Technologies that will permanently deprive us of privacy
Until recently, it was possible to remain completely anonymous and not be afraid that information about you would fall into the wrong hands. Today, this is a privilege for which you have to pay either a lot of money to clean up all sources that can use information about you or completely abandon all electronic devices. And it’s not a fact that it will work because there are a lot of cameras, microphones around us, drones, satellites, and other equipment everywhere.
Alas, but today humanity is on the verge of the fact that privacy will soon be an unaffordable luxury. Several technologies will permanently deprive us of privacy.
1. Face recognition software
Ten years ago, facial recognition programs were not particularly accurate. But now, with the development of technology and social networks, it has become easier to find someone in the crowd by cameras. Social networks, where people voluntarily upload various photos with their faces, help the authorities and corporations to see them on cameras. The well-known American social network, which was caught draining data a few years ago, distinguished itself in this.
Wherever you find yourself in crowded places, cameras are installed everywhere, many of which are difficult to notice. If necessary, you can be counted out of thousands of people walking close to each other. Moreover, such systems have insufficient protection against hacking, and if hackers try very hard, they will be able to get their hands on this powerful resource.
There will be even more stationary cameras and drones with cameras in the future, and their resolution will increase. This means that just one photo will be enough to find you anywhere in the world once uploaded to a social network.
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2. Programs for tracking online activities
Although websites are required to warn about the information they collect, they do not warn about all the data they store. It is enough to leave your phone at least once in the application of some delivery service by clicking on the consent checkmark with the processing of personal data. Soon, it will get into the databases of many companies. This is because people most often do not read documents where it says that they consent to the data processing to almost the whole world.
In addition, some programs are created specifically to track people’s actions on the Internet, usually aimed at purchasing goods and services. They analyze how much you spent on the site, where you clicked, what you ordered, what price range you were interested in, what you refused to buy, and why. Based on this data, they try to predict your future actions, and based on this, they issue ads aimed specifically at you.
Later, this may lead to the appearance of advertising that will haunt you everywhere.
3. The widespread introduction of biometrics
How do we get millions of people to submit a database of fingerprints and their photos voluntarily? Just implement the unlock function by biometrics. This may seem paranoid, but even now, corporations are not particularly hiding that they store this data on their servers, and how they will dispose of it in the future is an interesting question.
The same applies to access to some resources, for example, banks. Some banks have started to implement voice and photoactivation. Who knows into whose hands this data may fall, given the constant leaks, not only because of hackers but also because of the draining of databases by company employees.
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The widespread introduction of biometrics in the future will not only deprive you of incognito. Still, it will also allow you to accurately track your actions at any time because you constantly unlock your smartphone, log into a mobile bank, and then, maybe, you will get home or to work by fingerprint.
4. X-ray radars
It seems fantastic, but there are already devices that can look through walls. Of course, this does not happen like in some action movies from the 90s, where the police can monitor the whereabouts of people in houses in real-time, but still.
Modern X-ray radars allow not only to determine whether a person is in the building but also to find out where he is specifically, what he is doing and whether he is moving. If necessary, they can monitor you and watch what you’re doing. Well, in the future, when compact X-ray radars operating in real-time appear everywhere, it will be possible to watch you like in a movie.
5. Drones
Once only the military could afford such toys because of the high cost. But later, when quadcopters appeared, almost anyone got the opportunity to buy a drone with a camera that could fly a long enough distance.
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If small quadcopters with medium-quality cameras can safely look into your window, imagine what opportunities large drones with powerful lenses have. They can not just see a certain person in the crowd but also consider everything, up to dandruff on his shoulders.
In addition to the functions of searching for people, drones in the future may be equipped with non-lethal weapons used to neutralize people safely. If the operator wants, this flying tracking point will be able to look even through the wall if it is equipped with the X-ray radar described above.
6. Satellite tracking
We are not even talking about military government satellites but about those that belong to corporations. There are theories that satellites launched by Musk and Bezos to provide the entire planet with the Internet can perform other functions, such as tracking traffic in corporations’ interests. Of course, these are just guesses, but we would not write off this theory.
If necessary, all traffic coming out of a certain user’s computer or any device can be tracked and decrypted.
As for the more famous satellites, for example, Google, they calmly map streets in high resolution. And special cars with powerful cameras that ride on the roads and shoot images in 360-degree mode help to complete the picture.
7. A single document with NFC
Today, you can not carry a bank card with you; it is enough to attach a smartphone with an NFC function to the terminal and pay for the purchase. Many countries have appreciated this functionality and plan to create a new type of document that will combine all the papers you have to keep with you, such as passports, insurance certificates, driver’s licenses, etc.
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It’s a good idea, but the problem, as always, is privacy. These unified documents will be equipped with chips with all the data about a person. And since any electronic system can be hacked, this data may fall into the wrong hands. But even being under reliable protection, these documents, if you suddenly become an “undesirable” person, can be remotely blocked by the government or a corporation. You will essentially become nobody, having lost access to all the benefits.
