The invisible shackles of digital data processing and the loss of privacy

The age of digital networking has fundamentally revolutionized the way people communicate and store information. What seems like a harmless exchange of messages or sharing a personal experience in the first moment actually creates a huge and barely transparent network of stored information. Most users suspectNot how profound their digital traces are anchored in local systems and global networks. This lack of awareness of the scope of one’s own data base leads to a creeping but massive loss of personal privacy.

The hidden traces of electronic correspondence

Anyone who sends digital letters not only transmits pure text content to certain recipient addresses, but also often attaches extensive file attachments to these messages. All of these elements are not stored exclusively on the remote servers of the providers, but can also be found on the home computer within the corresponding application software. What often inOblivion is the fact that a received message is usually just the beginning of an extensive chain of correspondence. You get a message, answer it, then you get a new answer, and this cycle seems to continue seemingly endlessly.

The challenge of data deletion and logging

The saved messages then end up in various directories on the hard disk, which means that a single message can exist at the end of a number of different locations at the same time. This decentralized distribution makes complete deletion a real challenge. In addition, there is a lot of protocol information for electronic mail that goes far beyond the purego beyond text content. After dispatch, the home computer, in cooperation with the servers, meticulously records the stations on which the message is running, at what time and with which individual network address it was sent.

The illusion of secure data storage on the Internet

It is therefore hardly possible to send such a message completely anonymously without any special technical countermeasures. The real treasure that users manage on their computer consists of the countless saved files. You install programs, enter personal data there and save the result as a file on the local data medium. These files contain a hugeA lot of information that goes far beyond what you entered.

Automatic transfer to remote data centers

The operating system and the programs used automatically add a lot of administrative information that works in the background. With the modern operating systems and office applications, another storage location has made its way onto the home computer, which is located in the vastness of the Internet. Documents are not only backed up locally, but also in a storage location in parallelfiled that exists somewhere in the global data centers. In many cases, this happens completely automatically in the background, without the user having to expressly agree.

The risks of decentralized data storage

Of course, the data in these remote memories is often protected, sometimes even better than on the local computer. The provider of the storage service is then responsible for the security of the information, which initially provides reassurance. However, this does not change the fact that data that is no longer on your device potentially poses a risk of attacksexposed to the global network. In addition, there is the factor of the lack of order, because no matter how much you plan to save your files in a structured way, it happens again and again that a file is accidentally stored in any other directory.

The hunt for personal information as a business model

Finding these misplaced files later and, if necessary, completely deleting them, proves to be a real challenge. It is almost impossible these days to stay away from the big digital community networks. Anyone who can only answer the question of their own digital identifier or the suggestion for professional networking is that they are not on the platformsis represented, quickly gets irritated looks. In addition, you miss so many contact options that seem indispensable in today’s mobile and global world.

The conversion of information on the digital currency

You may be as you please the big platforms, because how else do you keep in touch with people who live long distances away for many years. In today’s world, you can hardly get past these data octopuses if you want to stay socially involved. Of course, the operators of these networks also want to earn money with their offer. Try this aboutReaching membership fees has always been unsuccessful, as users are used to the fact that offers on the Internet are free.

The Duplicate Data Collection Strategy

Therefore, an alternative business model was needed, in which personal information became the new currency. This data is invaluable to operators, which is why they are constantly looking for new ways to collect them. Whether you use one or the other community network, in any case different types of data are stored there about oneself. oneCategory includes the contributions you enter yourself, for example in the form of written communications, consents to third-party contributions or your own comments.

The passive detection by the system

This data is more or less under control, even if it takes some thought to really exercise this control. The other category consists of the metadata that the networks automatically collect by observing their own activities or retrieving information from the computer. The user can only influence this to a very limited extent. A social network would be nothingIf users would not enter information about themselves.

The disclosure of your own location

It may be tempting to respond to the question of the current state of health with a snappy answer, but that’s exactly what the operators are concerned with. You should tell the other users and, more importantly, what you are doing. If you enter this voluntarily, you grant the provider the right to use this information as you wish. Now are pure textsNot really interesting for the data analysts, so users usually add more information.

The hidden information in digital images

You reveal where you are at the moment, what can be converted into an exact geographical position, or who is nearby, which means that several people are caught at once. There is also a photo, which may mean that a lot of different data comes together in a supposedly harmless post. Images are not only pure pixel clouds, but also containSo-called metadata, which reveals the camera model, the geoposition and the exposure time. In this way, the location can be determined solely by the photo, even if you do not enter it directly in the text.

The legal loss of one’s own creations

However, this only works if the recording device has not previously deactivated the position. When it comes to the question of what a provider can do with the data entered, a look at the general terms of use of the large platforms helps. If you previously thought your own photos were unrestricted personal property, you should look at the corresponding sections of theread through contracts. It says that when sharing copyrighted content, a worldwide and transferable license is granted.

The Trap of the Complete Activity Log

The provider may thus almost freely use the content to change, translate it or process it in new works. If you would like to contradict this, the answer of the providers is that you should simply delete your own account. However, that alone will not be enough, because other service providers have also anchored almost identical passages in their contracts. You can look atTake the position of deciding for yourself which data is made available to the networks, but that is only half the truth.

The comprehensive surveillance in secret

The networks also keep a book about what you did, where and when, and store this complete activity log over long periods of time. This comprehensive monitoring is done in secret and usually eludes the conscious perception of the users. Ultimately, you remain trapped in a system that systematically evaluates and markets your own privacy.