Are you worried about surveillance technology? Then, be sure to steer clear of uploading your child’s face to social media sites. Your child is precious to you. You no doubt want to protect them.
Yet by uploading their face to social media you take away their choice. They cannot choose how or if they want to engage with such sites.
How social network sites currently store users’ data is not completely known. This is because of secretive government surveillance programs. User privacy is also complicated.
The only way to stop children from being exploited is by refusing to allow them to be photographed and these photos uploaded to social media.
Photo Sharing Apps Help Surveillance Facial Recognition Technology
Photo sharing apps like Instagram, Facebook, and the infamous Ever app have begun using images uploaded to their site for facial recognition. This might seem fun. One day you might be able to see all photos that have been posted of you by strangers that you never knew existed.
However, the relationship between social media services and the government means that a lot of that data can be sold onto the government and, in the future, used in a database.
At the moment those of us in the West are lucky to live under a benevolent government. These governments choose to use that data only to catch criminals. In the future, our freedom could be in doubt if a more autocratic government was to get into power.
Those interested in social technology solutions might consider attending the SciComm Summit.
The Role of Security Services
Many people worry that the powers of the security services are not properly regulated. This is because they are not open and transparent. Bodies like GCHQ in the U.K and the NSA in the U.S operate in a cloud of secrecy, a surveillance technology group.
It is only thanks to individuals like Edward Snowden that we know a little bit about the surveillance technology advantages of major Western powers. He worked for the NSA in the U.S but put his life at risk by exposing their mass spying programs to the world. As a result, he is currently in hiding, pending charges of treason.
You Lose Control And So Does Your Child
When you upload photos to a social media website, you sign up to a host of terms and conditions that the site sets. Whilst there has been increasing awareness of this fact, they still run to many pages and most people don’t read them.
As a result, most people aren’t aware that once you upload something to a social media site you are giving that site the ability to sell on your data. You can easily lose control as to who has control over your personal information, and it may end up in the hands of a private company that you had never heard of.
Whilst you as an individual have the right to choose whether you upload something to a social network and understand the risks that come with this, your child does not.
The Right to Choose
By uploading an image of your child to social media, you are taking away their right to choose and this can’t get remedied.
We do not know how technology is going to evolve in the future but there is a very real possibility that your child’s image will never leave the internet and will forever be available in ways they do not agree with.
Your Child’s Data Can Help Influence Election Results
The most pervasive way in which uploading your child’s image could be harmful is how it can be used to rig election results.
During the 2016 U.K referendum on membership of the European Union, big data firm Cambridge Analytica, acting on behalf of the Leave Campaign, found a way of harvesting data on Facebook pages.
They used a seemingly innocent quiz game to trick users into giving away their data and those of their friends. Cambridge would then target these users with carefully crafted ads depending on their circumstances.
By uploading your child’s photo to the internet, Cambridge could have established that you had a child and sent specific ads designed to scare you about the impact of remaining in the E.U on your child.
Another campaign in another election will use such tactics. They are now normalized as legitimate tactics.
Surveillance Technology is Here to Stay So Be Cautious
In some ways, surveillance technology improves our lives. It helps us to catch criminals more easily but also helps us to understand ourselves and to reflect on our behavior which sometimes might not always be illegal but immoral.
Others argue surveillance technology companies are invasive and can be used to control and moderate behavior for their ends and to the detriment of society. Indeed, the selling of private information from Facebook and other sites has been their primary method of business. It has enabled them to avoid charging for their services.
Big companies use data to rig elections. Whilst security services are secretive with the way they use data.
It is important to ensure your child has a choice about how they use their data and by uploading your child’s photo to social media you are depriving them of this choice.
In the future, they may come to resent the fact they had so little control over how to use their data.
To read more about how technology affects our lives, be sure to read the rest of our site.
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