The Contemporary scam
From the past five or six years, I have
stopped watching T.V. This doesn’t mean that I don’t watch anything at all. I
see videos on internet and only see the stuff that I want to see. As you know
that internet is very much different and dynamic when it comes to choosing what
and when you want to see a certain program. I do watch videos for a couple of hours
in a day. The content that I watch generally is related to travelling,
astronomy, science and news from India and the world. With internet, you have
flexibility and control over what you watch. As in TV, the programs are fixed, and you know that what you will see next. But on the internet, you
can literally watch anything you like from anywhere in the world. This is the
reason I prefer internet than watching satellite channels.
Something happened with me in 2018 that
changed my whole perception about the internet. The thing that I am going to
tell you will be known to some, but it can surprise many people. My head
erupted with the scam that I discovered two years back. It led to other
questions in my head, eventually it trailed to many other questions. The
answers to those questions that I searched were very strange and mind-boggling.
One fine day in 2018, I was going on a car journey
to New Delhi with one of my friends. On our way we were involved in a detailed
discussion about certain types of cars as I was planning to buy one that year.
We discussed about different cars and their features for about two hours. When
we reached Delhi and finished off our day, we rented a hotel room. I have a
habit of watching some videos in the evening. I opened a renowned video
application and was stunned to see my home page flooded with videos regarding
different features of cars and recently launched cars. I laughed out loud and
showed it to my friend. I told him, ‘look this is what these applications are
doing with people. Entering their privacy and showing them what they want’. He
replied, ‘there’s nothing wrong in that. I agreed with him and came back to my
hometown the very next day.
I couldn’t control my anxiety for what had
happened that day. I called my younger brother immediately and told him the
whole story. We both tried it and were shell shocked to see that it does happen
repeatedly. When you talk about certain things frequently, these mobile
applications use voice recognition and record your demands. Then through AI
(Artificial Intelligence), they show you the things they feel you might be
interested to see. Most of you must have noticed when applications demand your
permission to record mic voice at the time of installation. Although you can
turn off that setting but some applications won’t run until and unless you
allow that application to use the microphone of your mobile phone. This is
where the scam happens. Whatever goes on with you in your life is being
recorder in your mobile phones and millions of applications have access to the
content that you speak.
Now to start with, it was fine for me as I
thought it to be a really good idea for the companies to target their
customers. But as I researched more and more about it, the findings were
scandalous. The mobile application developers use this data and influence
people to buy a certain product or to polarize people to vote for a certain
political party. Obviously, they don’t do it directly but the impact that AI
has on our lives is immeasurable.
Through voice recording and the use of
Artificial Intelligence, these applications has let the ideology, products and
politicians reach your bedroom, pockets and every imaginable place on this
earth. They are hacking your privacy which is not only influencing people to an
immense degree but be-fooling them as well. The videos and content that you will
continuously see everyday will also influence your buying pattern for certain
goods.
People have the freedom to upload any
content they want on the internet. Youngsters can easily form opinions about
something that might or might not be true. Let’s face the hard fact that most
of the millennial and generation z is not well read. I am not talking about
the formal education but the real education that one gets from novels and
historical books. The education that one gets from reading famous personalities
and leaders of the past and present. Due to immaturity in this area, they are
very easily influenced and can be manipulated by the propaganda on internet.
Segregating people for votes is a cake walk
for IT leaders. Once you start following a certain type of ideology on
internet, the AI systems will recognize your inclination towards it and will
flood your device with more videos and articles like that. Now that’s where the
scam happens. The applications and IT companies collect your data and sell it
to other companies who want to advertise a product. You will start seeing that video
or article on most of the websites you open in a shape of a flash advert. They
also sell this data to political parties and then use your mobiles to reach you
and your brain. Once you start watching videos of a certain type then the AI
will keep suggesting you more videos like that. This way your ideas and
opinions become more stronger towards a certain thing. Before believing
anything, you must realize that internet is not only full of information but a
lot of crap as well. This system not only apply to videos but anything that you
search on the internet. They record your search history and analyze your search
pattern. Then they show you more of what you like than showing what you don’t want
to see.
Knowingly or unknowingly, internet is
changing the way you think, it is changing your perception. Humans are the
biggest beneficiaries of internet and they are the biggest victims as well.
Sometimes I listen to youngsters talking non-sense facts and having distorted
knowledge of history, I can clearly see the effect of internet on them. The
case is not that internet is full of fake knowledge but there are people who
have posted false information and videos that youngsters can absorb. As you
know that today’s majority of youngster is not well read in terms of history
and literature, so it is easily to persuade them.
Apart from this, the content that you start
receiving on your device is highly addictive. It becomes a part of your life.
Like book reading is addictive, similarly, consuming a certain type of content
on internet becomes tempting to people. They are not able to get out of that
virtual world and believe in everything they see or read. Their opinions become
rock solid and they close their ears and eyes to opposing opinions. This is a
very bad attitude and can stop learning and growth of a person. When you are
engrossed in internet so much, you give less priorities to other stuff like
family and friends. Internet has created a fake, parallel and addictive world
that is hard to resist. No matter what, most people on this planet can’t dodge
internet but you can always try to limit the usage. The habit of being always
connected to internet has destroyed family life of a person. People are
literally living in a virtual world these days.
The fact is that people don’t want to come
out of this virtual world of internet. They find tranquility when they are using
internet. This is like an escape to them from reality. Its proven
scientifically that humans find escape from reality in order to relieve stress.
Some drink, some smoke, some do exercise, some read, some play games, some
write, and nowadays more and more people are using internet to escape from
reality. The virtual world is less painful and more entertaining. Because when
you are in your virtual world, you are at least away from your problems for
that particular period of time. People have started enjoying this virtual world
and the leaders know this very well. They exploit this to control your mind and
actions.
There’s no denying the fact that with the
use of internet, News spreads like a wildfire. There are few media houses that
don’t show real news to the world. They are only busy in spreading government’s
agendas. However, people these days can simply film an incident and upload it
on the internet. Within hours, millions of people can reach that news with the
help of internet. On the flip side, rumors spread even faster. Rumors can
manipulate your thinking towards a certain agenda of the government. How often
do we hear these days about the IT cells of political parties? Throughout the
world these days, the elections are not won on the basis of development and
work but with the help of IT cells. Even the leaders of the world have now
realized the power of internet. And it is high time for people to understand it
as well. Rather than being manipulated by others, people must learn to use
internet for their benefits.
You mustn’t be surprised to know that you
are also recorded for your location day wise, hour wise, minute wise, and live
as well. When your phone is in your pocket, authorities know that where you
are. IT companies record your locations. Correspondingly, you must have noticed
in certain social networking sites that you start getting friend suggestions of
people whom you just met in person. Or internet browsers asking you to rate a
certain restaurant or a shop that you just visited. Every move of yours is recorded
and known by the leaders of IT. They know where you go every day and for what
length of time you stay there.
To recapitulate, I would like to say that most
of you reading this blog including me are controlled by internet some way or
the other. But what important is to know these facts and not let the internet and
IT leaders to manipulate your opinions and thinking. You’ve got to always
remember that your privacy is not private anymore. It is better if you
understand this as soon as possible.
- Darshan Singh
Author | Speaker | Trainer
Very well compiled
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