How to live with Big Brother

> Understanding why privacy a

Elliot Chan
Opinions Editor

 

hile it isn’t necessarily

the government that is
tracking all your activity, the
combination of all the data
accumulated in day-to-day life
is enough for them to know
you better than your parents
do. We can almost be certain
that, although there is nobody
watching us on a screen, our
every action is recorded, filed
away, and capable of being
pulled out and evaluated by
those with the credentials to
do so. Most often those people
aren't people at all, they are just
marketing algorithms designed
to match your queries and daily
behaviours with advertisements.

Now, Google isn’t out to
embarrass you by exposing
your search queries. TransLink
will not send a message to your
girlfriend if you decide to make
a mysterious trip out to Surrey.
Bell is not going to let your boss
know that you’ve been trash
talking him with your friends.
These things don’t benefit the
company, so don’t be paranoid.
It’s hard to trust the

motives of big corporations,
but I always bring it back to
one question: Does such and
such action cause them to

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lose or gain money? If your
behaviour continues to benefit
the business you get the service
from, you can keep going merrily
by—as long as you are not
committing any heinous crimes.

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There is no way around it;
we need to trust companies to
use our information ethically.
However, we need to also be
conscious of what information
we are haphazardly giving

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away. See, privacy matters.
Without privacy, you'll lose
control of your own life. The
companies will own it.

Any sort of meaningful self-
development does not happen

Speaking for groups you don't represent
contributes to oppression

> The value of shutting up and listening

Cazzy Lewchuk
Staff Writer

 

t’s a point of contention that

we live in a world where many
people experience oppression:
those living in poverty, people
of colour, LGBT+ people,
disabled people, women. Anyone
who isn’t a straight cisgender
white male (like myself) is to
some degree discriminated
against in our society today.
The importance of speaking up
for specific issues, along with
standing up for the rights of
the marginalized, cannot be
emphasized enough. As a person
with a large degree of privilege
and, by extension, power, I have
a duty to speak up for equality.

However, it is as Important

to let members of these groups
speak up for themselves. Because
lam not part of the group, I
should not act as if my opinion is
more valid than theirs, because I
don't have the same experiences
as they do.’ Certainly, members
of privileged groups should be

in agreement when defending
equal rights, but not at the risk
of undermining the ones who are
specifically seeking the equality.
When men say what is best
for women, they are actively
undermining advocacy led by

 

women themselves. They are
contributing to a society in which
men make all the decisions,
including having control over
what a woman does. When

a straight person declares

what a member of the LGBT+

Image via thinkstock

community needs, it silences the
voice of said community. When a
person who has not experienced
mental illness declares
statements and opinions about
mental health, it discourages
those who actually do suffer from

in a group, or with Sauron’s
eye watching you. It happens
independently, not on Facebook
and not while Googling. I’m
not talking about education or
improving your business skills
or finding online romance, I’m
talking about the growth that
occurs when you are allowed
room to breathe. This is the
type of growth that has no
deadlines and no guidance. This
in essence is the life you'll live.
We have become so obsessed
with sharing our experiences on
social media, telling everything
we do to Big Brother, that we
are forgetting the real point of
our pursuits: to create memories
that aren’t saved on any hard
drive, except the one between
our ears. We are scared of people
listening in on us, but we have
stopped listening to ourselves.
The season is changing. It'll
be a warm summer, I predict.
This is an opportunity to get
away from the information
highway and do something
nobody on the Internet will
know. Big companies are
constantly collecting data,
and so should you. The good
thing is, you get to decide
what information you want to
store: what’s spat out to you
by those online or what you
discover yourself. It’s up to you.

discussing their own experiences.
Members of marginalized
groups are able to speak up
for themselves just as much as
outsiders are. In fact, they are
much more able to properly
speak up for themselves.
Speaking up for someone, instead
of with someone, is a habit that
occurs much too frequently.
Minorities are intelligent,
rational, and capable of making
their own decisions and knowing
what is best for them.
Representing a group you
are not a member of takes away
power from these groups and
gives it back to the factors that
oppress these groups in the first
place. Although many of us with
said power have nothing but the
best intentions in speaking up, it
is very easy to dominate an idea
and discourage viewpoints from
first-hand perspectives. Being
in solitude is great, and helping
to fix the power imbalance is
great. But often, the best thing
we can do to give power back
is to shut up and listen.