Boons & Banes of BigTech . Time to take stock and mend ways!
Wealth creation, for all players in Services sector, better be the by-product .
Yes, even ‘mature’ adults uncaringly laugh away at many a thing, rather than crying out foul and loud. Their vulnerability has been exploited to the core by social media.
Has dopamine got us hooked on tech? The Silicon Valley is keen to exploit the brain chemical credited with keeping us tapping on apps and social media -says The Guardian story.
No wonder, we perfunctorily sign up and blindly agree to the fine-print conditions of apps we like downloading, without caring for the inequality between costs and rewards.
And so, grave apprehensions surrounding data security and privacy are pandemically virulent.
I then heard about the spin-off of some editing apps asking for access to your keyboard! One of-course can not question the reason for intrusion: to enable the App to serve the Writers well, on a real-time basis. Yet, don’t we need to pause to assess the probability & potential of misuse by the sub-tenant?.
New York Times story -a wake-up call.
The Jan/22 NYT Story: An Australia With No Google? The Bitter Fight Behind a Drastic Threat, is alarming enough for us all to wake up from our sloth and slumber.
And a video, viral on and about WhatsApp in India, reported generically similar rumblings.
Blackmailing and/ or bullying the app users, who do not agree to comply with the (revised) terms, is becoming so very common. And OMG -not just the users, but even their duly elected law-makers, representing 26 million citizens of the sovereign democratic -Australia!!
The actors now need to rattle, in tandem, to thwart other countries standing up. They cannot risk any loss of control and revenue.
I am not here to go into the merits or the precise cause(s) of the reported rift or rumblings.
But am certainly peeved to realise that yesteryear mini start-ups -surviving on patron supplements, have today outgrown into such overwhelmingly challenging giants.
Holding a crutch -For good or for worse
Google has become an inescapable crutch for almost all humanity. A sine qua non for developmental progress -personal, professional, occupational or vocational pursuits & growth. Many would give in to gain the unquestionable benefits of the net services.
At the other extreme, are social apps which have manipulatively intoxicated most of humanity. Ayes & Likes keep hearts beating and lungs breathing. Provides users regular doses of dopamine highs, to survive and sail through the lows of life. Dopamines informs us that we need to get a glass of water when we feel thirsty or attempt to procreate so that our genes may survive our death.
Other wholesome paths to happy living are rather strenuous. Better go easy, they feel.
Sadly, nobody cares enough. A dichotomy of our behaviour..
We customarily wear different masks befitting situations —bedrooms, living rooms, workplaces, parties, on social media, and many more.
We also take care to restrain and keep at bay intruders & peeping toms. We install CCTV networks, build fences, walls & gates.
And if we discovered that the mall’s changing room had two-way mirror glass walls, we waste no time and dial 911.
At the same time, we are all OK and game for our total individuality being laid bare and visible to social media data miners -on a real-time basis. These intruders also lurk behind a two-way glass mirror and invisibly pry on us.
Why? Because we are not conscious and cognisant of the matter. Or prefer turning a nelson’s eye.
Data privacy & security.
Privacy and security afforded is either non-existent or minuscule. It is a matter of core concern and assumes dangerous proportions when it concerns apps popular amongst the youth.
Our personal and private details have not remained so: where we go, what we buy, who we are/or not friends with, whether Red or Blue, whether aligned with the hammer & sickle or the charging bull.
What if a user gave his ‘consent’ to enjoy the sneaky app? The doctrine of estoppel should not arguably be allowed to rescue monopolistic monoliths.
A battalion of legal luminaries stand-by to provide a shield, that seemingly cannot be pierced by commoners, and now even their elected Governments?
The monopolies may wish to blame it on ‘other’ bad actors who, unknowingly, misused their treasure-trove, amassed for ‘good’ use. But sample these researched stories, to know more..
Cambridge Analytica -NYT Story
Facebook Exposed 87 Million Users to Cambridge Analytica -Wired.Com
Whither Privacy Shield…-Heonline.Org
Why not constitute a specialised Agency of UN Body -GPAT
It’s time to set up a Special UN Agency. I can help coin its name -Global Protection against Apps & Advancements in Technology (GPAT)
GPAT’s writ shall, uniformly and unquestioningly, rule over all Member Countries. Let a new format of global governance, over survival issues, come into play for a much needed protective umbrella.
GPAT should better –
- be duly empowered to effectively subserve its founding objectives. Not a toothless tiger.
- ensure that no single cog of a wheel is allowed to take on or challenge the wheel -enough of Australias.
- take care of ALL frailties afflicting some existing International Agencies. *No spoil-sport vested Vetos. *Democratic process. *No BigBrother stance. *Secret polling.
- set an example; the world doesn’t need one more adjunct. Akin to the one, which rather than upholding its objectives, worked overtime to fail it -enough of ANY genre of pandemics.
I wish to end the story With Malice Towards None.
The world has undoubtedly benefited from technology and can truly be grateful to the providers.
One is but worried that power corrupts & absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Sincerely plea, request & hope that the BigTech remains glued to their original charters. They are no less a part of those they serve.
Change is the only constant. No one, living or non-living, has ever remained immortal
Let’s not forget that the one-time glory of the Roman Empire is today but a relic.
Let the BigTech decide, which of the following descriptors, would it like the posterity to read, on its epitaph
..that they were done-in by their own misdeeds and misadventures
Or
..that after getting waylaid a while, they wisely retracted to become a baton for to enriching and uplifting human life..
Let better sense prevail. Let’s be hopeful.
Where Flowers Bloom, So Does Hope ~Ladybird Johnson
Thank you so much for your time..
If you liked my story & its sentiments, please ~
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BEFORE I SIGN OFF
I would like to mention and share my story with some friends as also the eminent, illustrious & noteworthy on Medium. They inspired me in varying manner. The list can NOT be exhaustive.
Darshan, J.J. Pryor , Justin Cox , KR Franklin , Linda Caroll , Martin Vidal , Neera Mahajan , Niklas Göke , Sam DeBrule , Sudipto Chanda , Tim Denning , Tom Stevenson , Violet Daniels , The Guardian, The New Yorker, The New York Times , Barack Obama
