I attended my first tech ethics round table with Berea 2005 alumni Dr. Katie Panciera, who studied Computer Science in Berea as an independent major and had her doctoral study in the University of Minnesota. In their speech, they emphasized the importance of safety that comes along with data and its security. She emphasized the extent of how data bases are collected from numerous sources and the issues that come along from its lack of privacy protections and transparency to people.
Without her arguments, I wouldn’t have realized how much personal information I unwittingly share online and in my surroundings. In places like airports and educational institutions, sharing personal data seems unavoidable for security and safety, which I genuinely believe is crucial. However, when examining the extensive information required in job applications, I feel that some questions cross a line by probing into deeply personal matters.
The prevalence of online job applications, while efficient, leaves me wondering about the lasting presence of my data in organizational databases. The rapid technological advancements in the job application process contribute to efficiency, but they also raise concerns about how long employers retain my personal data. The idea of my information scattered across various organizations and companies is genuinely unsettling. Opting out from sharing personal data becomes especially challenging when technology systems limit my ability to avoid certain questions, like those related to gender and ethnic background.
In reflecting on these issues, I find myself questioning the fairness of systems that offer only a limited number of choices, placing individuals at an unfair disadvantage. The fear of being defined by a set of predetermined options on job applications challenges my principles of privacy, even though business organizations state that they do not promote racial discrimination, there isn’t any determination that it is strictly avoided. As technology evolves, finding a balance between efficiency and respecting my right to safeguard personal information becomes increasingly crucial.
With technology’s continuous growth, a new field of AI should also be considered when thinking about the dangers of sharing data information across the internet. The simplicity of having automated data information being filled out within we sites raises a number of safety concerns, like financial breaches and identify theft. AI can easily be used to analyze and exploit different types of information. It is scary how machine learning algorithms can easily identify presences and behaviors of a user and eventually target them for business or worst manipulation. Though there are advantages to using data collections for AI , like enhanced accuracies and adaptive memory to different scenarios. However, as of right now the dangers outweigh them especially when the stakes are at high. Even autonomous systems even rely on data collections. However, I see more safety benefits that comes along with the use of data collection. It provides better efficiency and enhanced safety. I have found that with the data collection constantly collected from drivers who use autonomous GPS, often avoid car accidents, optimize traffic flow, get help with navigation.
As much as we try to avoid data sharing, it’s relatively hard to opt out for safety. With Dr. Panciera’s example of a pregnant women trying to get a stroller without having to announce that she was pregnant. The lady in the story had to go through an obstacle just to avoid sharing their data, because simply ordering off a company involves putting their personal address. This just highlights how it isn’t easy to opt out from sharing data when it connects to how society is ran. However, the safety and security of how these data collections are stored should be highly considered more by researchers and users of the internet.