about us as individuals.

Anyone who thinks that they can't be identified is sorely mistaken, it is just that not everyone can identify them. Give those who can make the identification a good enough reason, and they will.

It is a strange world we have created where we will of course value our privacy whist simultaneously knowing that very little we do is actually private at all. And then, factor in that there is already the ability to create deep fake faceswap content and mimic voice creation and think, would footage from a street camera and a little bit of voice be enough to sway opinions?

If your wife or husband received footage of you walking arm in arm with a stranger drunkenly down the street, could you prove that it wasn't you? It was the same street you walked, it is your face smiling and perhaps there is even your voice to back it up.

If it was your partner in the footage, would you believe them?

Taraz
[ a Steem original ]