Big Brother redux

Big Brother doesn’t only watch you on the street and in the elevator; he gathers your digital tracks on the web and sells them for his profit.

We’re all familiar with the ads that pop up in Gmail and Google based on the keywords in a message or the terms of a search. What you may not realize is how and by whom your data is used or how much of it there is.

In fact, under current laws, you don’t have the right to find out what is known about you. And you’ll never know how and why information gleaned from Facebook and search engines may be used to your detriment. These companies make billions of dollars —Google alone made an estimated $36 billion last year— from data provided about you (for free, of course!) by you yourself and your friends. Banks, insurance companies, the IRS, the U.S. immigration authorities, even jealous spouses, among others, eagerly buy the information.

What’s worse, those entities that purchase your data may derive erroneous conclusions about you. If, for example, you search for information on a disease for an article you’re writing, the assumption will be that you yourself have the disease. Consequently, you may not be able to buy health insurance. Similarly, the mention of bankruptcy in an e-mail may affect your credit. Who knew the contents of your e-mail or your relationship to someone with problems, for example, could cost you a new job or sink a loan application? The New York Times reports that one study found that 70 percent of prospective employers and recruiters have rejected job applicants because of their electronic footprints.

If you can’t retract, recall, deny or even know everything you’ve revealed about yourself unwittingly, how do you make use of the Web from now on? Well, you can’t, not if you don’t want to disclose any more information or betray yourself unknowingly. The price of being able to find practically anything online is the loss of privacy. Since hardly anyone who’s used to the convenience of the internet would be willing to give it up, the only option I can see  is to pass new laws that would protect our online presence. At the very least, we need to know what information is out there and how it’s being used.