A Mind of Their Own

I have often had issues with technology. As such, have come to the conclusion that Apple products use to “just work,” but. not any more. Which is a shame, for example Siri. I have a saying, “you can tell she was made by men because she doesn’t listen.” She often ignores what you ask, and does what she wants. I asked her (and HomeKit) to turn on my lights and she decided to play music.

This is a disappointment because, while I dislike her abilities, I only trust her with my data. Many of these tech companies have egregious abuses of privacy, Meta (aka Facebook) and Amazon in particular are the worst. it is because of this I have struggled to avoid products that don’t carry Alexa, Ring, portal, and Nest that listen to every thing you say and do then report back to their companies to add to the dossier they have on yo. I am sad to report that I now have to give up my dream of getting a Roomba because Amazon is buying it and, if it goes through, Amazon will know what you are talking about, who goes to your front door (Ring Video Doorbell), and (with the data from Roomba) every inch of the inside of your home.

While, it is get harder and harder to find tech that doesn’t abuse your personal data, the only company that does take privacy seriously is Apple. I worry that if products like Siri is unpopular enough, Apple will dump it. That will be horrible for the general privacy for everyone as this functionality is ingrained into our everyday life. Just look at routers, Apple discontinued the Airport Base Station, now the most popular and easy to install routers are from Amazon (Eros) and Google (Nest), all of which watching everything you do online and pass through info on to Silicon Valley.

I worry about the future of privacy and personal data by companies that don’t care about individual privacy. The idea that we are becoming what many scholars refer to “human Futures,” turning our attention into the equivalent of pork bellies and corn. Which is a tremendous loss of humanity and dignity.