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Law in the Internet Society
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Dreaming of something bigger (and something completely obtainable)-- By EsmeraldaHernandez - 25 Oct 2024 Regardless of the degree of skill or trust with which each individual leverages digital technology, engaging with said technology is almost inevitable. In my past draft, I complained about certain aspects of my technology usage that made the experience of going online even more annoying than usual. However, it is all the more important to recognize what is at the heart of my first essay and complaint. Digital technology doesn’t work in a way that best serves us as a society. This draft, instead, asks: why has the online environment become a monster we know and tolerate? What is the alternative? Why can’t we exist in this other reality? Because I am no computer scientist, I will be focusing on social media and advertising (if anyone in class has more of a knowledge of the coding behind this media, please feel free to expand on that end).How should our technology work?The internet should ultimately be an outlet that empowers society, an outlet that allows the world to work together to solve problems. Now that we are more connected than ever, the democratization of knowledge through the internet is in sight. We could end the education crisis in America, not to mention bridging the gap in communities that lack educational opportunities worldwide. Through the internet, we could easily distribute educational materials and online teaching tools to youth, and help the best teachers in the world teach students everywhere. Digital technology could enable the voice of single people to travel to multiple countries simultaneously, reducing inequality. In an ideal internet, we could collaborate with others and create large problem solving systems without worrying that someone is taking advantage of us. Even dreaming of the basics, we could connect with friends (or strangers) and exchange conversations or media freely.Why do we not have what we want?We want to use digital technology to its fullest extent, as we have with technologies of the past. So why do we not? As Shoshana Zuboff so eloquently put it: “Surveillance capitalism is not the same as digital technology. It is an economic logic that has hijacked the digital for its own purposes.” Surveillance capitalism has infiltrated the digital world to claim the human experience as free raw material to convert into behavioral data, which is sold to others and used to keep users captive. Surveillance capitalism began hitting at a high pace from the start. Google, in the early 2000s discovered how to turn personal information into predictions of where ads should be placed. By 2013, Facebook could develop subliminal cues to shape users’ real-life feelings and actions, allowing marketers to strike at moments of “maximum vulnerability.” These days, even your child’s conversations with a toy can be sold to the CIA. The internet we have, although not perfect by any means, is not even accessible to many parts of the world. As of 2023, there is a stark digital divide where, although 63 percent of the world’s population is connected, many countries can only count on 27 percent of their populations as internet users. As new technologies develop, the poor continue to be left out. This digital inequity further roadblocks the dream of a worldwide educational and collaborative network, and a plethora of brilliant minds continue to go one more day without the tools they might need to bring about interesting developments. Still, the fire might have started long ago. We can see it in the very existence of the terms “information superhighway” and in “the market for eyeballs.” We can see it in the discussions around the first broadcast licenses for television.How can we get closer to having what we want?To get closer to a world in which we are able to use the internet as we dream it, without having to make conscious decisions to protect ourselves from surveillance, we must first reclaim our right to privacy. Zuboff and Moglen advise on “front end” and “back end” disruption of revenue flows of markets that do business with our data. As a collective, we must speak up in outrage about the mass taking of our data and cry out for the internet that we could have, one that could bring about educational and developmental renaissance. We must advocatate for laws to “ensrine respect for the value of personal data.” We must make others aware of exactly how much we are losing to surveillance capitalism, and advocate for the distribution of digital technology to those without. There is little excuse for the lack of distribution when the costs of hardware are so low that sourcing the technology or hosting your own digital service can be affordable. It might not be easy, but it will move us closer to the internet we want. On a personal level, you can stop handing your data to the Zuckerbergs of the world. Put up a website with your social profile on it and share the link with others if you want to. Refuse to partake in exchanges that require apps like Zoom and Google Drive (there’s always an alternative). Start an mail server with friends. ‘Surf’ responsibly: whether that be through obtaining a FreedomBox, or (at the least) installing Firefox and using the add-ons. It might seem like a lot of time to devote to extricating yourself from the status quo, but it is well-worth the process. To prove that your data is valuable, you must treat it as such.Circling BackIn my first draft, I mostly complained about the scraping of my data and the onslaught AI ‘features’ that I felt were being forced on me and my peers. It felt like a rant (and it was a little therapeutic to write about what I was dealing with, in a way). Still, it was only a rant, with no solutions. We've been discussing the solutions I wrote above throughout the entire semester, but writing them out in this essay format helped me actually realize just how little I needed to do to get out of the situation I complained about in the first place. It was an interesting exercise to work through, and I’m glad I worked through it.You are entitled to restrict access to your paper if you want to. But we all derive immense benefit from reading one another's work, and I hope you won't feel the need unless the subject matter is personal and its disclosure would be harmful or undesirable. To restrict access to your paper simply delete the "#" character on the next two lines:
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