Is AI Compromising Our Privacy?
One of the biggest concerns today with respect to AI, is privacy. Every time we check the “agree” box on an application, we forfeit some measure of it. Like Trojan horses, these apps allow people surreptitious access to our personal lives. Just think about your smartphone. It knows where you go, who you talk to, what you say, the websites you visit, the music you listen to, the restaurants you frequent, and the things you buy. It also knows your face, your fingerprints, and your financial health. Moreover, most of this data is stored somewhere in the cloud, which is just a euphemism for a virtual server that may or may not exist within a jurisdiction that enforces privacy laws. Most disturbing is how easy it is to pervert that privacy for profit, or worse. AI can be used to trace your movements, listen to your conversations, and watch you without your consent.
For instance, the network of cameras at intersections used to monitor and regulate traffic can also be used to profile people, follow pedestrians, and help the authorities target unsuspecting citizens. The same is true of Amazon’s Ring and Google’s Nest. They are not only connected to your home’s local area network, but in some cases to the police or private security. On one hand such an arrangement can be a good thing. It is at the heart of the social contract. On the other the neighborhood watch is privy to all the comings and goings at your front door. What if you have a visitor that you would prefer remains anonymous? Do we really want eyes on us all the time? What if a stalker hacks into the system so they know when your house is empty, or worse, when it’s not. It typically does not take much for someone to bypass network security.
There are also less overt methods of compromising your privacy. As we gravitate towards a cashless society with Apple Wallet, PayPal and Venmo, every purchase we make is recorded for marketing and accounting purposes, and stored for future reference. Chances are you have already consented to share such information unwittingly. After all, who takes the time to read the lengthy legalese when they are anxious to install a new OS or try a new app. The reality is that big companies rely on this so they can mine our personal information with impunity. It means that strangers can view the intimate minutia of our lives without our express permission. For example, do you really want an anonymous marketing executive knowing when you buy condoms or the morning-after pill?
What about the increase in targeted ads that pop up when we are surfing the web? Or marketing campaigns that continue to plague us with unwanted junk mail for items we have expressed a passing interest in online? Or what about the recent rise in credit card fraud? Our bio’s, shopping habits and payment methods are being tracked, analyzed and sold to the highest bidder. Unscrupulous operators are faking emails and spoofing IP addresses to gain unauthorized access to our information — sometimes attempting to blackmail us with what they find. The bottom line is that by not paying attention to the fine print, we leave oursleves at risk.
Then there are digital assistants like the Apple HomePod or Amazon’s Echo. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year, Siri and Alexa are waiting to tell us the time, check the weather, play music, narrate the news, and so on. Simply because they are silent doesn’t mean they’re not listening. They are listening all the time. The same is true of self-driving cars. They have to have built-in monitoring systems that enable them to communicate their needs to the vehicle (desired destination, unscheduled stops, etc.). The big question is what data are they listening to in the interim? We must be mindful of bad actors who are looking to co-opt this technology for less than ethical purposes.
Finally, there are a number of gray areas when it comes to privacy and AI. A recent Google query about how to dispose of a human body led to the indictment of a Massachusetts man who murdered and dismembered his wife. Sounds like a good thing, right? But on the other side of the argument, misleading GPS coordinates provided by Google prompted authorities to falsely arrest and imprison an Avondale, Arizona man. In both these instances a warrant was issued to compel the tech giant to comply. But the larger problem is that they were collecting and storing this information to begin with.
From the mile high view, such information has become a multi-billion dollar industry. Massive volumes of personal data harvested from almost every app we use (or that uses us), is being cataloged, cross-referenced and shared with strangers. Another sticky issue is that privacy on the internet is difficult to regulate, albeit non-existent. We have limited control over who has access to our data once it hits the ether, especially when you factor in corporate greed and personal complacency. This is the nature of data science and what’s best for AI. The more information, the better. The question is what’s best for us?
