TECH - How Can Students Protect Their Personal Data?
There’s a scene in the first episode of Mad Men, set in a New York advertising agency in the 1960’s, where the protagonist, ad executive Don Draper, is talking with a doctor. They’re discussing how they can’t use medical testimony to promote cigarettes in advertising anymore. Instead, they need to look at new ways of advertising cigarettes, so that they’ll still sell, such as that they’re too good to give up. Today, we know the negative health consequences of smoking and regard the characters opinions with a sense of naiveté.
But are students at a similar point in our relationship with our personal data? In thirty years’ time, will we think about how our personal data is used and wonder how we let it happen?
We’re still in the novelty phase of figuring out how our smartphones fit into our lives as students. Today, we have instant access to the largest collection of knowledge in history in devices that we could fit in our pockets. Importantly, the personal data we have on our phones is stored on servers dotted all over the world.
Today’s generation of students navigate a digital world that the generations of students before us didn’t, with an online legacy following us to every first encounter and job interview. That picture from a night out that you’d rather forget might not be the image you want to project to a potential boss if they search for your name online. We must remember, too, that, whilst social networks are free for us to use, they make their money by monetising our personal data to advertisers. Don Draper was desparate to sell cigarettes, even though he knew that smoking was harmful. Now, social networking companies face the same moral dilemma.
Don Draper from Mad Men
So, as students today, who already have several years of data stored online, it’s vital that we care about what information is out there, who can see what, and where our personal data is going.
A common reply I’ve received when talking about privacy with friends or family is the familiar response, “I’ve got nothing to hide.”
If someone has this response, ask them what their annual salary is, or how much money is in their bank account. Far from incriminating evidence for most people, yet you’ll find a majority don’t want to tell you. A desire for privacy is not the same as having something to hide. We all want and expect privacy as a basic human right.
Today, take a little bit of time to think about how much of your information is out there online for people to access, either legitimately or through a hack. Log into your accounts, check your privacy settings and find a level of sharing that you’re comfortable with. And please, change your passwords. Your dog’s name and a random number isn’t going to stop anyone for very long. After all, finding out that smoking was harmful didn’t stop Don Draper from selling cigarettes.
Kurtis Bell is an Aerospace Engineering Student at Queen’s University Belfast, with a keen interest in tech.