Cover Your Cameras… please
I recently watched the “Shut Up and Dance” Black Mirror episode and like every other episode it left me terrified and uncertain of my surroundings. The episode was about a boy named Kenny whose computer was hacked by spyware, and the hacker got a video of the young boy masturbating to a young girl’s photo. The hacker then used this video to blackmail the boy into doing acts like robbing a bank and fighting till death, or they will release the video to everyone. The catch came at the end when the hacker released the video to his mother and sent the police to arrest him for stealing, regardless that he complied to all the demands.
Luckily, this form of online blackmailing that Kenny experienced others is and is not in our current reality. Hackers do use spyware and personal accounts to attempt to target people and get them to comply to their demands, but people are more intellectual than that. If a hacker gets into someone’s computer, the first thing the person does is turn it off and get it repaired. Also hackers usually just want money, they don’t send people walking around with a cake like Kenny was forced to. Personally I have never heard of a situation where someone was blackmailed like Kenny was, and then a video or photo ended up getting released that “destroyed their life.” It’s possible that these hackers have such big control over certain people that they completely abide by their rules, but I highly doubt that. Blackmailing is in our current reality, but only the hacking and obtaining private information part. In reality right now, blackmailers do not force people around town doing weird tasks like they did in the episode.
Potentially, hackers can force people to do certain tasks if they are vulnerable. But, powerful organizations (CIA, FBI, police, etc.) and regular people are more intellectual than them so it is very unlikely that people are to experience blackmailing to this degree. Due to people and organizations being more and more careful with hackers, I believe that this fiction is very far from becoming reality.
Spyware and hackers do exist and they are smart, but people are smarter than to comply with their demands, this is why the episode of Black Mirror is and is not in our current reality. Regardless, this episode may give hackers some ideas so it is important to be aware and be prepared for this dark side of social media. The first action people should take to prevent this situation from becoming a reality is to cover your computer’s camera. If they can’t see you they can’t record you! The second way to prevent this reality is to be careful with what you send to people, even if its private. Yes, I sound like a high school teacher in the bullying assembly, but this step actually works! If the hacker can’t see you and there’s no messages or photos they can use against you, they can’t blackmail you! The third step from preventing this situation is to not download content you didn’t research beforehand and to be educated on how hackers try to get in so you can be once step ahead of them. Knowledge is key in preventing what happened to Kenny. Being one step ahead of the game prevents you from having to be forced into it. It’s a good thing that this episode of Black Mirror is not currently happening to that severity, however using precautions with social media is what will prevent this fiction from becoming a fact.
