Personal Responsibility in the Digital Era
Learn How to Count on Yourself
Personal responsibility in the digital era isn’t easy. Especially with services like ‘forgot my password’ Banks and LifeLock use to foster a consumer’s dependency on their services. -Demetrick Ferguson
While we pave the way towards the future we cling onto the ways of our past. It’s time we grew up and start taking accountability for our digital actions, by learning to take responsibility for ourselves digitally. The problem is we have no idea how to start or where. Luckily I got to interview a PhD, Corey Petty, on the topic.
What Is “Personal Responsibility in the Digital Era”?
Before you can take responsibility, you must know what it means first.
Personal responsibility is the idea that human beings choose, instigate, or otherwise cause their own actions. A corollary idea is that because we cause our actions, we can be held morally accountable or legally liable. — Wikiquote
Personal responsibility in the digital era starts with finance, privacy and security. It’s the self preservation of ones finance and privacy when using technology, and taking precautions against malicious vulnerabilities. To help explain what this means and how to take action, Corey Petty, from @thebtcpodcast, answers a few questions for me.
1.What does personal responsibility in the digital era mean to you.
”Personal responsibility, particularly in the digital era, is understanding where your digital assets are, and what the limits of security are around them. If you have something digital, ask yourself the question "Who has access to this material, and should they?" Understanding what tradeoff you are making when allowing someone to have access or control of your digital assets is key. If you can’t properly answer that question, then you should do some due diligence to do so, especially before throwing your hard earned money at something. It is the people who can’t answer, or don’t ever ask themselves this question that are vastly more likely to be taken advantage of, or screw something up.”
2.How do you take personal responsibility?
”I ask myself the question above, and make sure I’m ok with the answers. I make sure I research whatever it is I need to know to sufficiently safeguard anything valuable I own digitally. If it is vulnerable, then it is my fault, and I’m ok with that.”
3.Where should I start?
”In terms of cryptocurrency, start by only storing any coins you have in places where YOU control the private keys. If you use an exchange, or service where you don’t control the keys, then use the service and move your coin to a safer location. Also, don’t have a single point of failure. Back up your wallets, place them in a safe location that only you have access to.”
4.Can you give me an example of an irresponsible scenario?
”If we follow the advice above, anyone who had money sitting on bitfinex that wasn’t actively using it was irresponsible. This isn’t the first time a centralized exchange has lost user funds.”
Finance
Protect Your Money
Banks are as unnecessary as the Pony Express in this digital era. With email there’s no reason for the everyday person to send a physical letter. Yes, there are occasions where it’s necessary but now and days it’s a rarity, much like the use of physical currency. Using a paper wallet means your bitcoin is impervious to hacking, unlike banks. Using a wallet like Jaxx to hold only small amounts for trading or short holding, maybe spending, and you’re your own debit card (all you need is a smartphone and Internet). Read more coming soon.
Bitcoin is money 2.0
Security
Increases Security
Banks, Visa and debit cards have high levels of security and insurance to protect you from theft and financial loss. The vulnerability lies with the merchant and their point of sales client. Hackers have easily stolen personal information along with large amounts of money from multiple sources. The upside to a bitcoin “hack” or “theft” is no personal information is ever at risk. As long as you keep your bitcoin in a safe wallet and protect your private keys and login credentials, your currency is safer in your wallet then the banks. Read more coming soon.
Bitcoin is pseudonymous.
Privacy
Protect Your Identity
All electronic purchases are recorded and monitored, tracking goods and services from supplier back to the buyer. This is possible because you need to provide banks and credit cards personal information, that they share with the merchant, that they share with their POS(which is vulnerable to hacking). You can buy, sell and trade bitcoin for goods and services anonymously, even with a digital transaction. This is possible because you can uses wallets like Jaxx, that doesn’t require even an email meaning there’s no information about you on Jaxx’s end for them to ever share with any merchant. Read more coming soon.
Bitcoin is a secret.
